REGIONAL TAILGATE INFORMATION

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #8: Cornell at Yale
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 1, at Noon
GAME SITE: Johnson Field (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 17-15-1
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 3-2 on Oct. 2, 2010 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (3-4, 0-1); Yale (3-4, 1-1)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/yale/
LIVE VIDEO: None

THE MATCH UP: The Cornell field hockey team will travel to the Nutmeg State to take on Yale at Johnson Field on Saturday, Oct. 1 at noon. The Big Red is looking for its first Ivy League win of the season, while the Bulldogs are looking to rebound after falling to Princeton last weekend. Live stats for the game will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/yale/.

THE SERIES WITH YALE: The series with the Bulldogs began in 1979, the first official season of Ivy League play, with a 3-0 Yale victory. The Bulldogs went on to enjoy an eight-game unbeaten streak before Cornell earned a 2-1 overtime victory in 1987. Despite not winning a contest until the 1987 season, the Big Red still holds a 17-15-1 advantage in the all-time series. In recent years, the series has been extremely competitive with 14 of the last 15 meetings being decided by one goal, including the last four contests.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: After winning back-to-back games against Harvard and Sacred heart by a combined score of 14-2, Yale dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to Princeton last weekend to fall to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the Ivy League. Still, the Bulldogs remain on pace for a school record-setting season offensively, having racked up 27 goals in just seven games. As a team, Yale is sixth in the country in goals per game (3.86) and seventh in assists per game (3.14), led by Erin Carter's six goals and 15 points, while Erica Borgo has a team-high six assists. In goal, sophomore Emily Cain is in the top 15 nationally in both save percentage (15th – .776) and saves per game (14th – 7.43).

LAST TIME VS. YALE: The Big Red nearly completed a rally from a two-goal deficit late in the second half, but ultimately fell to Yale by a 3-2 margin at Marsha Dodson Field. Genevieve Collins and Hannah Balleza scored goals for the Big Red, with Mallory Bannon and Mattie Prodanovic collecting assists. Alex Botte recorded five saves in taking the loss for the Big Red. For Yale, Georgia Holland picked up a pair of goals while Erin Carter had one. Erica Borgo and Dinah Landshut both had an assist in the victory for Yale. Katie Bolling had five saves for the Bulldogs. After trailing 3-1 late in the second half, Cornell cut into the deficit to one-goal with 7:04 to play when, after a penalty corner, Prodanovic hit a shot that went up into the air and was deflected up by Balleza. The ball then caromed up and over the shoulder of Bolling and into the goal. The referees conferred to determine if the goal should stand and, after a discussion of several minutes, ruled the goal valid. The Big Red nearly tied the game when Catie De Stio's shot was batted out of mid-air by a Yale defender with five minutes to play, and had a chance with a penalty corner as time expired, but Prodanovic's shot was blocked by the Yale defense and cleared out of danger.

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD:
* even the Big Red's record at 4-4 on the season and give it its first Ivy League win of the year.
* snap a two-game skid to the Bulldogs.
* give Coach Hornibrook a 5-3 record against Yale.
* be Coach Hornibrook's 66th victory with the Big Red and her 236th career win.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (65-55, .541) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 235-102-10 (.692) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

IN THE RANKINGS: Senior goalie Alex Botte currently ranks second in the nation with an .829 save percentage. She also ranks 15th overall in goals-against average (1.5) and is 16th in the country in saves per game (7.25)

GOALS GALORE: Despite being just a sophomore, Hannah Balleza is already close to moving into Cornell's top 10 for career goals. She currently sits at 14th overall with 14 career goals and needs just two more to rank 10th all-time.

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 (15) and needs just five more to become the winningest goalie in Big Red history. She also ranks 8th overall for shutouts in a career (4) and needs just one more to move up to fifth overall.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 17-8 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 58-39 and has taken more than twice as many shots (523-243) as its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 142 penalty corners (5.7 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.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 1-0 loss to Penn on Sept. 17, 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 33 games, with 21 of those coming by a single goal, including nine in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 52 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 56-8 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. So far this season, Cornell has seen six different players reach the points' column.

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 will face a pair of Patriot League foes next week, beginning with a midweek match-up with instate rival Colgate at Marsha Dodson Field on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m., before traveling to Lehigh to take on the Mountain Hawks on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 3 p.m.