GAME INFORMATION
GAME #5: Cornell vs. Penn
GAME TIME: Saturday, Sept. 18, at 12 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 21-11-2
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-2 (OT) in Philadelphia, Pa.
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (3-1); Penn (1-2)
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: None

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red field hockey team opens the home portion of its schedule this weekend as it takes on Penn at Marsha Dodson Field on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 12 p.m. Cornell split a pair of outings last weekend, falling to Bucknell (3-0) before beating Saint Joseph's (3-2) to improve to 3-1 on the season. The Quakers come to Ithaca with a 1-2 record after losing their last outing to Davidson, 4-3.



THE SERIES WITH PENN: The Big Red and the Quakers have squared off 34 times since first meeting in 1976 and Penn holds a 21-11-2 advantage in the all-time series. Cornell has won four of the last five meetings, however, with the Quakers earning the 3-2 victory at Franklin Field in 2007. Last season, the Big Red needed overtime to take the 3-2 win. It was the eighth overtime game between the two programs and Cornell improved to 3-4-1 in overtime games against Penn. Since 1997, just under half (6-of-13) of the games played between the Big Red and the Quakers have gone to overtime. During that same span, the average goal differential has been 1.3 goals per game.

SCOUTING PENN: The Quakers are off to a 1-2 start with first-year head coach Colleen Fink getting her first career victory with a 1-0 triumph over William & Mary. Penn has struggled defensively, allowing 22.7 shots, 8.7 penalty corners 4.00 goals per game. Offensively, Sunny Stirewalt and Kyle deSandes-Moyer account for more than half the team's total goals with two tallies apiece, while Abigail Egan leads the Quakers with two assists. Junior Kiernan Sweeney has seen the majority of time in net for Penn, posting a 1-1 record. She owns a 3.03 goals-against average to go along with an .806 save percentage. Sophomore Danielle Rothman started the first game of the season and picked up the loss, allowing six goals and making four saves in just over 31 minutes against Rider.

LAST TIME VS. PENN: Catie De Stio gave Cornell the early two-goal lead and then scored 22 seconds into the extra session to send the Big Red to its first Ivy League win of the season, as it defeated Penn, 3-2, in overtime on Franklin Field. De Stio, who scored her three goals on just five shots, tallied the game-winner on a breakaway, as she slipped the ball between Quaker goalie Kieran Sweeney's legs. Cornell held the slim edge in shots (11-10) and penalty corners (3-2). After making just one save in her first three appearances of the season, senior Mel Jue stopped three shots in the first half en route to a five-save performance.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD:
* be Cornell's sixth-straight victory in its Ivy League opener, dating back to a 6-2 loss vs. Columbia in 2004, Coach Hornibrook's first season with the Big Red.
* improve Cornell's win streak over the Quakers to three games. It would also be the Big Red's fifth victory over Penn in the past six seasons.
* be Coach Hornibrook's 55th victory with the Big Red and her 225th career win.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (54-47, .535) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 224-94-10 (.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: Last weekend, the Big Red split a pair of games, falling to Bucknell, before defeating Saint Joesph's to improve to 3-1 on the season. Cornell struggled on Saturday against the Bison as the home team raced out to a three-goal advantage in the first half. The Big Red was unable to comeback, falling 3-0, despite outshooting the home team, 8-3, in the final stanza. The next day, Cornell erased an early 1-0 deficit and then held off a surging Saint Joseph's squad to defeat the Hawks, 3-2. Catie De Stio had a hand in all three Big Red goals with one tally and two assists, while Kat DiPastina and Hannah Balleza both found the back of the net for Cornell. Defensively, the Big Red got eight saves from goalkeeper Alex Botte, as well as a crucial defensive save by Elizabeth Schovee in the 57th minute of action.

BUCKNELL BLANKS BIG RED: For the second straight season, Cornell has been 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 season since Vermont did so in 2005 (2-0) and 2006 (2-0).

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 a pair of freshmen on the team also have twin sisters. Carolyn Horner has a twin, Gabrielle, who is playing lacrosse at Tufts, while Mallory Bannon's twin, Keelin, is playing field hockey for American. Additionally, senior Kate Thompson has younger twin sisters, Helen and Becky.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 11-3 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 30-17 and has taken nearly three times as many shots (318-123) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 65 penalty corners (4.6 per game).

GET TO THE POINT: Cornell senior Catie De Stio has registered at least one point in 26-of-52 games since arriving on East Hill in 2007. Of those 26 games, Cornell has won 23. The Big Red has one only 11 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 assists (3rd – 19), career points (4th – 71) and career goals (t-6th – 26). Meanwhile, senior Kate Thompson needs four more assists to move into the top-10.

CIRCLE OF TRUST: So far this season, the Big Red defensive unit has allowed 6.5 penalty corners per season, an impressive number, but up slightly 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 6.9 penalty corners per game. That is significantly down from the 8.4 average prior to her arrival.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 3-2 victory against Saint Joseph's on Sept. 12, 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 27 games, with 17 of those coming by a single goal, including nine in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 41 games, with 21 coming in one-goal games, including six in overtime.

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 32-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 3-2 victory against Saint Joseph's on Sept. 12, 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. Just four games into the 2010 season, the Big Red has seen six 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 49-8 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only five 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 Sept. 12, 2010 as Cornell defeated Saint Joseph's, 3-1, in Philadelphia, Pa.

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.

FREE FIELD HOCKEY: During the 2009 season, the Big Red played in five overtime games, the most since the 2001 season, when Cornell played six overtime contests. The Big Red went 3-2 in OT games last season, while the 2001 squad went 2-4.

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 has a busy weekend coming up as it travels to Columbia on Friday, Sept. 24 to take on the Lions at 3:30 p.m., before returning to Ithaca to play host to No. 3 Virginia at Marsha Dodson Field on Sunday, Sept. 26 at noon.