GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: Saturday, Oct. 15, at Noon
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 23-10-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-0 on Oct. 16, 2010 (Cambridge, Mass.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (5-6, 0-3); Harvard (6-5, 2-1)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: None

GAME #13: Sunday, Oct. 16, at Noon
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 4-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 5-1 on Sept. 6, 2009 (Washington, D.C.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (5-6); Georgetown (2-11) *
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: None

* Records prior to Saturday, Oct. 15

THE MATCH UP: The Big Red field hockey team returns to action this weekend as it welcomes Harvard and Georgetown to Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell will take on the Crimson on Saturday, Oct. 15, before facing the Hoyas on Sunday, Oct. 16. Both games are slated to begin at noon. Live stats will be available for both contests at www.CornellBigRed.com.

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD: One of Cornell's longest on-going rivalries, the Big Red first played Harvard during the 1976 season, a 3-0 Crimson victory. Over the next 10 years, Harvard would dominate the series, with Cornell winning just one contest (1978), and allowing the Crimson to post a 23-10-4 record all time vs. the Big Red. Recently, Harvard won four-straight from 2000-04, but Cornell has won three of the last six meetings, including last season's 2-0 victory in Cambridge ... Coach Hornibrook is 3-4 vs. the Crimson.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard dropped a pair of non-conference games last week to Stanford and Northeastern to slip to 6-5 on the season. The Crimson currently sit in a four-way tie for second place in the Ivy League standings with a 2-1 conference mark. Noel Painter leads the offense with a team-high four goals and 12 points. She has also registered four assists, which is tied with Carly Dickson for the team-lead. Defensively, Cynthia Tassopoulos has played nearly every minute in goal and has proven to be one of the of best stoppers in the conference, ranking second in saves per game (9.00), goals-against average (2.03) and save percentage (.818).

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD: The Big Red won its fourth straight contest on Oct. 16, 2010, defeating Harvard, 2-0, at Jordan Field. The win was just the second ever for Cornell in Cambridge, Mass. Senior Catie De Stio registered both goals for the visitors and with her game-winning goal, she moved into a tie for first place in Cornell history with Linda Miller for game-winners in a career (11). The Big Red more than doubled Harvard in shots (15-8) and shots on goal (8-3) and also held the slim 7-6 edge in penalty corners. Goalie Alex Botte made three saves for her third shutout of the season. Harvard received five saves from goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos, as well as a defensive save by a Crimson defender.

THE SERIES WITH GEORGETOWN: Cornell holds a 4-0 lead in the series with the Hoyas. The teams first met in the 2003 season when the Big Red escaped with the 2-1 victory. Since then, Cornell has dominated Georgetown, winning 3-0 in 2005, 4-0 in 2008 and 5-1 in 2009.

SCOUTING THE HOYAS: Georgetown, losers of eight straight contests, takes a 2-11 record into a Friday evening Big East game with Syracuse. The majority of the Hoyas offense comes from Catherine Shugrue (5-2-12) and Annie Wilson (4-0-8), who have accounted for more than half of the team's total goals. Briana Pereira has started all 13 games in-between the pipes and owns a 3.59 goals-against average and a .672 save percentage. 

LAST TIME VS. GEORGETOWN: The Big Red jumped out to a large halftime lead and never looked back as it defeated Georgetown, 5-1, on Sept. 6, 2009 on the campus of American University. Five different Cornell players got into the scoring column as the Big Red improved to 2-0 on the year. Cornell was led by Kelley Kantarian and Catie De Stio, who registered one goal and one assist apiece. Also scoring for the Big Red was Katie Kirnan, Mattie Prodanovic and Sara Sanders, while Elizabeth Schovee tallied her first collegiate point with one assist. Sophomore Alex Botte got her first start of the season and made three saves, while allowing just one goal, to earn her first career victory. Georgetown received its goal from Kimberly Keating, while Clodagh Coghlan made seven saves and allowed five goals in the loss. The Big Red outshot the Hoyas, 18-5, and held the 10-5 advantage in penalty corners.

VS. THE BIG EAST: Cornell is 11-32-1 all-time against the current members of the Big East, due mostly to the Big Red's 2-25-1 record vs. Syracuse. Cornell holds a winning record vs. Georgetown (4-0), and has played to an even record vs. Rutgers (3-3) and Villanova (2-2), while holding losing records against Connecticut (0-2), Providence (0-1). The Big Red has never played Louisville in field hockey … Coach Hornibrook is 7-8 vs. the Big East.

LAST TIME OUT: After scoring just nine goals through the first nine games of the season, the Big Red field hockey team has scored seven goals in its last two outings, including a 3-1 victory over Bucknell on Tuesday on Marsha Dodson Field. It was a balanced offensive effort for the Big Red, with goals coming from Olivia Boyd, Hannah Balleza and Mallory Banon, while Katie Laventure and Brittany Thompson both registered assists. Defensively, senior goalie Alex Botte had an outstanding game, making four saves to go along with several well-timed rushes to break up Bucknell circle entry passes. The Bison held the slim 10-9 margin in shots and a 6-4 advantage on penalty corners, but Cornell held a 6-5 edge in shots on goal. Bucknell's lone tally came late in the contest off a well struck penalty corner from Kelly Stefanowicz, with assists credited to Mallory Smith and Marci Richard.  In goal, Erica Perrine made three saves in the loss.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (67-57, .540) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 237-104-10 (.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 18-9 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 61-41 and has taken more than twice as many shots (538-260) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 151 penalty corners (5.6 per game).

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 4-3 victory over Lehigh on Oct. 9, 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 54 games, with 27 coming in one-goal games, including eight in overtime

GOALS GALORE: Despite being just a sophomore, Hannah Balleza has already moved into Cornell's top 10 for career goals. She currently sits at 10th overall with 16 career goals and needs just 12 more to move into the top five.

MOVING ON UP: Senior goalie Alex Botte is steadily making her way up the Cornell career wins records lists. She is currently ranked sixth in career victories (17) and needs just three 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 40-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 3-1 victory against Bucknell 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 58-8 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 10 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 remains in Ithaca for a pair of games next weekend as it welcomes Brown and Rutgers to Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell will take on the Bears in an Ivy League contest on Saturday, Oct. 22 at noon before facing the Scarlet Knights on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m.