GAME INFORMATION
GAME #3: Cornell at Vermont
GAME TIME: Saturday, Sept. 10, at 2:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Moulton Winder Field (Burlington, Vt.)
SERIES RECORD: Vermont leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: Vermont won, 2-0 on Sept. 17, 2006 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (2-0); Vermont (2-2)
LIVE STATS: None
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.nsnsports.net/uvm/

GAME #4: Cornell vs. Maine
GAME TIME: Sunday, Sept. 11, at Noon
GAME SITE: Moulton Winder Field (Burlington, Vt.)
SERIES RECORD: Maine leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: Maine won, 1-0 on Oct. 9, 2006 (Cambridge, Mass.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (2-0); Maine (4-1)
LIVE STATS: None
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.nsnsports.net/uvm/

* Prior to games on Sept. 10

THE MATCH UP: The Cornell field hockey team travels to Burlington, Vt., this weekend to take part in the Sheraton Catamount Classic. The Big Red will face the host Vermont, on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m., before taking on Maine on Sunday, Sept. 11 at noon. Both games will be video streamed live at: http://www.nsnsports.net/uvm/

THE SERIES WITH VERMONT: The Catamounts own a 2-0 record in the all-time series against the Big Red, dropping identical 2-0 decisions in back-to-back seasons in 2005 and 2006 ... Coach Hornibrook is 0-2 vs. Vermont.

SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS: Vermont is off to a 2-2 start after winning back-to-back games last weekend against Hofstra and Colgate. The Catamounts are led by Colleen Slaughter and Emily Bastiaanse with three and two goals, respectively, while Sally Snickernberger has a team-high two assists. In goal, Stephanie Zygmunt has played every minute, making 45 saves and allowing 11 goals. Overall, she has posted an .804 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average.

LAST TIME VS. VERMONT (Sept. 17, 2006): A long weekend of field hockey came to a disappointing end as the Big Red dropped a 2-0 decision to Vermont in non-conference action. Just one day after holding on for a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Ivy League foe Penn, Cornell gave up two goals in the final five minutes of play against the Catamounts to lose its first game of the season, falling to 4-1 on the year. After entering the intermission at a scoreless deadlock, Vermont turned up the offensive pressure in the second half, barraging Cornell with shots, but in her first start of the season, sophomore Shannon Prescott made six saves to keep the Big Red in the game. Prescott also received help from sophomore Stephanie Brownstein and junior Katie Bradshaw who both registered defensive saves in the second half. The Catamounts' Kelly McClintock scored the first goal of the game at the 65:08 mark and just over two minutes later Desch collected the rebound of Bradshaw's defensive save gave the visitors the 2-0 victory. For the game, Vermont outshot the Big Red, 19-14 and held a 9-5 edge in penalty corners. Between the pipes, both Prescott and the Catamounts' Erin Hickey registered nine saves.

THE SERIES WITH MAINE: The Black Bears are a perfect 2-0 all-time against Cornell. Maine has earned a pair of 1-0 decisions, with the first coming in 2002 and the most recent coming in 2006. Like the 2011 meeting, both prior contests with the Black Bears were played at a neutral site … Coach Hornibrook is 0-1 all-time against Maine.

SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS: After dropping its season opener to Northeastern, Maine has rattled off four consecutive wins, most recently defeating Dartmouth, 7-3, on Wednesday evening. The Black Bears offense has been outstanding, scoring an impressive 5.6 goals per game on the season but the team has also struggled defensively, giving up 2.4 goals per game after allowing three goals in each of their last three outings. The team is led by Stephanie Gardiner's seven goals and three assists, while Zoe Adkins, Alexa Binnendijk, Jocelyn Mitchell and Holly Stewart have all registered three goals apiece. In goal, senior Brittany Fleck has seen the majority of minutes (212) and has posted a .609 save percentage and a 2.97 goals-against average. Junior Sydney Kolysher has also played a significant amount of minutes (105) and has registered a .500 save percentage and a 2.00 GAA.

LAST TIME VS. MAINE (Oct. 9, 2006): The Big Red physically and statistically dominated Maine, but the Black Bears managed to score early in the second half to take a 1-0 victory away from Harvard's Jordan Field. The Big Red outshot Maine, 21-5 and held a 10-4 advantage on penalty corners, but the Black Bears' netmider Maygan Cassarino made 14 saves to earn the victory. Maine scored on its very first opportunity of the second half as the Black Bears were awarded a penalty corner just two minutes in, but were unable to convert. Cornell was unable to clear the ball and a scrum ensued in front of the net. Kristen Healy managed to hit the ball with a reverse stick from three-yards out, beating Lizzie Goldblatt to the near post and giving Maine the victory. Cornell outshot the Black Bears, 11-2 in the opening stanza, forcing Cassarino to make six saves. The Big Red also held a 5-2 edge in penalty corners in the first half. Goldblatt was not forced to make a save in the first half and she finished the contest with two saves.

VS. THE AMERICA EAST: Cornell is 3-9 all-time against the current members of the America East, with all three victories coming against Albany (3-3). The Big Red is winless against Boston University (0-1), Fairfield (0-1), Maine (0-2) and Vermont (0-2) and has never faced New Hampshire … Coach Hornibrook is 0-5 vs. the America East.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her seventh season at Cornell (64-51, .557) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 234-98-10 (.699) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

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.

FAMILIAR FACE: Fans of the Big Red will recognize a familiar face on the Maine sideline as Black Bear head coach Josette Babineau spent three years as the Cornell assistant under head coach Donna Hornibrook.

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.

WHAT WAS LOST: The class of 2011, which included Catie De Stio, Mattie Prodanovic, Sara Sanders, Steph Sanders, Liz Scovee and Kate Thompson, was the winningest senior class in field hockey program history. The group finished with a record of 42-22 (20-8 Ivy) over their four-year careers and they never finished below third in the Ivy League standings. Additionally, De Stio graduated as the Cornell career leader in points with 94.

WHAT RETURNS: The Big Red returns two of its top four scorers from a season ago, Hannah Balleza and Kat DiPastina, as well as first-team All-Ivy goalkeeper Alex Botte. Balleza ranked second on the team with 10 goals and one assist for 21 points, while DiPastina chipped in four goals and one assist for nine points. Botte was a workhorse for the Big Red, playing all but 9:00 during the season and finishing with an 11-5 record. She concluded the year with two shutouts, including one in Ivy play, and posted 1.77 goals against average to go along with a .726 save percentage. Botte's GAA dropped to 1.50 in Ivy play, ranking third best in the league, but tops amongst goalies that saw more than 400:00 minutes of action in conference play.

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 goal scorers.

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.

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.

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).

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.

UP NEXT: The Big Red opens Ivy League play next 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.