The women's soccer team gets the Ivy League portion of its schedule under way at 7 p.m. Friday with a visit to Columbia. The Big Red then then plays six of its final eight games at home, returning to Ithaca to kick off that stretch with for a non-league Sunday matinee against Niagara.
 
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #8: Cornell at Columbia
DATE: Friday, Sept. 21, 2012
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: New York, N.Y. — Columbia Soccer Stadium
2012 RECORDS: Cornell 0-7, Columbia 3-3
LAST MEETING: Columbia won, 3-1, on Sept. 23, 2011 at Berman Field
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Columbia leads, 17-9
LIVE STATS: www.gocolumbialions.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?SPID=3888&DB_OEM_ID=9600&LIST_SPORT_ID=W_SOCCER
 
GAME #9: Niagara at Cornell
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. – Charles F. Berman Field
2012 RECORDS: Niagara 4-3, Cornell 0-7
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-0, on Sept. 25, 2011 in Ithaca, N.Y.
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD: Series tied, 2-2
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc/scoreboard.aspx
(records do not include Friday's results)

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is seeking its first victory of the season, coming off a 2-1 loss Friday to Sacred Heart in its home opener, followed by a 4-0 defeat at the hands of reigning NCAA tournament qualifier La Salle. Sophomore midfielder Claire MacManus scored the Big Red's goal against the Pioneers, heading a corner kick from senior Xandra Hompe past the Sacred Heart keeper in the 51st minute. The Explorers then blanked the Big Red for the first time this season after Cornell failed to score in eight of its 16 games last season. With the assist on MacManus' goal, Hompe has taken over the team scoring lead with two goals and an assist for five points. Senior defender Jayann Gabrio has two goals on free kicks for four points, and senior forward Maneesha Chitanvis has a goal and an assist for three points. Junior Tori Christ has started all seven games in goal so far for the Big Red.
 
ABOUT COLUMBIA
The Lions have registered clean sheets in three of their last four games — all victories — to even their record at 3-3. Friday's game against the Big Red concludes a five-game homestand in which Columbia has defeated Sacred Heart (2-0), Fordham (2-0) and Marist (1-0). The only loss in that stretch came in the form of a 2-1 overtime setback to St. John's. Columbia's other two losses this season came in the season-opening D.C. Invitational, where it was shut out by George Washington and Georgetown. Juniors Beverly Leon and Coleen Rizzo are tied for the team scoring lead with two goals and an assist for five points apiece. Junior Natalie Melo and sophomore Tori Goode have scored the Lions' other goals this season, while senior defender Isabel King has a pair of assists. Sophomore Grace Redmon has seen all of the team's action in goal.
 
THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA
The Lions hold a six-game winning streak against the Big Red, including a 3-1 victory last season at rainy Berman Field. Maneesha Chitanvis scored the Big Red's goal in the 51st minute to tie the game, but the Lions pulled ahead on a Cornell own goal with about 20 minutes to play. The last time Cornell defeated Columbia was on Sept. 23, 2005, when sophomore Molly Easterlin's 25-yard strike proved to be all the offense in a 1-0 victory that pushed the Big Red's record to 6-0. Cornell's last victory at Columbia Soccer Stadium was the year before — a 2-1 victory on Sept. 25, 2004.
 
ABOUT NIAGARA
The Purple Eagles are coming off a pair of 2-0 victories at home over St. Francis (Pa.) and Robert Morris in the NU Fall Classic, extending the squad's winning streak to three games. Niagara's other victories this season have come in overtime against Buffalo and Youngstown State, while its three losses have come against Binghamton, Duquesne and Ohio. Maria Siegrist-Gaba leads the team in scoring with a goal and four assists for six goals, while Danielle Kennedy has a team-high two goals. Freshman Claire Freiertag has emerged as the team's starting keeper with two solo shutouts and another one shared with senior Amanda Taylor.
 
THE SERIES WITH NIAGARA
One of the Big Red's two victories from a season ago came against the Purple Eagles in the form of a 2-0 shutout. Maneesha Chitanvis scored the winner on a throw-in assist from Rachel Nichols in the 60th minute. The only other time the teams have met in Ithaca was another Cornell victory. Then-freshman Natalie Zandt scored the winner in the final minute of the first overtime on Sept. 21, 2007, spurring a 2-1 Cornell victory at Berman Field.
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 20th season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer has been 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.
 
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 compete in other varsity sports on East Hill. Senior forward Xandra Hompe is also a member of the women's hockey team, which has advanced to the NCAA Women's Frozen Four in each of the last three seasons, and sophomore Claire MacManus is a midfielder with the women's lacrosse team. Both Hompe (9) and MacManus (16) wear 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 concludes its season-high homestand of three games with its first Ivy League home game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28 before closing out the non-conference portion of its schedule at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2 against visiting Lafayette.