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GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: Cornell at Columbia
DATE: Friday, Sept. 24, 2010
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: New York, N.Y. – Columbia Soccer Stadium
2010 RECORDS: Cornell - 3-3 (0-0 Ivy League); Columbia – 5-2 (0-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 17-7-0
LAST MEETING: Columbia won 1-0 on Sept. 25, 2009, in Ithaca, N.Y.
GAME #8: Cornell at Manhattan
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010
TIME: 10:30 a.m.
SITE: Riverdale, N.Y. – Gaelic Park
2010 RECORDS: Cornell* - 3-3 (0-0 Ivy League); Manhattan* – 1-5-1 (0-0 Metro Atlantic)
SERIES RECORD: Manhattan leads 1-0-0
LAST MEETING: Manhattan won 1-0 on Sept. 13, 2009, in Ithaca, N.Y.
* - as of Sept. 24, 2010ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Big Red women's soccer team will enter Ivy League play when it visits Columbia on Friday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. in New York City, then steps back into non-conference action when it battles Manhattan on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 10:30 a.m. Cornell will attempt to go over the .500 mark and extend its win streak after entering the weekend with consecutive road victories.
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 10-40-2. 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
After a 3-1 win at Binghamton on Saturday, the Big Red evened its record at 3-3 just a year after winning one game. Cornell's offense is paced by sophomore Maneesha Chitanvis, who has a pair of goals and two assists for six points on the year. In all, 11 different players have recorded at least one point this season. In goal, Bartlett and Murphy have split time, with both keepers earning three starts. Murphy has a 1.06 goals-against average with 13 saves and a 2-1 record, while Bartlett has a 1.67 goals-against average and a .783 save percentage with 18 saves. As a team, the Big Red is allowing 1.33 goals per game and stopping 80 percent of the shots faced on the year.
ABOUT COLUMBIA
Columbia brings a 5-2 record into the contest and has won five of its last six matches, with the lone loss coming in overtime. Kelly Hostetler paces the team with two goals and five assists for nine points, while four other players have secured four points for the Lions. Columbia's stingy defense has surrendered just four goals in seven contests. Lillian Klein has posted a 0.56 goals against average and a .895 save percentage while playing every minute between the pipes. Head coach Kevin McCarthy is in his 17th season at Columbia
THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA
Cornell holds a 17-7 lead in the all-time series against the Lions, though Columbia has claimed victory in each of the last four meetings, including 1-0 contest a season ago in Ithaca. The Big Red's last victory over the Lions came in 2005, a 1-0 victory at Berman Field.
ABOUT MANHATTAN
Manhattan enters the weekend with a 1-5-1 mark and is winless in its last six contests after topping Fairleigh Dickinson 2-1 in the season opener. During than span, Manhattan has been outscored 13-2. The Jaspers will meet Bryant on Friday before the Big Red come to town on Sunday. Caroline Morse has had a hand in three of the team's four goals this season, posting a goal and two assists, while Megan Lavecchia notched a goal and an assist. Kara Davis leads the way in goal with five starts and a 1.64 goals against average, with Alyssa Bachowski recording a 2.40 goals against average in her two starts. Head coach Brendan Lawler is in his first season directing the program.
THE SERIES WITH MANHATTAN
Manhattan has a 1-0-0 edge in the all-time series after the Jaspers topped the Big Red 1-0 last season at Berman Field.
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 has 14 goals this season, matching the total for the highest offensive output in a season under head coach Danielle LaRoche.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Through six games this season, 10 different players have scored a goal for the Big Red, doubling the total of five players a year ago to put the ball in the back of the net. Of those 10 players, seven 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 80 percent of the shots they have faced and have a 1.33 goals against average.
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 11 assists this season, with Nichols leading four players with more than one helper.
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 returns to Ivy League action when it hosts Penn on Friday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at Berman Field.
