GAME INFORMATION
GAME #16: Cornell at Princeton
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 29, at Noon
GAME SITE: Class of '52 Stadium (Princeton, N.J.)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 25-5-3
LAST MEETING: Princeton won, 3-2 on Oct. 30, 2010 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (7-8, 1-4); Princeton (7-7, 4-1)
LIVE STATS: www.GoPrincetonTigers.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.GoPrincetonTigers.com

THE MATCH UP: The Big Red field hockey team hits the road this weekend as it travels to Princeton to take on the Tigers at the Class of '52 Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 29 at noon. Live stats and live video will be available for the game at www.GoPrincetonTigers.com.

THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON: The Tigers have dominated the series with Cornell from the get-go, winning the first five meetings, beginning with a 4-0 victory in 1978. The Big Red's best stretch in the series came from 1983-1990, as Cornell posted a 4-2-2 record, but a 2-1 overtime win by Princeton in 1991 began a 14-game unbeaten streak for the Tigers. The streak was snapped with a 4-3 Big Red victory at Princeton in 2007, but the Tigers have won the last three and hold the 25-5-3 advantage in the series.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Despite struggling to a 7-7 record overall, Princeton finds itself in familiar territory, sitting atop the Ivy League standings with a 4-1 record after defeating Harvard last weekend to hand the Crimson its first conference loss of the season. The Tigers are led by Allison Evans's 10 goals and 23 points, while Sydney Kirby has posted seven goals and seven assists for 21 points. That pair has combined for more goals (17) than the rest of the team combined (15). In goal, Christina Maida has seen the majority of minutes and posted a 7-6 record to go along with a  2.19 goals-against average and a .663 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON: The Big Red field hockey team gave sixth-ranked Princeton all it could handle, but came up just short, falling to the Tigers, 3-2, at Marsha Dodson Field. Trailing 3-0 late in the game, the Big Red scored twice in the final five minutes of the contest, but could not find the equalizer. Cornell had excellent chances to score throughout the contest, but didn't break through until the 66th minute when Catie De Stio put back a rebound off a Jennifer King save. Just over three minutes later, Cornell cleared the ball out of its defensive zone and Sara Sanders sent a brilliant pass upfield to Kate Thompson. The senior midfielder carried to the top of the circle, pulled back and rolled left-to-right away from her defender before ripping a shot that went through King's legs to make it a 3-2 game. The rest of the game was battled at midfield with neither team getting off another shot. For just the second time during the season, the Big Red was outshot as Princeton held the 15-10 edge in shots and an 8-7 margin in shots on goal. The Tigers did hold a significant edge in penalty corners, 8-3. Both teams registered five saves, with King stopping five for Princeton to get the win, while Alex Botte registered four saves and Liz Schovee made a defensive save for the Big Red. Kathleen Sharkey tallied the Tigers first two goals of the game, both of which came off penalty corners in the first half of action. In the 45th minute Allison Behringer scored what proved to be a much needed insurance goal to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

LAST WEEKEND: The Big Red split a pair of games last weekend, picking up its first Ivy League win of the season as it defeated Brown, 4-2, on Saturday, before falling to Rutgers, 2-0, in a non-conference game on Sunday. Against the Bears, senior goalie Alex Botte made six saves to tie the school record for career wins (19) and was helped offensively by sophomore Brittany Thompson, who was all over the field, created numerous scoring chances and finished the day with two goals. Classmate Hannah Balleza also tallied one goal and one assist, while Genevieve Collins had two assists and Kat DiPastina scored one goal. With her goal, Balleza moved up to eighth-place in Big Red history for goals in a career (17). Botte had another solid outing on Sunday with eight saves against the Scarlet Knights but got no help from an offense that managed to put just three shots on goal.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (69-59, .540) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 239-106-10 (.687) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

MOVING ON UP: With her victory against Brown on Oct. 22, senior goalie Alex Botte (19-13) tied the school record for career wins with 19, sharing the mark with Yanaka Bernal (19-23-5) and Kaitlin Tierney (13-32). She also ranks eighth overall for shutouts in a career (4) and needs just one more to move up to fifth overall, while sitting in 11th place for career saves (191).

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 20-11 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 70-50 and has taken nearly twice as many shots (591-317) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 178 penalty corners (5.7 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 37 games, with 22 of those coming by a single goal, including nine in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 56 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 eighth overall with 17 career goals and needs just 11 more to move into the top five.

POINT PRODUCER: Sophomore Hannah Ballez currently ranks 12th in Cornell history for career points (39) and needs just five more to move into 11th place 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 42-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 4-2 victory against Brown on Oct. 22, 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 60-8 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 concludes its season next weekend as it travels to Dartmouth to take on the Big Green in an Ivy League contest on Sunday, Nov. 6 at noon.