GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: Cornell at Harvard
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 13, at Noon
GAME SITE: Jordan Field (Cambridge, Mass.)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 24-10-4
LAST MEETING: Harvard won, 3-1, Oct. 15, 2011 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2012 RECORDS: Cornell (5-6, 2-1 Ivy); Harvard (3-8, 1-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: GoCrimson.com
LIVE VIDEO: GoCrimson.com

GAME #13: Cornell vs. Davidson
GAME TIME: Monday, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-1, Sept. 5, 2009 (Washington, D.C.)
2012 RECORDS: Cornell (5-6); Davidson (6-7)*
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: None

* Prior to contests on Saturday, Oct. 13 and Sunday, Oct. 14

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red field hockey team will look to even its record and extend its current winning streak to five games when it travels to Cambridge, Mass., to take on Harvard at Jordan Field on Saturday, Oct. 13 at noon. Cornell will then return home to play host to Davidson on Marsha Dodson Field on Monday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. Harvard will provide live stats and live video (pay-per-view) at GoCrimson.com. Live stats vs. Davidson can be found at CornellBigRed.com.

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD: One of Cornell's longest on-going rivalries, the Big Red first played Harvard during the 1976 season, a 3-0 Crimson victory. Over the next 10 years, Harvard would dominate the series, with Cornell winning just one contest (1978), and allowing the Crimson to post a 24-10-4 record all time vs. the Big Red. Head coach Hornibrook is 3-5 vs. the Crimson and the Cornell posted a 2-0 victory in the Big Red's last trip to Cambridge in 2010.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard has lost its last three outings, all to non-conference opponents, to fall to 3-8 on the season. The Crimson's last win was a 1-0 victory over Brown on Sept. 29, giving Harvard a mark of 1-2 in Ivy play.  Noel Painter leads the offense with four goals and two assists for a team-high 10 points, while Caitlin Rea has a team-best four assists. In goal, senior Cynthia Tassopoulos has seen the majority of action, but junior Jenn Hatfield has also seen substantial playing time, making two starts. Tassopoulos owns a 2.07 goals-against average and a .776 save percentage, while Hatfield has posted a 2.49 GAA and a .786 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD: The Big Red controlled the play and had plenty of chances, but it was Harvard that made the most of its opportunities as it defeated Cornell, 3-1, on Oct. 15, 2011 on Marsha Dodson Field in Ithaca, N.Y. Cornell held the advantage in shots, 17-12, but the Crimson owned a slight edge in penalty corners, 8-7. Both teams' goalies made seven saves with Cynthia Tassopoulos picking up the win, while Alex Botte was given the loss. Harvard  got on the board late in the first half when Georgia McGillvray converted a penalty stroke to send the team's into the intermission with the visitors leading, 1-0. It took just over seven minutes into the second half for Cornell to earn the equalizer. The Big Red was awarded a penalty corner and after an initial save by Tassopoulos, Genevieve Collins collected the ball and passed it into the center of the circle where Katherine Stone received the ball and found the back of the net. Cornell continued to carry the play but a Crimson penalty corner put the visitors back on top. Botte made the save on the initial shot, but the Big Red could not clear the ball from the circle and Carly Dickson sent a cross-crease pass to the far post and Sydney Jenkins tipped it in to make it a 2-1 advantage. As time wound down, the Big Red pushed its offense forward seeking the equalizer and a quick counter attack led to a 2-on-1 breakaway for the Crimson. Botte came off her line to force the play, but Jenkins found Noel Painter all alone in front of the net to account for the 3-1 final.

THE SERIES WITH DAVIDSON: The Big Red has won the only meeting in the series with Davidson, defeating the Wildcats, 3-1, on Sept. 5, 2009 in a neutral site game played in Washington, D.C.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: Davidson enters Sunday's contest with Colgate with a 6-7 record after having a three-game winning streak snapped by No. 22 Wake Forest on Oct. 9. Finley Amato leads the Wildcats' offense with 10 goals, while four others have registered three goals apiece on the season. Among those is Melissa Funsten, who also leads Davidson with six assists. In goal, Sarah Fisher has played all but 9:53 of the season and has posted a 2.60 goals-against average and a .724 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. DAVIDSON: Cornell got off to a fast start in its first game of the 2009 season, scoring less than five minutes into the contest against Davidson and rolling to the 3-1 victory. Senior Kelley Kantarian notched two goals for Cornell, while freshman Kat DiPastina registered her first collegiate goal. In cage, senior Mel Jue got the start, but didn't need to make a save in the first half of action. Sophomore Alex Botte came on in relief and made four saves, while allowing one goal in the final 35 minutes. Davidson got its lone goal from Ellie Szykowny and Christa Goeke made just three saves and allowed three goals in the lost. Cornell finished the game with the significant advantage in shots (12-6) and penalty corners (6-1).

VS. THE NORPAC FIELD HOCKEY CONFERENCE: Cornell is 3-3 all-time against the current members of the NorPac Field Hockey Conference. The Big Red owns a winning record against Davidson (1-0), is even in the all-time series with Cal (1-1) and hold a losing mark vs. Stanford (1-2). Cornell has never played Appalachian State, Liberty, Longwood, Radford, Pacific or UC-Davis in field hockey … Coach Hornibrook is 1-0 vs. the NorPac.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her ninth season at Cornell (74-67, .525) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 244-114-10 (.677) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

A RARE SWEEP: The Big Red swept the Ivy League weekly honors on Oct. 9, as Hannah Balleza was named Player of the Week and Marisa Siergiej was named Rookie of the Week. It is the first time Cornell received both awards since Brenna Gulotta was both Player and Rookie of the Week on Sept. 20, 2005 and it is the first time that two different Cornell athletes swept the awards since Nov. 14, 1995, when Molly Kauffman was named Player and Emily Robb shared Rookie of the Week honors.

WINNING WAYS: With its 3-1 victory over Georgetown on Oct. 7, the Big Red posted its first four-game winning-streak since 2010, when Cornell won five consecutive contests from Oct. 3 to Oct. 23.

SHOT STOPPER: Carolyn Horner entered the week ranked fourth in the nation in save percentage (.822) and is sixth overall in saves per game (8.8).

IN THE RANKINGS: Also in the national rankings is junior Hannah Balleza, who ranks 26th in the country in both points (1.82) and goals (0.73) per game.

MOVING ON UP: Junior Hannah Balleza ranks eighth overall in Cornell history with 25 goals. She needs one more tally to move into a tie for seventh place with Beth Paciello (1985-88). She also currently ranks seventh in Big Red history for career points with 59. She needs just one more point to move into a tie with Kelly Boutin (1969-99) in sixth place and eight more points to crack the top-five and tie Joanne Powell (1976-79) with 67 points.

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 65-10 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.

KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Rutgers on Sept. 23, 4-3, in overtime, it marked the only the second 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 45-2 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 3-1 victory against Georgetown on Oct. 7, 2012.

DOUBLE UP: Cornell freshman Marisa Siergiej notched two goals for the Big Red against Colgate on Oct. 3, becoming the first Big Red rookie to score twice in a game since Maura Greenwood found the back of the net twice in a 9-0 victory over Bryant on Oct. 11, 2008.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the second time in her career, Carolyn Horner has been named the Ivy League Player of the Week after picking up a pair of shutout victories against Yale and Siena. Against the Bulldogs, Horner stopped eight shots, including three sprawling saves during the overtime session, to help the Big Red earn a 1-0 victory. The next day against the Saints, she was called on to make just two saves, but both were on legitimate scoring chances late in the game, as Cornell held on for the 1-0 victory.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 3-2 victory over Colgate on Oct. 3 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 45 games, with 27 of those coming by a single goal, including 12 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 60 games, with 30 coming in one-goal games, including nine in overtime.

START ME UP: Freshman goalie Elizabeth Schaeffler's complete game against Lock Haven to open the season marked the first time in the history of the Big Red field hockey program that a rookie netminder started, and played a full contest, in the season opener. Prior to Schaeffler's accomplishment, Yanaka Bernal '91 started the first game of her collegiate career in 1987, but played only the first half.

BANNON SAVES: During the 2011 season, Cornell registered just two defensive saves – both of which were credited to one of the Bannon sisters. Mallory recorded hers first against Georgetown, with Keelin getting hers in the final game of the season against Dartmouth.

DEFENSIVE SAVES: Against Penn State, the Big Red matched its 2011 total for defensive saves with a pair recorded by Ann DiPastina and Paige Mollineaux.

SISTER ACT: Since the beginning of the 2007 campaign, Cornell has had at least one set of sisters on its roster each season. This year, the team features three sets of sisters – Keelin and Mallory Bannon, Ann and Kat DiPastia, Paige and Shelby Mollineaux. The three sets of sisters is the most Cornell has ever had on a roster in the history of the field hockey program, and it is the most on any current roster of any team in the country.

TWINS AND MORE TWINS!: While fans of the Big Red know that juniors Keelin and Mallory Bannon are twins, many might not know that another member of the team has a twin, who also plays a collegiate sport. Junior Carolyn Horner's twin, Gabrielle, plays lacrosse at Tufts.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Genevieve Collins, Kat DiPastina, Paige Mollineaux and Carolyn Horner have been named captains for the 2012 season.

ALL-IVY ACCOLADES: Cornell had two players named second-team All-Ivy in 2011, both of whom are back for the 2012 season – juniors Hannah Balleza and Mallory Bannon.

U-S-A; U-S-A: Hannah Balleza has been a member of the US Indoor National Squad for the past three years.

BLACK BELTS: Sisters Paige Mollineaux and Shelby Mollineaux are both black belts in karate.

LANGUAGE 101: Juniors Carolyn Horner and Brittany Thompson are both fluent in a foreign language, speaking Chinese and Arabic, respectively.

ON THE BLOCK: Ann DiPastina is a member of Cornell's Block and Bridle Club and has trained beef heifers by halter breaking them.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 23-12 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 77-56 and has taken significantly more shots (650-376) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 200 penalty corners (5.7 per game).

SMARTY PANTS: The Big Red placed four student-athletes on the 2011 Gladiator by SGI/NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad. Cornell has had at least four players earn the honor in seven of the past eight seasons. Alex Botte '12 headlined the group with her fourth selection, joining Stephanie Brownstein '08 as just the second player in Cornell history to be named to the National Academic Squad all four years. Additionally, the 2011 squad earned the NFHCA Collegiate National Academic Team Award for the fourth time during head coach Donna Hornibrook's tenure.

WHAT WAS LOST: Cornell lost a pair of graduated seniors from last season's squad – Olivia Boyd and Alex Botte. Boyd played in 49 games during her career and was a solid contributor with three goals during the 2011 season. Botte graduated as the winningest goalie in Cornell history, tied with Kaitlin Tierney (2000-03) and Yanaka Bernal (1987-90), with 19 career victories.

WHAT RETURNS: The Big Red returns seven of the 10 players that registered at least one point from a season ago, including second-team All-Ivy selections Hannah Balleza and Mallory Bannon.

UP NEXT: The Big Red travels to Brown on Saturday, Oct. 20 to take on the Bears at noon.