ITHACA, N.Y. – The homestretch of Ivy League play begins with the first of two consecutive road games for the Big Red. Entering the weekend in sole possession of first place, Cornell takes on Princeton and hopes to remain atop the league.

MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #14: Cornell at Princeton
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 29, 4 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Roberts Stadium (Princeton, N.J.)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads 48-37-11
LAST MEETING: Princeton won 1-0 on Oct. 30, 2010
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (8-1-4, 3-0-1 Ivy League); Princeton (4-8-1, 1-3 Ivy League)
LIVE STATS: Princeton Athletcs
LIVE VIDEO:  Princeton Athletics (subscription required)

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell remains on top of the Ivy League with three games to go and is eyeing its first league championship since 1995. The team is scoring goals twice as often as last year and is playing excellent defense in allowing just eight goals in 13 games. Cornell is on a 12-game unbeaten run that is the second-longest in the nation and tied for the longest in school history.

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 PRINCETON
The Tigers, based in Princeton, N.J., enter Saturday's game with a 4-8-1 record and a 1-3 mark in the Ivy League. Princeton is coming off a high-scoring 3-2 victory against winless Harvard last weekend. Antoine Hoppenot leads Princeton with 13 points, but Matt Sanner's six goals is best on the team. Princeton is the defending Ivy League champion. Goalkeeper Max Gallin is allowing nearly two goals per game, and the team has allowed more goals overall than anyone in the conference. But don't let those numbers fool you: Princeton has played an incredibly difficult schedule, facing four teams currently ranked in the coaches' poll.
The Tigers are coached by Jim Barlow, who is in the 16th season of coaching his alma mater.

THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
Cornell and Princeton have met 96 times, with the Tigers holding a 48-37-11 edge. The Big Red fell 1-0 last season against the Tigers, who were ranked No. 20 in the nation at the time and well on their way to an Ivy League title. Cornell is on a four-game winless streak to Princeton and has not beaten the Tigers since 2006.

BREAKING THE BERMAN RECORD
Last weekend's game against Brown saw 983 fans in attendance, 22 more than ever before at Berman Field. With $5 for every fan in attendance going to cure pediatric cancer, the team raised nearly $5,000 during the game.

A WIN WOULD…
...give Cornell its first victory against Princeton since 2006…extend the team's unbeaten streak to 13 games, making it the longest in school history…keep Cornell in the Ivy League lead with two games to go…put the Big Red eight games over .500 for the first time since Nov. 16, 1996.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the NCAA's newest Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) numbers released Tuesday, Cornell sits at No. 49. CollegeSoccerNews.com has Cornell coming in at No. 25 one week after being ranked No. 26. 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 but dropped this week to No. 42.

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 47 shots, which is good for fourth in the Ivy League. He also tops the Big Red with 20 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 13 games for the Big Red this year, starting in five. He has racked up 11 shots, including five 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 22. 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 0.581, he rockets up the national charts. The keeper's GAA is now ninth best in the country through last weekend's games. That average is also best in the Ivy League. His 0.47 GAA in conference games is tops among the Ancient Eight. Pflasterer earned clean sheets in seven of his last 10 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 two weeks ago.

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.

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 three goals in its last 10 games and has allowed an Ivy League-low eight goals this season.

UNBEATEN STREAK EXTENDED
After a first half that saw few opportunities for either side, Cornell and Brown came out of the gate fast in the second half. Stephen Reisert scored a header goal on a cross by Peter Chodas in the 47th minute, and just two minutes later the Bears equalized on a header by 6-foot-5 freshman Ben Maurey. The teams cooled off after that and played the final 40 minutes of regulation and all 20 minutes of the game without a goal.

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 two games remaining, Cornell heads to Dartmouth for another big Ivy League tilt on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Big Red ends its regular season the following weekend with a home contest against Columbia on Nov. 12.