ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell enters the midpoint of Ivy League play with an undefeated 3-0 conference record and sole possession of first place. Into Ithaca comes Brown, a team breathing down the Big Red's neck in the Ivy League. Saturday's game is also important because the team will be raising funds for pediatric cancer awareness while also attempting to break the attendance record at Berman Field.

MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #13: Cornell vs. Brown
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 22, 3:30 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Berman Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Brown leads 35-19-4
LAST MEETING: Brown won 2-0 on Oct. 23, 2010
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (8-1-3, 3-0 Ivy League); Brown (7-4-1, 2-1 Ivy League)
LIVE STATS: sidearmstats.com/cornell/msoc/
LIVE VIDEO:  None

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell's season is already a winning one with eight victories, one loss and four games remaining. But now the team has bigger goals in mind. Already leading the Ivy League, the Big Red can remain on top with a win against Brown. The team is scoring goals twice as often as last year and is playing excellent defense in allowing just seven goals in 12 games. Cornell is on an 11-game unbeaten run and has not lost since its season opener on Sept. 2 against Niagara.

HEAD COACH JARO ZAWISLAN
The 2011 season is Jaro Zawislan's third at the helm of the Big Red. He racked up a 10-14-10 record in his first two seasons, improving a team that finished 1-15 in 2008 to 6-6-5 in 2009. He earned his first Cornell victory on Sept. 7, 2009 against Hartwick and his 10th on Oct. 12, 2010 at Colgate. Zawislan, a native of Poland, played soccer for four years at Clemson and then spent time professionally in the United States and Poland. His first college coaching job was at Creighton in 1999.

ABOUT BROWN
The Bears, based in Providence, R.I., enter Saturday's game with a 7-4-1 record and a 2-1 mark in the Ivy League. Brown is on a two-game winning streak and is coming off a 1-0 victory against Harvard last weekend. T.J. Popolzio is leading the Bears and the Ivy League with eight goals. Brown is ranked No. 7 in the NSCAA Northeast Regional Poll but unranked nationally.
The Bears are coached by Patrick Laughlin, a 1992 graduate of Maine, who is now in his second year heading the program.

THE SERIES WITH BROWN
Cornell and Brown have met 58 times, with the Bears holding a 35-19-4 edge. The Big Red fell 2-0 last season against the Bears, who were ranked No. 14 at the time. Cornell is on a nine-game losing streak to Brown and has not beaten the Bears since 1999.

BREAKING THE BERMAN RECORD
Saturday's game is the team's annual Soccer Weekend where alumni return to Ithaca and the team tries to break the attendance record at Berman Field. Last year's game set the mark at 961. The first 250 students at Saturday's contest will get a free T-shirt and proceeds from the game will be donated to the Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer Awareness Campaign, and the Salvation Army will be at the game taking donations and new toys for needy children.

A WIN WOULD…
...give Cornell its first victory against Brown since 1999…start the Ivy League season at 4-0 for the first time since 1985…give the Big Red its first 12-game unbeaten streak since Nov. 12, 1995…put the Big Red eight games over .500 for the first time since Nov. 16, 1996.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION
For the first time in 10 years, Cornell is ranked in the NSCAA poll. The Big Red comes in at No. 25 one week after not even receiving votes. Cornell has not been in the NSCAA's poll since the end of the 2001 season.
In the NCAA's first Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) numbers released Tuesday, Cornell opened the year at No. 40.
    Other reputable college soccer polls have Cornell on their list as well. Soccer America has the Big Red at No. 25 as well this week, and CollegeSoccerNews.com has Cornell coming in at No. 26 one week after debuting at No. 30.
    TopDrawerSoccer.com, whose rankings system aims to project the 48 teams which will make the NCAA Tournament, also lists the Big Red among its teams for the first time this year. Cornell debuted at No. 38, and Brown is currently No. 32.

DRAWING A BLANK
The Big Red have already recorded seven shutouts this season, a number that is tied for second in a single season in Cornell history. The all-time record, eight, would be tied with one more shutout.

TWO-TIME PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After scoring the game-winning goal late against Colgate and earning another goal on Saturday against Yale, sophomore striker Daniel Haber was once again named the Ivy League's player of the week. Haber also earned Ivy League Co-Player of the Week honors for the week of Sept. 18-25. He scored the game-winning goal against St. Joseph's on Sept. 23 and also earned two assists on Sept. 21 against Binghamton. Haber became the Red's first Player of the Week winner since midfielder Brian Kuritzky on Sept. 4, 2007.
    Haber leads the team with 42 shots, which is good for fourth in the Ivy League. He also tops the Big Red with 19 shots on goal, seven goals, three game-winning goals and 18 points. He has also taken and converted the only penalty kick for Cornell this year.

TWO-TIME ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
For scoring the game-winning goal against Hofstra just four minutes into the contest, Goepel was named the Ivy League's Rookie of the Week for the week of Sept. 10-17. Goepel, a midfielder from Chatham, N.J., has played in all 11 games for the Big Red this year, starting in four. He has racked up 10 shots, including four on goal, and has scored three times. Goepel looks to be a promising contributor to Cornell soccer for years to come.

PROLIFIC SCORERS
Goepel's goal against St. Bonaventure on Sept. 26 was the team's 14th of the season. That total is one more than the offense's entire output from the 2010 campaign. The Big Red remains on pace to more than double its number of goals from last year, and it currently has 21. Cornell has the second-most goals among the Ivy League squads and is one goal behind first-place Penn.

BRICK WALL
As goalkeeper Rick Pflasterer's overall goals against average continues to plummet to 0.558, he rockets up the national charts. The keeper's GAA is now seventh best in the country through last weekend's games. That average is also best in the Ivy League. His 0.33 GAA in conference games is tops among the Ancient Eight. Pflasterer earned clean sheets in seven of his last nine outings. The team had a streak of 501 minutes without allowing a goal until the 87th minute of the St. Bonaventure game, and Pflasterer has played all but nine minutes this year.
Pflasterer earned Defensive MVP honors in the CU Inaria Classic in mid-September and was named to the Ivy Le ague's weekly Honor Roll for two shutouts last week.

TOUGH STRETCH
Cornell wrapped up its most crowded period of the season after the St. Bonaventure game on Sept. 26, playing five games in 11 days and emerging with a 4-0-1 mark. The game against Colgate on Oct. 11 was the team's final midweek game of the year.

SPREADING THE LOVE
Of the 29 players on Cornell's roster, 25 have seen playing time in the first 10 games and 20 different players have started. Of the 20 starters, only six have started every game: Patrick Slogic, Jake Rinow, Peter Chodas, Jimmy Lannon, Ben Williams and Rick Pflasterer.

TAKING THEIR SHOTS
Cornell continues to dramatically outshoot its opponents, nearly doubling their combined efforts with a 198-105 edge. That number puts the Big Red second in the Ivy League behind Penn's 220. Cornell also holds a 82-39 edge in shots on goal.

PUT THEM IN A CORNER
The Big Red is getting plenty of practice at corner kicks this season, with 69 reps in its 11 games compared to the competition's 41. The team has converted one directly into a goal, with Stephen Reisert's bending kick landing on Patrick Slogic's head and going into the net against Binghamton on Sept. 21. The team has taken more corner kicks than any Ivy League school but Princeton.

THROWING OFF OPPONENTS
Jimmy Lannon continues to be dangerous with long throw-ins into the penalty area. Lannon's throw-in during the season opener against Niagara led to a goal by Slogic, and Lannon earned an assist from a throw-in on Conor Goepel's game-winning goal against Hofstra on Sept. 17. A Lannon throw-in also helped create Haber's game-winner against Penn. Lannon was named Offensive MVP of the CU Inaria Classic in mid-September and owns the team lead with six assists.
 
DEFENSIVE MINDED
Cornell's back four, made up of Jake Rinow, Patrick Slogic, Kyle Parsons and Peter Chodas, have been a huge factor in the team's success this year. Cornell has given up just two goals in its last nine games and has allowed an Ivy League-low seven goals this season.
NEW HAVEN IS A HAVEN FOR CORNELL: The Big Red took sole possession of first place in the Ivy League with a 2-0 win at Yale last weekend. Tyler Regan scored his second goal of the year and Haber followed with his seventh, and terrific defense earned Cornell another shutout. The win against Yale was the Big Red's first since 2006.

BRING IN THE YOUNG GUNS
The 2011 Cornell squad features 10 new players, including nine freshmen and one transfer. All together, the 10 newcomers make up more than one third of the 29-player roster. Justin Orden, who spent his freshman year at Wake Forest, is the lone transfer. All 10 have seen playing time this year, with goalkeeper Zach Zagorski and midfielder Matt Leach earning their first minutes in the Binghamton game.

UP NEXT
With only three games remaining, Cornell travels to Princeton for another big Ivy League tilt. The Big Red stays on the road for the following weekend's clash against Dartmouth on Nov. 5.