GAME INFORMATION
GAME #6: Cornell at Columbia
GAME TIME: Friday, Sept. 24, at 3:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Columbia Field Hockey Venue (New York, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 13-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-1 (OT) in Ithaca, N.Y.
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (3-2-1, 0-0 Ivy); Columbia (4-2, 1-0)
LIVE STATS: www.GoColumbiaLions.com

GAME #7: Cornell vs. No. 3 Virginia
GAME TIME: Sunday, Sept. 26, at 12 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Virginia leads, 2-1
LAST MEETING: Virginia won, 3-0 in Charlottesville, Va.
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (4-1); Virginia (7-0)*
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com

* records prior to contests played on Friday, Sept. 24

THE MATCH-UP: The Big Red field hockey team 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. Cornell won its last outing against Penn to improve to 4-1 on the season (1-0 Ivy), while Columbia split a pair of games last weekend to improve to 4-2 (1-0 Ivy). Virginia carries a seven-game winning streak into its game at Boston College on Friday night.


THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA: The series with the Lions began in 1991, six seasons before Columbia officially joined the Ivy League. Cornell is 13-1 all-time against the Lions, with its lone loss coming during the 2004 campaign, Coach Hornibrook's first-ever Ivy League contest. Despite the lopsided nature of the series, two of the last three meetings have gone into overtime and all three have been decided by a single goal.

SCOUTING THE LIONS: After starting the season with a pair of home wins, Columbia has played its last four games on the road, which it split to run its record to 4-2. Among the wins was a 5-4 victory over Brown last weekend to improve the Lions to 1-0 in the conference. As a team, Columbia is averaging an impressive 3.00 goals per game. The squad is also averaging 12.5 shots and 7.5 penalty corners per game. Gabby Kozlowski leads the offense with seven goals, while Julia Garrison has chipped in four goals and a team-high three assists. In all, 10 different Columbia players have registered at least one point on the season. Christie O'Hara has played every minute in goal this season and has posted a 3.33 goals-against average and a .579 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA: With all zeros showing on the scoreboard, Olivia Boyd redirected a shot by Kate Thompson into the goal to give the Big Red a 2-1 victory over Columbia in double overtime. Catie De Stio also scored for the Big Red, while senior Mel Jue had her best performance of the season with 10 saves. Defender Sarah Sanders also registered a defensive save. Cornell outshot the visitors, 27-17, and held the overwhelming edge in penalty corners, 21-6. The Big Red also completely dominated the two overtime periods, holding a 14-1 advantage in shots, and an 11-1 edge in penalty corners, despite the fact that the team had to play down a player for five minutes due to a penalty. Despite dominating play in the first half and the overtime periods, Columbia responded to De Stio's goal in the 55th minute by turning up the offensive pressure, outshooting Cornell, 13-7, in the half and forcing Jue to make nine saves. Still, it took a penalty stroke for the Lions to get on the board, as Katie DeSandis scored at the 63:58 mark to make it a 1-1 game.

THE SERIES WITH VIRGINIA: The Big Red and Virginia have met three times on the field hockey pitch, with the Cavaliers holding the 2-1 advantage in the series. Cornell earned its victory in the first-ever meeting, defeating the Cavaliers, 2-1, in double overtime during the 2002 season. Virginia came back the next season and defeated the Big Red, 4-0, and won last year's meeting, 3-0.

SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS: Virginia, the number three ranked team in the nation, brings a seven-game winning streak to Marsha Dodson Field. Despite playing some of the top teams in the nation, the Cavaliers are averaging 3.43 goals per game. Paige Selenski has racked up 11 goals and two assists for 24 points on the season, while Elly Buckley has a team-high six assists to go along with four goals. A pair of goalies has seen action for UVA with Kim Kastuk playing in all seven games and making four starts, while Adrienne Ostroff has seen action in four games, making three starts. Kastuk has posted a 0.72 goals-against average thanks to an astounding .903 save percentage and Ostroff has regsistered a 1.54 GAA and a .600 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. VIRGINIA: The third-ranked Cavaliers scored three first half goals and held on to defeat Cornell, 3-0, at University Turf Field in Charlottesville, Va. The Big Red received a strong performance from both its goalies, as Mel Jue made nine saves in the first 35 minutes of action, before Alex Botte came on in relief and stopped six shots. One of the top offensive teams in the nation, Virginia outshot Cornell, 24-4, and held the significant 10-1 advantage in penalty corners. Paige Selenski scored a pair of goals while Kaitlyn Hiltz scored once. Cornell's Kelley Kantarian provided the Big Red's only two offensive threats, putting both of her shots on goal and forcing Adrienne Ostroff and Kim Kastuk to make one save each.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (55-47, .539) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 225-94-10 (.699) 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 earned a resounding 4-0 victory over Penn (1-3, 0-1) in its first Ivy League contest of the season on Saturday, Sept. 18 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.

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.

A BALANCED SHEET: So far this season, the Big Red has seen a tremendously balanced scoring offense, averaging 2.4 goals per game, but not seeing a single player score multiple goals in the same game.

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

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.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 12-3 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 34-17 and has taken nearly three times as many shots (347-124) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 67 penalty corners (4.5 per game).

GET TO THE POINT: Cornell senior Catie De Stio has registered at least one point in 27-of-53 games since arriving on East Hill in 2007. Of those 27 games, Cornell has won 24. The Big Red has won 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-5th – 27). 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 5.6 penalty corners per season, just slightly more 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 33-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 4-0 victory against Penn on Sept. 18, 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 five games into the 2010 season, the Big Red has seen seven 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 50-8 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.

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.

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.

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 remains in Ithaca for a pair of games next weekend when it welcomes Yale and St. Francis (Pa.) to Marsha Dodson Field. The game against the Bulldogs will be played on Saturday, Oct. 2 at noon, before Cornell faces the Red Flash on Sunday, Oct. 3 at 1 p.m.