Box Score
Photo Gallery (Tim McKinney)

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red field hockey team earned a resounding 4-0 victory over Penn (1-3, 0-1) in its first Ivy League contest of the season this afternoon at Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell (4-1, 1-0) enjoyed another balanced offensive attack, as four different players accounted for the four Big Red goals.

Catie De Stio and Kate Thompson led the Cornell offense with one goal and one assist apiece, while Hanna Balleza and Sara Sanders both scored once. In goal, Alex Botte was called on to make four saves in the first 61 minutes of action before Carolyn Horner came on in relief but did not face a shot.

Cornell held the commanding lead in shots (29-4), shots on goal (16-4) and penalty corners (11-2) and forced Penn goalie Kiernan Sweeney to make 12 saves.

“Penn's defense started the game very strong and forced us to make some mistakes early on,” said head coach Donna Hornibrook. “But I felt like once we scored that first goal it really gave us some momentum and confidence to get going in the right direction. We were able to start working the ball and open up the game a little bit and I'm thrilled that we continue to see so much balance in our scoring.”

The Big Red's first three goals came in a seven minute span midway through the first half.

The run began at the 19:21 mark as Hannah Balleza scored after she collected a rebound off a Genevieve Collins shot and beat Sweeney near-post.

Just over three minutes later, Kate Thompson sent a long pass upfield that got just behind the Penn defense. De Stio used her speed to win the ball and sent a beautifully placed shot past Sweeney to make it a 2-0 game.

Moments later, Kate Thompson scored a goal of her own when she took advantage of a quick restart off a Penn foul to beat the Quaker defense and blasted a shot to the far post, giving Cornell the 3-0 lead at the intermission.

The Big Red's final goal of the contest came at the 46:42 mark when a well-executed penalty corner saw Sara Sanders score off a pass from De Stio.

Cornell 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.