ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team closes out the season Saturday with the hopes of ending a three-game losing streak to send its graduating class of seven out on a winning note. The Big Red also has the opportunity to play the spoiler role — a victory or draw against the Big Green would thwart any Dartmouth hopes of an Ivy League title.
 
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #16: Dartmouth at Cornell
DATE: Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012
TIME: 3 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. — Charles F. Berman Field
2012 RECORDS: Dartmouth 12-4 (5-1 Ivy League); Cornell 1-13-1 (0-5-1 Ivy League)
LAST MEETING: Dartmouth won, 1-0, on Nov. 5, 2011 in Hanover, N.H.
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Dartmouth leads, 20-7-5
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc/scoreboard.aspx

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Freshman Jenna Cantor scored her first collegiate goal the last time Cornell was in action, when Princeton left Berman Field with a 5-1 victory. Cantor became the first freshman to score a goal for Cornell this season, and the first since Kerry Schubert tallied against Brown on Oct. 23, 2011. The loss was the third straight for the Big Red, which previously came up on the short end of consecutive 1-0 decisions, Oct. 13 against Yale and Oct. 21 at Brown. 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 Oct. 6 at Harvard — the reigning Ivy League champion. With four goals and two assists for 10 points, senior forward Maneesha Chitanvis is tied with classmate Xandra 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 15 games to date. A victory on Saturday would give Cornell as high of a point total in Ivy League play as the program has had since 2002.
 
ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green has won six in a row after a double-overtime loss to 20th-ranked Pepperdine on Oct. 1. Three of its four losses this season have come against ranked teams, with the lone exception being the squad's only Ivy League loss — a 2-1 decision in favor of league-leading Princeton on Sept. 29. Emma Brush leads the team in scoring with seven goals and five assists for 19 points, and she is tied with the goal-scoring lead with Chrissy Lozier (7g-0a—14p). Corey Delaney and Tasha Wilkins have nine points apiece. Tatiana Saunders have started all 16 games in goal, posting a 12-4 record, 0.75 goals-against average and .826 save percentage.
 
THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
The Big Green holds a 20-7-5 lead and a 16-game unbeaten streak in the series. The last time Cornell defeated Dartmouth was a 3-0 victory in an ECAC Tournament semifinal on Nov. 11, 1995, though the Big Red also defeated the Big Green, 3-1, in their regular-season game on Oct. 22, 1995. The last four games have been decided by a total of just six goals, including a 3-2 overtime decision in Dartmouth's favor in 2008.
 
RESPECT YOUR ELDERS
Saturday's game will feature a halftime presentation honoring the seven seniors on the Big Red's roster. Ali Barger, Maneesha Chitanvis, Megan Crowell, Jayann Gabrio, Xandra Hompe, Hannah Labadie and Moonie Mancho will all be playing their final games for Cornell on Saturday.
 
IVY IMPLICATIONS
Princeton would clinch the outright Ivy League title with a victory or draw against Penn on Saturday. But if Penn should win that game, then there is the possibility for a three-way tie atop the tables if Dartmouth also defeats Cornell. Should that occur, Dartmouth, Penn and Princeton would all be Ivy champions and the League office would conduct a drawing to determine which team will represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament.
 
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 a 4-1 pummeling of Lafayette on Oct. 2, 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.
 
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 was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Oct. 8 after scoring twice against Lafayette and assisting on a goal against Harvard the week before. Chitanvis is no stranger to league recognition, having 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.
 
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.