ITHACA, N.Y. – A loss last week eliminated any chance of Cornell earning an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, but the team can still win a share of the Ivy League title if things fall right. But first things' first for Cornell: Beat Columbia in its season finale.

MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #16: Cornell vs. Columbia
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Berman Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Columbia leads 31-19-8
LAST MEETING: Teams tied 0-0 after 2OT on Nov. 13, 2010
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (8-2-5, 3-1-2 Ivy League); Columbia (8-7-1, 4-2-0 Ivy League)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/msoc
LIVE VIDEO:  http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase

ABOUT THE BIG RED
For the first time all year, the Big Red is not in first place in the Ivy League. A loss to Dartmouth on Nov. 5 dropped the team into fourth place, but it remains in striking distance of an Ivy League title. This season has seen a huge positive turnaround, and the team is one win away from potentially claiming its first Ivy League title since 1995.

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 COLUMBIA
The Lions, based in New York City, enter Saturday's game in third place in the Ivy League thanks to 12 points in league games on four wins and two losses. Columbia topped last-place Harvard last weekend for its third consecutive win, and the team is on a hot streak late in the year. Columbia can also win the Ivy League title outright with a win against Cornell and a tie in the Harvard/Dartmouth game earlier Saturday afternoon. Will Stematis leads the team with six goals, five of which are game-winners.
Kevin Anderson, a 1992 graduate of Southern Connecticut State, is the team's head coach in his third year.

THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA
Cornell and Columbia have tangled 58 times over the years, and the Lions hold a 31-19-8 lead in the series. The Big Red's last win against Columbia came in 2009 – its only Ivy League win that season – and the teams fought to a 0-0 draw last year. The Lions last won against the Big Red in 2008.

A WIN WOULD…
…clinch a share of the Ivy League title for Cornell IF Brown and Dartmouth tie …give Cornell its first victory against Columbia since 2009…end the team's regular season with nine wins for the first time since 2001.

SENIOR NIGHT
The Big Red will honor five seniors against Columbia who will be playing in their final regular season game at Berman Field. Chase Aaronson, Scott Caldwell, Jimmy Lannon, Will Ogden and Kyle Parsons will be honored during the game for their contributions to Cornell soccer.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the NCAA's newest Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) numbers released Tuesday, Cornell sits at No. 63.

DRAWING A BLANK
The Big Red has 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.

BREAKING THE BERMAN RECORD
Cornell's last home game on Oct. 22 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.

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 51 shots, which is good for fourth in the Ivy League. He also tops the Big Red with 21 shots on goal, eight goals, three game-winning goals and 20 points. Those 20 points are second best in the conference. 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 13 shots, including six 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 has fallen off its pace to more than double its number of goals from last year, though it currently has 24 and would need just two to double last year's 13. Cornell has the fourth-most goals among the Ivy League, just two behind first-place Princeton.

BRICK WALL
Goalkeeper Rick Pflasterer's overall goals against average continues to hover among the lowest in the country. His current goals against average of 0.60 is now 11th-best in the nation through last weekend's games. That average is also best in the Ivy League. His 0.55 GAA in conference games is tops among the Ancient Eight. 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 in one week in October.

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 14 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 and the team's only goal off Slogic's head against Dartmouth. 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 Ivy League-low 12 goals this season.

UNBEATEN STREAK COMES TO AN END
A 49th-minute goal by Dartmouth put the Big Red into survival mode Saturday. Though the team fought hard and eventually got a goal by Patrick Slogic off a Jimmy Lannon throw-in, Dartmouth had already scored again and wound up winning 3-1. Goalkeeper Rick Pflasterer missed all but four minutes of the game after going down early with an injury.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
• Chase Aaronson is one goal away from the 10th in his career.
• Scott Caldwell is one assist shy of 10 at Cornell.
• Matthew Altebrando needs one more game for his 10th.
• Daniel Haber's next goal will be his 10th, and his next point will be his 25th.
• Nico Nissl is one game away from his 40th.
• Tyler Regan needs two points for his 10th.

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.