GAME INFORMATION
GAME #3: Cornell at Bucknell
GAME TIME: Wednesday, Sept. 5, at 7:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Graham Field (Lewsiburg, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Bucknell leads 14-10-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-1 on Oct. 11, 2011 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (0-2); Bucknell (2-1)
LIVE STATS: www.BucknellBison.com
LIVE VIDEO: None

THE MATCH UP: The Cornell field hockey team is still looking for its first win of the season as it travels to Lewisburg, Pa., on Wednesday, Sept. 5 to take on Patriot League foe Bucknell on Graham Field at 7 p.m.  The Big dropped a pair of games last weekend, falling in overtime to Lock Haven on the road before losing to No. 2 UNC on Dodson Field. The Bison are 2-1 on the season defeating Fairfield and Lock Haven after a season-opening loss to UConn.

THE SERIES WITH BUCKNELL: Cornell's series with the Bison started with a 2-2 tie during the 1974 season, and it continues to be a close fought series to this day, with Bucknell holding the 14-10-1 lead. The Bison had a five-game winning streak against the Big Red ended last season with a 3-1 Cornell victory, just the second contest in the last six meetings to not be decided by a single goal. Altogether, 13 of the 25 games played between these two teams have been one-goal decisions.

SCOUTING THE BISON: Bucknell has won its last two contests after being blanked in the season opener to national power UConn (3-0). Kiersten Sydnor has registered two goals for Bucknell, with Tayler Siegrist and Rachel Misko adding one goal and one assist apiece. In between the pipes, Erica Perrine has played all 211:02 minutes and has posted a .733 save percentage to go along with a 1.66 goals-against average. As a team, the Bison have put up similar numbers to their opponents, with the exception being penalty corners, as it has allowed 23, while only taking nine.

LAST TIME VS. BUCKNELL: The Big Red used some balance offense and solid defense to post a 3-1 victory over Bucknell on Marsha Dodson Field on Oct. 11, 2011. With the win, Cornell improved to 5-6 overall, while the Bison fell to 4-8. Cornell received goals from Olivia Boyd, Hannah Balleza and Mallory Bannon, while Katie Laventure and Brittany Thompson both registered assists. Defensively, senior goalie Alex Botte had an outstanding game, making four saves to go along with several well-timed rushes to break up Bucknell circle entry passes. The Bison held the slim 10-9 margin in shots and a 6-4 advantage on penalty corners, but Cornell held a 6-5 edge in shots on goal. Bucknell's lone tally came late in the contest off a well struck penalty corner from Kelly Stefanowicz, with assists credited to Mallory Smith and Marci Richard. In goal, Erica Perrine made three saves in the loss. Cornell carried the play through the majority of the first half but could not get onto the board until the 32nd minute when Laventure sent a centering pass into the circle and Boyd collected the ball with her back to the goal, wrapped around a defender and took a hard shot that caromed off a Bison defender's foot and into the net. Balleza made it a 2-0 game at the 48:32 mark when she redirected a centering pass from Thompson into the back of the goal.Just under eight minutes later, Stefanowicz made it a one-goal game, but the Big Red got an insurance goal in the 63rd minute when Bannon converted a penalty stroke to account for the 3-1 final. The stroke was awarded to Cornell when a Bison defender used her body to stop a sure goal by Thompson.

VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 56-52-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 19-1-1 lead against Lehigh. The Big Red holds a losing record against American (0-1), Bucknell (10-14-1), Colgate (18-19-3), Holy Cross (3-5) and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 18-11 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.

A WIN OVER THE BISON WOULD:
* give the Big Red its first win on the season to make it 1-2.
* be the second in a row against Bucknell.
* be Coach Hornibrook's 70th victory with the Big Red and her 240th career win.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her eighth season at Cornell (69-63, .523) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 239-110-10 (.680) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

MOVING ON UP: Junior Hannah Balleza ranks eighth overall in Cornell history with 18 goals. She needs eight more tallies to move into a tie for seventh place with Beth Paciello (1985-88). She also currently ranks 12 in Big Red history for career points with 42. She needs just two more points to move into a tie with Lindsay Grace (2000-03) in 11th place and four more points to crack the top-10 and tie Belen Martinez (2005-08) with 46 points.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 2-1 loss in overtime to Lock Haven to open the 2012 season continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 41 games, with 24 of those coming by a single goal, including 11 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 56 games, with 27 coming in one-goal games, including eight in overtime

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.

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.

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. 

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 20-12 all-time on the newly constructed Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 71-56 and has taken significantly more shots (595-347) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 183 penalty corners (5.7 per game).

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 60-8 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.

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 42-1 in games in which it scores at least three goals after a 4-2 victory against Brown on Oct. 22, 2011.

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 remains on the road this weekend, travelling to No. 8 Penn State on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m.