GAME INFORMATION
GAME #11: Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 3:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Bucknell leads, 14-9-1
LAST MEETING: Bucknell won, 3-0 on Sept. 11, 2010 (Lewisburg, Pa.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (5-6); Bucknell (4-7)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: None

THE MATCH UP: The Cornell field hockey team returns home to take on its third straight Patriot League foe as it welcomes Bucknell to Marsha Dodson Field on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 3 p.m. The Big Red ended a three-game skid with a victory over Lehigh on Sunday to improve to 5-6 on the season, while the Bison dropped a 5-3 decision to Lafayette on Saturday to improve to 4-7 overall. Live stats will be available at www.CornellBigRed.com.

THE SERIES WITH BUCKNELL: Cornell's series with the Bison started with a 2-2 tie during the 1974 season, and it continues to be a close fought series to this day, with Bucknell holding the 14-9-1 lead. The Bison currently have a five-game winning streak against the Big Red, but four of those five contests have been decided by a single goal. In fact, 13 of the 24 games played between these two teams have been one-goal games.

SCOUTING THE BISON: Bucknell fell to Lafayette last weekend to slip to 4-7 on the season. Opponents are scoring nearly twice as many goals as the Bison (3.00 to 1.55 goals per game). Erica Perrine has played the majority of minutes through 11 games and has earned a 4-4 record to go along with a 2.31 goals-against average and a .632 save percentage. Sarah Zargarpour has made three starts and has posted an 0-3 record, a 6.18 GAA and a .613 save percentage. Offensively, Mallory Smith, Rachel Misko and Kate Bowen have scored three goals apiece and Smith leads the team with five assists and 11 points. Marci Richard also has five assists on the season. 

LAST TIME VS. BUCKNELL: The Big Red hit its first speed bump of the season, falling to Bucknell, 3-0, at Graham Field in Lewisburg, Pa. The Bison raced out to a three-goal advantage in the first half and Cornell was unable to comeback, despite outshooting the home team, 8-3, in the final stanza. Bucknell got goals from Rachel Misko, Kelly Bruvik and Christine Weiss, with two of those goals coming during penalty corner situations. Cornell  had several chances in the opening moments of the second half, but Bucknell's Sarah Zargarpour saved a shot from Catie De Stio before benefitting from a hit post just moments later to preserve the clean sheet. Zagarpour was forced to make four of her total six saves in the second half. For the game, the Big Red had twice as many shots as Bucknell (14-7), but both teams took five penalty corners. Alex Botte stopped two shots en route to her first loss of the season.

VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 55-52-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 19-1-1 lead against Lehigh. The Big Red holds a losing record against American (0-1), Bucknell (9-14-1), Colgate (18-19-3), Holy Cross (3-5) and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 17-11 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.

A WIN OVER BUCKNELL WOULD:
* improve the Big Red's record at 5-6 on the season and make Cornell 5-3 against non-conference opponents.
* snap Bucknell's current five-game winning streak.
* be Coach Hornibrook's 67th victory with the Big Red and her 237th career win.

LAST TIME OUT: The Big Red scored twice in the final 6:26 of the contest to erase a one-goal deficit and steal a 4-3 victory from Lehigh this afternoon at Ulrich Field. With the win, Cornell's 17th consecutive against the Mountain Hawks, the Big Red improved to 4-6 on the season. Sophomore Brittany Thompson had a tremendous day offensively, posting a pair of assists and scoring one goal to lead the Big Red, while a pair of rookies, Katherine Stone and Ann DiPastina, both registered their first collegiate goals, with DiPastina scoring the game-winner of an assist from Stone. Hannah Balleza also found the back of the net to round out the scoring for Cornell, while Genevieve Collins collected one assist. In between the pipes, Carolyn Horner got the start and made five saves and allowed two goals in the first half before Alex Botte came on in relief and finished the day with three saves and one goal-against to earn the victory. Lehigh got goals from Kimberly Eng, Kelsey Zeswitz and Caitlin Donnelly, with Steph Fratoni registering a pair of assists to go along with an assist from Abby Tilton. Goalie Sierra Segear made six saves in the loss. Cornell held the slight edge in shots (15-14), but the Mountain Hawks had a significant edge in penalty corners (10-3).

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (66-57, .537) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 236-104-10 (.689) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 17-9 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 58-40 and has taken more than twice as many shots (529-250) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 145 penalty corners (5.6 per game).

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 4-3 victory over Lehigh on Oct. 11, 2011 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 35 games, with 22 of those coming by a single goal, including nine in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 53 games, with 27 coming in one-goal games, including eight in overtime

GOALS GALORE: Despite being just a sophomore, Hannah Balleza is already close to moving into Cornell's top 10 for career goals. She currently sits at 14th overall with 15 career goals and needs just one more to rank 10th all-time.

MOVING ON UP: Senior goalie Alex Botte is steadily making her way up the Cornell career wins records lists. She is currently ranked seventh in career victories (16) and needs just four more to become the winningest goalie in Big Red history. She also ranks 8th overall for shutouts in a career (4) and needs just one more to move up to fifth overall.

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 39-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 4-3 victory against Lehigh on Oct. 11, 2011.

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 57-8 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only eight 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 coming on Sept. 4, 2011 as Cornell defeated Lock Haven, 3-2, in Ithaca, N.Y.

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. Last season, the Big Red fell just short with 11 players reaching the points' column. So far this season, Cornell has seen eight different players reach the points' column.

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM: Sophomores Carolyn Horner and Hannah Balleza were named to the Catamount Invitational All-Tournament Team.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Carolyn Horner was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Sept. 6 after helping the Big Red field start the season at 2-0 with a pair of victories over Villanova and Lock Haven. After playing a total of just nine minutes all of last season, Horner earned her first career start and, playing behind an entirely new defensive unit, she made seven saves and shut out the Wildcats in Cornell's 1-0 victory. Just two days later, she posted another seven saves as the Big Red defeated the Lady Eagles, 3-2.

TWINS AND MORE TWINS!: While ardent fans of the Big Red know that sophomores Keelin and Mallory Bannon are twins, many might not know that two other members of the team have twins, all of which play collegiate sports. Junior Molly Casey's twin brother, Daniel, is a member of the Brown football team, while Carolyn Horner's twin, Gabrielle, plays lacrosse at Tufts.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Alex Botte and Olivia Boyd have been named captains for the 2011 season.

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.

REIGNING ROOKIE: Following the 2010 season, Hannah Balleza was named the Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Year, sharing the honor with Yale's Georgia Holland. Balleza, who was also and honorable mention All-Ivy selection, became the Big Red field hockey program's first Rookie of the Year recipient since Cari Hills '98 took home the honor in 1994.

ALL-IVY ACCOLADES: Cornell had six players named to the respective All-Ivy teams in 2010, including two players that return for the 2011 season – senior Alex Botte (first-team) and sophomore Hannah Balleza (honorable mention).

SMARTY PANTS: The Big Red placed eight student-athletes on the 2010 Gladiator by SGI/NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad. The eight selections are a program high, surpassing the 2007 team which placed six players on the squad. Mattie Prodanovic '11 and Alex Botte headlined the group with their third selection to the National Academic Squad, while Kate Thompson '11 and Lauren Neal both earned their second honor. Katie Laventure, Shannon Berry, Carolyn Horner, and Brittany Thompson were all first-time honorees.

UP NEXT: The Big Red returns to conference play as it takes on Harvard on Marsha Dodson Field on Saturday, Oct. 15 at noon.