ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team will attempt to keep its recent momentum going Saturday when it hosts Yale with a chance to secure a three-game unbeaten streak for the first time in five years.
 
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #13: Yale at Cornell
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012
TIME: 4 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. — Charles F. Berman Field
2012 RECORDS: Yale 5-6 (0-3 Ivy League); Cornell 1-10-1 (0-2-1 Ivy League)
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 2-1 in overtime, on Oct. 15, 2011 in New Haven, Conn.
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 16-15
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc/scoreboard.aspx

ABOUT THE BIG RED
The long wait for Cornell's first victory finally came to an end Oct. 2, when it secured a 4-1 decision over visiting Lafayette, then the team followed up with a 1-1 deadlock Saturday at Harvard, the reigning Ivy League champion. Junior forward Mary Keroack scored on a header high into the net in the 75th minute off a corner kick from senior Maneesha Chitanvis, and junior goalkeeper Tori Christ made a career-high 10 saves to secure the point for the Big Red. In the previous game against Lafayette, Chitanvis scored twice and senior forward Xandra Hompe scored once and set up the other three goals. Chitanvis' five-point week landed her Ivy League Player of the Week honors. With four goals and two assists for 10 points, Chitanvis is tied with Hompe (3g-4a—10p) for the team lead in points. Senior defender Jayann Gabrio has two goals on free kicks for four points, and junior Tori Christ has been the keeper of record in all 12 games to date.
 
ABOUT YALE
The Bulldogs have lost their last three games, all coming in Ivy League play with just two goals scored in those contests against Princeton, Harvard and Dartmouth. A good chunk of the team's 20 goals this season came in an 8-1 throttling of Saint Peter's, leaving Yale with an average of less than a goal per game otherwise. Senior Kristen Forster leads the team offensively with six goals and three assists for 15 points, followed by reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Melissa Gavin (2g-4a—8p) and fellow sophomore Muriel Battaglia (3g-1a—7p). Along with Gavin, sophomore Meredith Speck (0g-4a—4p) was also an All-Ivy League First Team selection last season. Senior Rachel Ames is the team's primary goalkeeper with a 1-4 record, 1.30 goals-against average and .789 save percentage.
 
THE SERIES WITH YALE
The all-time series has been extremely close, with the Big Red holding a 16-15 advantage. Though there have been no ties between the squads in 31 meetings, six of the games have gone to overtime — including a 2-1 Yale triumph on Oct. 15, 2011 in the teams' last meeting. Cornell has won two of the last three clashes at Berman Field. Senior forward Maneesha Chitanvis scored the lone goal of the Big Red's 1-0 victory on Oct. 16. Senior forward Xandra Hompe scored Cornell's goal against Yale last season.
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 20th season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer was selected as the Cornell women's soccer program's fifth head coach. Farmer comes to the Big Red via the University of Wisconsin, where he served as an assistant coach with the Badgers' women's soccer team for three years. Prior to his stint at Wisconsin, Farmer has amassed a 261-97-40 record at Ithaca College, Penn State, Tennessee Tech and Syracuse. He also served as a head coach at the professional level for two seasons, heading the New York Power of the Women's United Soccer Association. Megan Ramey returns to Cornell for her second season as an assistant coach, and Dwight Hornibrook has also joined the staff as an assistant coach after serving as the head coach of SUNY Cortland men's soccer for the last eight years.
 
MOVING UP THE RANKS
With Tuesday's 4-1 pummeling of Lafayette, senior forwards Xandra Hompe and Maneesha Chitanvis have moved into exclusive company in program history. Chitanvis now has 16 career goals, ranking 10th on the program's all-time list, and Hompe is now tied for 10th in Big Red history with 11 assists over her four seasons on East Hill.
 
TURNAROUND
After losing its first four games by a combined 11 goals, the Big Red has effectively improved in more recent times. Five of the team's last six losses were decided by a single goal leading up to the victory over Lafayette and tie with Harvard. A tie or a win against Yale would give the Big Red its first three-game unbeaten streak since Sept. 14-21, 2007. Cornell has been shut out just twice in 12 games after having been blanked eight times in 16 games last season.
 
A YEAR OF FIRSTS
All three of the Big Red's goals during the season-opening D.C. Invitational were the first of the scorer's respective collegiate careers. Sophomore forward Jaclyn Katz tallied Cornell's goal in the opener against nationally ranked Georgetown, then senior defender Jayann Gabrio and sophomore midfielder Clara Gallagher scored on Labor Day at George Washington.
 
TWO-SPORT STARS
The Big Red roster features two players that have competed in other varsity sports on East Hill. Senior forward Xandra Hompe was a three-year member of the women's hockey team, which advanced to the NCAA Women's Frozen Four in all of those seasons, and sophomore Claire MacManus is a midfielder with the women's lacrosse team. Both Hompe (9) and MacManus (16) have worn the same number in both sports.

YOUTH IS STILL SERVED
After dressing just two seniors in 2010 and six last season, the Big Red still has a decidedly young slant to its roster. Nineteen of the team's 30 players are underclassmen, including 10 sophomores and nine freshmen.
 
SHE'S HONORED
Senior forward Maneesha Chitanvis has earned All-Ivy League honorable mention in each of the last two seasons, despite often drawing double-teams from opposing defenses. Chitanvis had five goals and two assists for a team-leading 12 points in both the 2010 and 2011 seasons, scoring two of those goals in Ivy League play both years. She scored her first goal of 2012 in the Big Red's last game, a 2-1 loss Wednesday at Binghamton.
 
GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
The Big Red will have tri-captains for the fourth time in six years with seniors Maneesha Chitanvis and Jayann Gabrio, and junior goalkeeper Tori Christ wearing the armbands. Chitanvis (Los Alamos, N.M.) is the program's first captain to come to East Hill via the Land of Enchantment. Christ (West Seneca, N.Y.) and Gabrio (Honolulu, Hawaii) are the first Big Red captains from their respective states since 2005, when the team's co-captains were Shannon Fraser (Hamilton, N.Y.) and Kara Ishikawa (Mililani, Hawaii).

NATIONAL APPEAL
The Big Red has 14 different states represented on the team roster, with its home state of New York having five players on the roster. Cornell has four players that hail from New Jersey, three from Michigan, two each from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, Virginia, Connecticut and New Mexico, and single representatives of Hawaii, Ohio, Maryland and Colorado.

UP NEXT
Cornell will take to the road for the final time this season for an Ivy League game at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 21 at Brown. The Big Red will culminate its season with home games against Princeton (Oct. 27) and Dartmouth (Nov. 3).