GAME INFORMATION
GAME #5: Cornell at Bucknell
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010
TIME: 3:00 p.m.
SITE: Lewisburg, Pa. - Emmitt Field
2010 RECORDS: Cornell - 1-3 (0-0 Ivy League); Bucknell - 1-6 (0-0 Patriot)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 9-5-1
LAST MEETING: Bucknell won, 4-2, on Sept. 27, 2009, in Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: www.BucknellBison.com

The Cornell women's soccer team will try to get back in the win column this weekend when it travels to Lewisburg, Pa., to take on Bucknell in a non-conference contest at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 19. Cornell will also be seeking its 10th win all-time against the Bison.

HEAD COACH DANIELLE LAROCHE
Now in her fourth season directing the Big Red women's soccer program, Danielle LaRoche has assembled a team that is ready to compete among the Ivy League's elite programs. The fourth coach in Cornell history, she holds a career coaching mark of 8-40-2. She picked up her first collegiate head coaching victory on Sept. 7, 2007, when Cornell defeated Hartford, 1-0, in double overtime. LaRoche's career also includes stops as an assistant coach at George Mason, Binghamton and Howard. A 1995 graduate of Maryland, LaRoche played two seasons for the Terrapins under April Heinrichs, who would later go on to serve as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team. LaRoche is assisted by Elke Reisdorph, in her second season, and Keith Comfort, in his first year with the Big Red.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell dropped a pair of games last weekend at the Colgate Nike Classic in Hamilton, N.Y., falling to St. Bonaventure, 3-1, and Seton Hall, 2-0. The weekend's lone goal was scored by junior Brook Chang, with sophomore Maneesha Chitanvis collecting the assist on the tally. The Big Red's two goalkeepers both played exceptionally well despite the losses, with Bartlett stopping eight shots against the Bonnies and Murphy stopping the same number in the loss to the Pirates. Cornell's offense is paced by sophomore Megan Crowell and freshman Mary Keroack, who have a pair of goals for four points on the year. In all, 10 different players have recorded at least one point this season. In goal, Murphy and Bartlett have split time, with both goalkeepers getting a pair of starts. Murphy has a 1.09 goals-against average with nine saves and a 1-1 record, while Bartlett has a 2.50 goals-against average and a .706 save percentage. As a team, the Big Red is allowing 1.75 goals per game and stopping 75 percent of the shots faced on the year.

ABOUT BUCKNELL
Bucknell enters the week with a 1-6 record on the year and has dropped its last five games, facing Penn State on Wednesday before playing host to the Big Red on Sunday. The Bison have been outscored, 15-5, on the year, with three of those five goals coming from Christa Matlack, who has seven points on the year with three goals and an assist. Six different players have recorded at least one point on the season. In goal, Sandita McDermott has played most of the time in goal, recording a 2.33 goals-against average and a .778 save percentage with an 0-5 record. Colleen Garrehy has played the other three games, recording a 1.50 goals-against average and a .786 save percentage, going 1-1 on the year.

THE SERIES WITH BUCKNELL
Cornell holds a 9-5-1 record in the all-time series, though the Bison have won five straight meetings including a 4-2 victory last season in Ithaca. The Big Red claimed each of the first five contests before a 1-1 draw in 1999 in Lewisburg, Pa. Cornell's last win over Bucknell came on Sept. 10, 2003, in Lewisburg, Pa., a 2-1 victory.

EIGHT IS ENOUGH
It took the Big Red women's soccer team just one weekend this season to match its scoring output from the entire 2009 campaign, scoring a combined eight goals against Delaware and Delaware State. Cornell then surpassed last season's total when Brook Chang scored in a 3-1 loss to St. Bonaventure for the ninth tally of the year. Cornell needs just five more goals to match the total for the highest offensive output in a season under head coach Danielle LaRoche.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Through four games this season, seven different players have scored a goal for the Big Red, surpassing the total of five players a year ago to put the ball in the back of the net. Of those seven players, five have scored the first goal of their careers already this season.

MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Cornell's goalkeepers have been a strength for the Big Red, regardless of whether it is Kelly Murphy or Megan Bartlett as the last line of defense. The Big Red has seen its total goals against drop in each season under head coach Danielle LaRoche, starting at allowing 37 markers in the first season, to 36 in 2008 and 26 in 2009. Similarly, the Big Red shot-stoppers have continued to improve their save percentage, which has risen from .651 in 2007 to .765 in 2008 (when the Big Red goalkeepers stopped 117 shots), to .714 last season. This year, the Big Red netminders are stopping 75 percent of the shots they have faced.

LONG TIME COMING
Cornell's seven-goal outburst on Sept. 5 against Delaware State marked the first time the Big Red offense erupted for that total since defeating Army, 7-2, on Oct. 22, 1996, a span of nearly 14 years. The seven-goal margin of victory was the largest for Cornell since downing Bucknell, 7-0, on Oct. 18, 1992, a span of nearly 18 years. Additionally, the seven goals tie the Cornell record for most goals scored in a game, a mark previously set four times.

AIR FORCE
Junior Sidra Bonner has four career goals to her credit, and each of the four have come the exact same way: a header off a corner kick. Bonner led the team in scoring last season with six points on three goals, and added another with a header off Xandra Hompe's corner kick in the first half against Delaware State on Sept. 5.

HELPING HAND
Freshman Rachel Nichols leads the team in assists, dishing out three helpers in the first weekend alone. As a team, the Big Red has seven assists this season, though Nichols is the only player with more than one.

IVY HONORS
Freshman Mary Keroack was named the Ivy League's Rookie of the Week after her two-goal performance against Delaware State on Sept. 5.

YOUTH IS SERVED
Of the 28 players on the 2010 roster for the Big Red, just two of them - Katie Hayes and Lena Russomagno - are seniors, giving the Big Red an outstanding foundation for the future. In fact, of the nine players who have recorded at least one point through the first two weekends of play, only Sidra Bonner and Brook Chang are juniors - all of the others are either freshmen or sophomores.

FOR STARTERS
Cornell has had great success in the 28 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 16-8-4 mark in the first game of the season despite the loss to Delaware to open the 2010 campaign. The Big Red is now 1-2-1 in season openers under Danielle LaRoche.

NATIONAL APPEAL
When Danielle LaRoche explains the recruiting efforts to bring together the 2010 team as searching far and wide, she's not kidding. The Big Red has 15 different states represented on the team roster, with California and Virginia having five apiece. New Jersey has three players wearing the Carnelian Red, while Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts each have a pair of players on the Cornell roster. States with a single representative include Hawaii, Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Delaware, Connecticut and New York.

UP NEXT
Cornell continues its six-game stretch away from Berman Field with three games next week, all within the confines of New York State. The Big Red will play at Binghamton on Wednesday, Sept. 22, before opening Ivy League play with a contest at Columbia two days later. The road swing ends on Sun., Sept. 26, with a contest at Manhattan.