GAME INFORMATION
GAME #11: Cornell vs. Lehigh
GAME TIME: Sunday, Oct. 10, at 12:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 17-1-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0 on Sept. 20, 2009 (Bethlehem, Pa.)
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (7-3); Colgate (2-9)*
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com

* Records prior to Lehigh's contest vs. Colgate on Oct. 9.

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red field hockey team faces its second Patriot League foe of the week as it plays host to Lehigh at Marsha Dodson Field on Sunday, Oct. 10 at noon. Cornell is coming off a midweek victory over Colgate to improve to 7-3 on the year, while the Mountain Hawks head into a Saturday contest against the Raiders with a record of 2-9.

THE SERIES WITH LEHIGH: The series with Lehigh began in 1991, and Cornell is 17-1-1 all-time against the Mountain Hawks, with its lone loss coming during the 1993 campaign.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS: Lehigh takes a two-game losing streak into its contest against Colgate on Saturday, Oct. 9. The Mountain Hawks have struggled on defense, allowing twice as many goals (3.64 per game) as it has scored (1.82 per game) this season. The duo of Madison Ingal and Caitlin Donnelly have accounted for half of Lehigh's goals on the season, with five apiece, while Claire Horn and Kimberly Eng have contributed four and three assists, respectively. In goal, Jessica Miller has started 10 games and has posted a 3.93 goals-against average and a .705 save percentage to go along with a 2-7 record. Last season's starter Lilia Stefaniwsky has seen action in four games with one start. She owns a 7.20 GAA, a .720 save percentage and an 0-2 record.

LAST TIME VS. LEHIGH: Cornell got off to its best start in school history, improving to 6-0 on the season, as it defeated Lehigh, 1-0, on Sept. 20, 2009 at the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pa. Catie De Stio's goal in the 44th minute, which she redirected off a shot from Mattie Prodanovic, proved to be the difference. Cornell outshot Lehigh, 20-7, and held the 8-2 advantage in penalty corners. Mel Jue made six saves, including three in the opening 10 minutes of the game to secure a clean sheet. Lehigh goalie Lilia Stefaniwsky made a career-high 11 saves and backs Taryn Hartzell and Lauren Cawley totaled three defensive saves for the Mountain Hawks.

A WIN OVER THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS WOULD:
* be Cornell's 16th straight in the series dating back to a 1-1 tie in 1994.
* keep the Big Red perfect against Lehigh in contests played in Ithaca.
* ensure Cornell of a .500 record for the fourth straight season, the longest streak in program history.
* improve Coach Hornibrook to 16-10 vs. the Patriot League.

VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 53-51-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 17-1-1 lead against Lehigh (17-1-1). The series with Colgate is even (18-18-3), while the Big Red holds a losing record against Lafayette (5-12-2), American (0-1), Bucknell (9-14-1), and Holy Cross (3-5) … Cornell is 15-10 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (58-49, .542) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 228-96-10 (.698) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

LAST TIME OUT: The Big Red dominated the first half of play and road an early two-goal advantage to a 2-1 victory on Wednesday evening on Tyler's Field in Hamilton, N.Y. Cornell continued its trend of offensive balance, seeing three different players reach the points' column with Mallory Bannon scoring her first collegiate goal, Hannah Balleza converting her second penalty stroke of the season and Catie De Stio registering her team-best fourth assist on the year. Cornell held the significant advantage in shots (21-5) and shots on goal (15-2), but Colgate had the edge in penalty corners (6-4). The Raiders also received an outstanding performance from its goalie Kristen Lalli, who stopped 13 shots in the loss.

STROKE OF GENIUS: Hannah Balleza has converted two penalty strokes for Cornell this season. That is the most made penalty strokes for the Big Red since it converted 2-of-4 during the 2006 season. Balleza's stroke at Columbia was Cornell's first in nearly three years, as its last converted penalty stroke came from Natalie Appleton vs. Syracuse on Oct. 25, 2007. The Big Red did not earn any strokes in 2009 and had one missed in 2008.

ROOKIE RANKINGS: Freshman Hannah Balleza is proving to be one of the most productive freshmen in Cornell history. She currently leads the team with seven goals and ranks second overall with 15 points. In Big Red history, the rookie ranks fifth among freshmen for goals and eighth among freshmen for points. Emily Robb leads both categories, scoring 13 goals and amassing 31 points during her rookie season in 1995.

CAREER WEEKEND: With her goal against Yale and Saint Francis (Pa.) last weekend, Genevieve Collins surpassed her career scoring total, as the sophomore scored just once all of last season.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Hannah Balleza was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Sept. 28 after helping the Big Red to a 3-2 overtime victory over conference foe Columbia. She becomes Cornell's first Rookie of the Week since Mel Jue took the honor on Sept. 9, 2008. The freshman forward got Cornell on the board early-on, converting a penalty stroke to give the Big Red a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute of action. She later assisted on Catie De Stio's game-winner with 2:23 to play in the second overtime period.

IN THE RANKINGS: As of the rankings on Monday, Oct. 4, Catie De Stio is 44th in the country in points per game (1.67) and is tied for 45th overall in goals per game with freshman Hannah Balleza (0.67). Alex Botte ranks 21st in the nation in both saves per game (6.33) and save percentage (.750).

IVY LEADERS: As of the rankings on Monday, Oct. 4, several Big Red players are ranked in the top 10 of the Ivy League in several statistical categories. Catie De Stio leads the way, as she ranks in the top 10 for points (9th – 15), points per game (9th – 2.14), goals (7th – 6), goals per game (9th – 0.67) and game-winning goals (3rd – 2). Alex Botte is ranked in four categories, including saves (2nd – 57), saves per game (3rd – 6.33), goals-against average (3rd – 2.03), and save percentage (2nd – .750). Hanna Balleza also ranks in the top 10 for goals (7th – 6), goals per game (9th – 0.67) and game-winners (3rd – 2), while Liz Schovee (defensive saves – 1st – 1) and Mattie Prodanovic (defensive saves – 1st – 1) are also ranked for the Big Red.

A BALANCED SHEET: So far this season, the Big Red has seen a tremendously balanced scoring offense, averaging 2.50 goals per game, but having only one game in which the same player scored multiple goals (Catie De Stio – 2 vs. Virginia).

HIGH PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Freshman Hannah Balleza has proven to be a very selective shooter for the Big Red, scoring seven goals on just 21 shots (.333). Additionally, of her 21 shots this season, 17 have been on goal (.810).

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 13-5 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 42-26 and has taken more than twice as many shots (406-165) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 86 penalty corners (4.8 per game).

GET TO THE POINT: Cornell senior Catie De Stio has registered at least one point in 30-of-58 games since arriving on East Hill in 2007. Of those 30 games, Cornell has won 26. The Big Red has won only 12 games during that same span in which De Stio was held without a point.

MOVING ON UP: Catie De Stio is steadily making her way up the Cornell career records lists. She is currently ranked in Cornell's top-10 in career goals (t-2nd – 30), career game-winning goals (2nd – 10), career assists (3rd – 21), and career points (4th – 81). Meanwhile, senior Kate Thompson needs three more assists to move into the top-10.

CIRCLE OF TRUST: So far this season, the Big Red defensive unit has allowed 6.0 penalty corners per season, just up from last season when Cornell allowed just 5.3 penalty corners per game, the best school average since the stat began to be recorded in 1998. Since taking over the program, Coach Hornibrook's teams have allowed just 6.8 penalty corners per game. That is significantly down from the 8.4 average prior to her arrival.

KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Syracuse during the 2006 season, 4-3, in overtime, it marked the only time in Coach Hornibrook's career with Cornell that the team scored three goals and lost the contest. Under Coach Hornibrook, the Big Red improved to 35-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 4-1 victory against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Oct. 3, 2010.

COMING AT YOU FROM ALL SIDES: Since taking over the Cornell program in 2004, Coach Hornibrook has had a dozen or more players register at least one point in four-of-six seasons, with a high of 14 in 2005. So far this season, the Big Red has seen 11 players reach the points' column.

FAST STARTS: Scoring first has been a big part of the Big Red's success in recent years. Since Coach Hornibrook has taken over the program, Cornell has posted an impressive 52-8 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only six games in which they have had to come back from an early deficit to win. The first was Coach Hornibrook's very first victory with the team, a 6-3 win over Lehigh in 2004, with the latest came on Oct. 3, 2010 as Cornell defeated Saint Francis (Pa.), 4-1, in Ithaca, N.Y.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 2-1 win over Colgate on Oct. 6, 2010 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 29 games, with 18 of those coming by a single goal, including nine in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 45 games, with 23 coming in one-goal games, including seven in overtime.

FREE FIELD HOCKEY: Through the first 10 games of the 2010 season, the Big Red has played in just two overtime games, down significantly from the five overtime games it played in during the 2009 campaign. The five overtime games were the most since the 2001 season, when Cornell played six overtime contests.

TWINS AND MORE TWINS!: While ardent fans of the Big Red know that seniors Sara and Steph Sanders are twins, many might not know that three other members of the team have twins, all of which play collegiate sports. Sophomore Molly Casey's twin brother, Daniel, is a member of the Brown football team, while Carolyn Horner's twin, Gabrielle, plays lacrosse at Tufts, and Mallory Bannon's twin, Keelin, plays field hockey for American. Additionally, senior Kate Thompson has younger twin sisters, Helen and Becky.

BOMBARDING BOTTE: Junior netmider Alex Botte made a career-high 11 saves against No. 3 Virginia, the fourth-ranked offensive team in the nation at the time of the contest.

PUTTING PENN IN PERSPECTIVE: Cornell's 4-0 victory over Penn was one of the best for the Big Red in the series with the Quakers. It was just the second time Cornell shut out Penn, with the first time occurring in 2002.The four goals were the most ever scored by the Big Red against Penn and it was the largest margin of victory for Cornell in the series. The win was also Cornell's third straight, which is the Big Red's longest winning streak in the series.

BUCKNELL BLANKS BIG RED: For the second straight season, Cornell was shutout by the Bison, falling 1-0 last season and 3-0 this season. The Big Red hasn't been blanked by the same team in consecutive seasons since Vermont did so in 2005 (2-0) and 2006 (2-0).

OPENING UP: Big Red is 23-12-4 (.641) all-time in season-openers. This season, the Big Red defeated Lock Haven, 1-0, in its first game, improving Coach Hornibrook to 6-1 in season-openers during her time with Cornell.

HATS OFF: After going three seasons without seeing a Cornell player score three goals in a single game, the Big Red has had four players register hat tricks since the start of the 2008 season – Catie De Stio (Penn, Sept. 18, 2009), Abbi Horn (Georgetown, Sept. 21, 2008), Kelley Kantarian (Colgate, Oct. 9, 2008) and Catie De Stio (Bryant, Oct. 11, 2008). The three hat tricks during the 2008 season was the most by the Big Red since having four during the 1995 season. That year, Cari Hills scored three goals vs. Colgate and four goals against Holy Cross, while Emily Robb tallied three against both Lehigh and Brown. Until the 2008 season, Cornell had never had three different players register hat tricks in the same season.

HALL OF FAME COACH: This summer, Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook was inducted into the Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame. Hornibrook, a native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, has an enjoyed an excellent field hockey career, not only as an outstanding player, but as a very successful coach.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Seniors Sara Sanders and Kate Thompson have been named captains for the 2010 season.

EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICAN: Following the 2009 season, Catie De Stio was named to the NFHCA Division I Mideast Region All-America second-team.

ALL-IVY ACCOLADES: Cornell had three players named to the respective All-Ivy teams in 2009, including two players that return for the 2010 season – senior Catie De Stio (first-team) and senior Kate Thompson (second-team).

SMARTY PANTS: The 2009 Big Red squad earned the NFHCA National Academic Team Award for the second time during head coach Donna Hornibrook's tenure, while Cornell placed at least three players on the NFHCA National Academic Squad for the sixth-straight year as Katie Kirnan, Alex Botte, Lauren Neal, Mattie Prodanovic and Kate Thompson were all honored.

UP NEXT: The Big Red returns to Ivy League play next weekend as it travels to Harvard on Saturday, Oct. 16 to take on the Crimson at Jordan Field at 2 p.m.