ITHACA, N.Y. – Coming off a huge road win to open Ivy League play last week, the men's soccer team returns to action against Harvard on Saturday. The Big Red will look to go 2-0 to start the conference schedule for the first time since 2005.

MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #10: Cornell vs. Harvard
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 8, 4:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Berman Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 38-20-15
LAST MEETING: Teams tied 1-1 on Oct. 9, 2010
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (5-1-3, 1-0 Ivy League); Harvard (2-6-1, 0-1)
LIVE STATS: sidearmstats.com/cornell/msoc/
LIVE VIDEO: None

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell continues to ride a lengthy unbeaten streak, and its win against Penn on Saturday extended that streak to eight games. The team is on its longest unbeaten streak since November of 1995. Thanks to a stalwart defense that has allowed just six goals in nine games and an exciting offense that is scoring when it needs to, Cornell has the best winning percentage of any Ivy League team 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 at Colgate. He now holds a .500 career record (15-15-13) after Saturday's win at Penn. 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 HARVARD
The Crimson, based in Cambridge, Mass., enter Saturday's game with a 2-6-1 record and a .278 winning percentage that ranks is tied for worst among Ivy League teams. Harvard's regular-season statistics rank last among Ivy teams in every offensive category, though it has allowed fewer goals than any team but the Big Red. The Crimson opened its Ivy slate last weekend with a 1-0 loss at Yale, and it has scored just once in its last six games. Leading scorer Brian Rodgers has two goals on 23 shots.
The Crimson is coached by Carl Junot, a 2001 graduate of Furman who is now in his second year heading the Harvard program.

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD
Cornell and Harvard have met 73 times, with the Crimson holding a 38-20-15 advantage. The teams have tied for the last two seasons, and Chase Aaronson scored a late goal last year to lift the Red to a 1-1 tie. The last decision in the series went to Harvard in 2008.

A WIN WOULD…
...give Cornell its first win against Harvard since 2005…start the Ivy League season with a 2-0 record for the first time since 2005…give the Big Red its first nine-game unbeaten streak since Nov. 12, 1995…put the Big Red five games over .500 for the first time since Nov. 13, 1999…boost Jaro Zawislan's career winning percentage over .500 for the first time since Sept. 27, 2009, when he was 4-3-1.

MOVIN' ON UP
Previously ranked No. 9 in the NSCAA Northeast Region, the Big Red jumped up to a tie for No. 6 this week after knocking off previous No. 8 Penn. Cornell is also receiving votes in the national poll on CollegeSoccerNews.com.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Daniel Haber 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 32 shots, which is good for fourth in the Ivy League. He also tops the Big Red with 15 shots on goal, four goals, three assists, two game-winning goals and 11 points. He has also taken and converted the only penalty kick for Cornell this year.

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 nine games for the Big Red this year, starting in four. He has racked up eight shots, including three on goal, and looks to be a promising contributor to Cornell soccer for years to come.

PROLIFIC SCORERS
Conor 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 is on pace to more than double its number of goals from last year, and it currently has 15. Cornell has the fourth-most goals among the Ivy League squads and is two goals behind first-place Yale and Penn.

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 Big Red now has the luxury of only facing one midweek game the rest of the year.

SPREADING THE LOVE
Of the 29 players on Cornell's roster, 25 have seen playing time in the first eight 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, more than doubling their combined efforts with a 159-76 edge. That number puts the Big Red second in the Ivy League behind Penn's 184. Cornell also holds a 67-30 edge in shots on goal.

PUT THEM IN A CORNER
The Big Red is getting plenty of practice at corner kicks so far this season, with 61 reps in its nine games compared to the
competition's 32. 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 the season opener against Niagara lead 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.
 
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 one goal in its last five games and has allowed an Ivy League-low six goals this season.

MINDING THE NET
Rick Pflasterer is backing up his terrific 2010 campaign with another great run in 2011. His goals against average of 0.63 is best in the Ivy League and 19th in the country. Pflasterer earned clean sheets in his last five of his last six 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. He earned Defensive MVP honors in the CU Inaria Classic in mid-September.

LATE-GAME HEROICS BOOST RED TO WIN
After its four-game winning streak came to an end with a tie to St. Bonaventure, Cornell got a dramatic victory against Penn to open Ivy League play. With 1:27 remaining in the game, Haber took a shot on a floating ball from the right side of the penalty box, looping it over Penn's goalie to exact revenge on the Quakers from last year's similar defeat.

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 now seen playing time this year, with goalkeeper Zach Zagorski and midfielder Matt Leach earning their first minutes in the Binghamton game.

UP NEXT
The Big Red plays its last out-of-conference game of the year when Colgate comes to Ithaca on Tuesday. Cornell then continues Ivy action when it travels to Yale on Oct. 15.