GAME INFORMATION
GAME #5: Cornell at Penn
GAME TIME: Saturday, Sept. 17, at Noon
GAME SITE: Franklin Field (Philadelphia, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 21-12-2
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 4-0 on Sept. 18, 2010 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (2-2); Penn (0-4)
LIVE STATS: None
LIVE VIDEO: PennAthletics.com

GAME #6: Cornell vs. St. Francis (Pa.)
GAME TIME: Sunday, Sept. 18, at 4:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 4-1 on Oct. 3, 2010 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (2-2)*; St. Francis (Pa.) (1-4)
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: None

* Prior to games on Sept. 17

THE MATCH UP: The Cornell field hockey team opens Ivy League play this weekend as it travels to Philadelphia to face Penn on Saturday, Sept. 17 at noon. The team returns home the following day to face St. Francis (Pa.) in a non-conference game on Marsha Dodson Field at 4 p.m. The game against the Quakers will be streamed at www.PennAthletics.com, while the game against the Red Flash will feature live stats at www.CornellBigRed.com.

REGIONAL TAILGATE: The Cornell Field Hockey Alumni Association invites you to come out and support the Big Red in its first Ivy League game of the season at Penn. Join the CFHAA in the stands at Franklin Field and then gather together after the game to meet the 2011 Big Red team, their families and former players at approximately 1:30 p.m. Click here to RSVP.

THE SERIES WITH PENN: The Big Red and the Quakers have squared off 35 times since first meeting in 1976 and Penn holds a 21-12-2 advantage in the all-time series. The Quakers dominated the series early on, posting a 17-2-2 record from 1978-1998, but Cornell has won five of the last six meetings with the Quakers last victory coming at Franklin Field in 2007. Last season, the Big Red blanked Penn for the first time since 2002 and posted its largest margin of victory in the series, winning 4-0. Since 1997, just under half (6-of-14) of the games played between the Big Red and the Quakers have gone to overtime.

SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn is off to a 0-4 start after falling to Lafayette on Wednesday evening. The Quakers have been outscored 16-3 on the season, with its three goals coming from Kristin Snyder, Julie Tahan and Helene Caniglia. Snyder and Tahan have also registered one assist apiece to lead the team with three points. In goal, Kieran Sweeney has played all but 49 minutes on the season, posting an 0-3 record with a 3.03 goals-against average and a .643 save percentage. She is backed-up by Carly Sokach (0-1), who owns an 8.57 GAA and a .400 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. PENN: The Big Red earned a resounding 4-0 victory over Penn in its first Ivy League contest of the 2010 season at Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell enjoyed another balanced offensive attack, as four different players accounted for the four Big Red goals. Catie De Stio and Kate Thompson led the Cornell offense with one goal and one assist apiece, while Hanna Balleza and Sara Sanders both scored once. In goal, Alex Botte was called on to make four saves in the first 61 minutes of action before Carolyn Horner came on in relief but did not face a shot. Cornell held the commanding lead in shots (29-4), shots on goal (16-4) and penalty corners (11-2) and forced Penn goalie Kiernan Sweeney to make 12 saves.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD:
* be Cornell's seventh-straight victory in its Ivy League opener, dating back to a 6-2 loss vs. Columbia in 2004, Coach Hornibrook's first season with the Big Red.
* improve Cornell's win streak over the Quakers to four games. It would also be the Big Red's sixth victory over Penn in the past seven seasons.
* be Coach Hornibrook's 65th victory with the Big Red and her 235th career win.

THE SERIES WITH ST. FRANCIS (Pa.): Cornell has met the Red Flash just twice before on the field hockey pitch, with the Big Red earning a pair of commanding victories in 2005 (9-1) and 2010 (4-1). The nine goals and 25 points registered by Cornell during the 2005 game set single-game records for the program.

SCOUTING THE RED FLASH: St. Francis (Pa.) has posted a 1-4 record on the season with its lone win coming against Lehigh on Sept. 4. The Flash has struggled offensively, with opponents scoring nearly three times as many goals (17-6), while putting nearly twice as many shots on goal (94-50). SFU's six goals have come from three different players with Autumn Pellman leading the way with three tallies, while Kellie Mason and Tia Dudukovich both have two assists apiece. In goal, Kelsey Gavigan started the first two games of the season, but after posting a 6.00 goals-against average and a .556 save percentage she has given way to Jill DiCola, who has started the last three contests for the Flash. DiCola earned the team's only victory and has registered a 1.56 GAA and a .828 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. ST. FRANCIS (Pa.): The Big Red overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Saint Francis (Pa.), 4-1, on Marsha Dodson Field. Five different Cornell players registered at least one point as the Big Red improved to 6-3 on the season. The Big Red got goals from Kat DiPastina, Hannah Balleza, Kate Thompson and Genevieve Collins, while Mattie Prodanovic registered one assist. In goal, Alex Botte made six saves. After allowing a goal in the opening moments of the contest to the Red Flash, Cornell came alive and dominated the rest of the game. The Big Red held the 33-11 edge in shots and put 18 shots on goal. Cornell also had twice as many penalty shots as SFU (10-5). The Red Flash was kept in the game by its goalie and defense, as netminder Katelyn Vitali made 11 saves, while Heather Tiernman and Kate Rossman made two and one defensive saves, respectively.

VS. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE: The Big Red owns a 3-0 record vs. the current members of the Northeast Conference, thanks to two victories against St. Francis (Pa.) and a win against Sacred Heart. Cornell has never faced Bryant, Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, Saint Francis (N.Y.) or Wagner.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (64-53, .547) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 234-100-10 (.694) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 16-7 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 55-36 and has taken more than twice as many shots (501-217) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 122 penalty corners (5.3 per game).

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.

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 38-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 3-2 victory against Lock Haven on Sept. 4, 2011.

MOVING ON UP: Senior goalie Alex Botte is steadily making her way up the Cornell career wins records lists. She is currently ranked 10th in career victories (14) and needs just six more to become the winningest goalie in Big Red history. She also needs just one more shut out to move into the Cornell top 10 for shut outs in a career.

A BALANCED SHEET: Last season, the Big Red saw a tremendously balanced scoring offense, averaging 2.44 goals per game, but having only two games in which the same player scored multiple goals (Catie De Stio – 2 vs. Virginia; Catie De Stio – 2 vs. Harvard). So far this year, Cornell has registered four goals from four different players.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 3-2 victory over Lock Haven on Sept. 4, 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 31 games, with 20 of those coming by a single goal, including nine in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 51 games, with 26 coming in one-goal games, including eight in overtime.

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 55-8 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.

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.

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.

STROKE OF GENIUS: Hannah Balleza converted two penalty strokes for Cornell last season. That was the most made penalty strokes for the Big Red since it converted 2-of-4 during the 2006 season. Balleza's stroke at Columbia was Cornell's first in nearly three years, as its last converted penalty stroke came from Natalie Appleton vs. Syracuse on Oct. 25, 2007. The Big Red did not earn any strokes in 2009 and had one missed in 2008.

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 remains in Ithaca for the week as it welcomes Columbia to Marsha Dodson Field on Saturday, Sept. 24 at noon.