GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: Cornell vs. Harvard
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 19 at Noon
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 24-11-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 4-0, Oct. 13, 2012 (Cambridge, Mass.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (6-5, 1-2 Ivy); Harvard (4-5,. 1-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/ 
LIVE VIDEO: None

GAME #13: Cornell vs. Lehigh
GAME TIME: Sunday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 19-1-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 4-3, Oct. 9, 2011 (Bethlehem, Pa.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (6-5); Lehigh (3-11)*
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: None


THE MATCHUP: The Big Red field hockey team will open up a three-game home stand this weekend when it welcomes Harvard and Lehigh to Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell will take on the Crimson on Saturday, Oct. 19 at noon before facing the Mountain Hawks on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. The game against Lehigh will be part of the national Play 4 The Cure campaign, as the Big Red looks to raise money and awareness for Skin Cancer and Melanoma research. To donate, visit: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/CUFH2013/p4tc

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 24-11-4 record all time vs. the Big Red. Head coach Hornibrook is 4-5 vs. the Crimson, but since 2008, neither team has managed to win on their home field. Cornell's last victory over Harvard in Ithaca came during the 2005 campaign.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard (4-5, 1-2 Ivy) had an offensive explosion last week, winning a pair of games over UMass-Lowell and Fairfield by a combined score of 8-3. Marissa Balleza, younger sister of Cornell senior Hannah Balleza, leads the team with four goals and is tied for a team-high nine points along with Noel Painter. In goal, Jenn Hatfield has started all nine games and has posted a 1.77 goals-against average to go along with a .750 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD: Hannah Balleza and Taylor Standiford each scored twice and goalie Carolyn Horner made five saves to earn her fourth shutout of the season as the Big Red field defeated Harvard, 4-0, on Oct. 13, 2012 at Jordan Field in Cambridge. In addition to her two goals, Balleza also added an assist for a five-point day, while Elly Plappert, Kat DiPastina and Genna Collins all registered one assist apiece. Both teams earned six penalty corners, but Cornell held a slight edge in shots, 15-12. The Big Red also put eight of its shots on goal, while the Crimson managed to put just five on cage. Harvard goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos made four saves in the loss.

THE SERIES WITH LEHIGH: The series with Lehigh began in 1991, and Cornell is 19-1-1 all-time against the Mountain Hawks, with its lone loss coming during the 1993 campaign. The Big Red has won 17 straight in the series and head coach Donna Hornibrook is a perfect 8-0 vs. Lehigh.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS: Lehigh ended an eight-game losing streak last week by defeating Lock Haven, 2-1, to improve to 3-11 on the season prior to its game against Colgate on Saturday, Oct. 19.  The bulk of the Mountain Hawks goals have come from Marissa Glatt, who has registered 10 of the team's 24 tallies, while Gabby Tofig and Caitlyn Mitchell both have four goals apiece. In net, Julia Ward has started all 14 games and has posted a 2.96 goals-against average to go along with a .764 save percentage, while Sydney Maltinsky-Wilson has seen action in three games and has a 2.82 GAA and a .600 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. LEHIGH: The Big Red scored twice in the final 6:26 of the contest to erase a one-goal deficit and steal a 4-3 victory from Lehigh on Oct. 9, 2011 at Ulrich Field. The win was Cornell's 17th consecutive against the Mountain Hawks. Brittany Thompson had a tremendous day offensively, posting a pair of assists and scoring one goal to lead the Big Red, while a pair of rookies, Katherine Stone and Ann DiPastina, both registered their first collegiate goals, with DiPastina scoring the game-winner of an assist from Stone. Hannah Balleza also found the back of the net to round out the scoring for Cornell, while Stone and Genevieve Collins collected one assist apiece. In between the pipes, Carolyn Horner got the start and made five saves and allowed two goals in the first half before Alex Botte came on in relief and finished the day with three saves and one goal-against to earn the victory. Lehigh got goals from Kimberly Eng, Kelsey Zeswitz and Caitlin Donnelly, with Steph Fratoni registering a pair of assists to go along with an assist from Abby Tilton. Goalie Sierra Segear made six saves in the loss.Cornell held the slight edge in shots (15-14), but the Mountain Hawks had a significant edge in penalty corners (10-3).

VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 59-53-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 19-1-1 lead against Lehigh. The Big Red also holds a winning record against Colgate (20-19-3), and is tied all-time against Holy Cross (5-5), but has a losing record against American (0-1), Bucknell (10-15-1), and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 21-12 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.

THE KEYSTONE STATE: Of Cornell's 17 opponents during this season, six come from the state of Pennsylvania – Lock Haven, St. Francis (Pa.), Penn, Drexel, Saint Joseph's and Lehigh – the most by any one state on the schedule. So far, the Big Red is 2-3 against the Keystone State.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 10th season at Cornell (83-75, .525) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 254-122-10 (.671) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

250 WINS: The Big Red's 3-1 victory over Georgetown on Sept. 15, 2013 was the 250th win of head coach Donna Hornibrook's career.

ONE OF THE BEST: Head coach Donna Hornibrook ranks among the best when it comes to winning. Among active Division I head coaches, she ranks 14th overall for winning percentage (.428) and 20th for career wins (194), rankings that would be higher if the NCAA counted her 60-8-6 record at Canada's New Brunswick.

FRESHMAN GOALS: With her three goal performance last week, Katy Weeks has jumped up to seventh place all-time in Cornell history for goals by a freshman (6), tied with Cari Hills (1994), Joanne Powell (1976) and Belen Martinez (2005). She needs one more goal to move into a tie with Mandy Malzberg (2005) for sixth place with seven goals. Emily Robb holds the record of 13 goals scored during her freshman season in 1995, while Emily Montgomery recorded 12 goals in 1974. Current senior Hannah Balleza sits in third place after scoring 10 goals during her rookie campaign.  

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: After helping the Big Red to even its record at 2-2 with a pair of wins over St. Francis (Pa.) and Georgetown, freshman Georgia Lord was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Sept. 17, sharing the honor with Harvard's Sarah Finnemore. Lord registered one goal in each contest.

DEFENSIVE SAVES: The Big Red posted a pair of defensive saves against Yale – one each from Mallory Bannon and Taylor Standiford. Cornell had three defensive saves all of last season. 

MOVING ON UP: Senior Hannah Balleza ranks third overall in Cornell history with 35 career goals. She needs just one more tally to move into a tie for second place with Catie DeStio (2007-10). She also currently ranks fourth in Big Red history, along with with Emily Robb (1995-98), for career points with 84. She needs just eight more points to move into a tie with Linda Miller (19080-83) for third place overall with 92 points. She is also ninth overall in career assists (14) and needs just one more to move into a four-way tie for sixth place with Abbi Horn (2005-08), Heather McCormick (1994-96) and Ellen Graap (1985-88).

PLAPPERT PILING ON: Senior Elly Plappert is having the best season of her career, currently ranking second on the team with 13 points (five goals, three assists). She has reached career-highs in all three categories and already has more goals, assists and points this season that she had collected in her previous three campaigns combined.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 29-16 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 100-75 and has taken significantly more shots (809-484) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 268 penalty corners (5.9 per game).

BALANCED OFFENSE: The Big Red currently has nine players that have registered at least one goal on the season. Head Coach Donna Hornibrook has had at least nine players register one goal in all but two seasons with the Big Red (2004, 2012).

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 71-13 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only 11 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 Oct. 8, 2013 as Cornell overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Colgate, 3-2, in Ithaca, N.Y.

KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Penn, 4-3, on Sept. 21, 2013 it marked only the fourth time in Coach Hornibrook's career with Cornell that the team scored three goals and lost the contest. Under Coach Hornibrook, the Big Red earned its 53rd victory in a game in which it scores at least three goals when it defeated Saint Joseph's (4-2) on Oct. 13, 2013.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 3-2 victory over Colgate on Oct. 8, 2013 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 53 games, with 32 of those coming by a single goal, including 15 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 67 games, with 34 coming in one-goal games, including 10 in overtime … This season, six of Cornell's games have been one-goal decisions.

WINNING!!: With her 13 career wins, Carolyn Horner is tied with Karen Kuhn (1975-77) for 11th place in Cornell history for career victories. She needs just two more to move into 10th place overall with Kristi Bullard (1995-98).

HORNER SHUTOUTS: Carolyn Horner ranks fourth overall in Big Red history with six career shutouts, along with Kaitlin Tierney (2000-03). She needs just one more shutout to move into a tie for third place with Kelly Clark (1985-87).

SAVES A LOT: Carolyn Horner has 191 career saves to her credit, good for 12th overall in Big Red history. She needs 17 more to surpass her predecessor, Alex Botte '12, who sits in 11th place with 207 career saves.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN:  Carolyn Horner and Hannah Balleza have been named captains for the 2013 season.

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 one set of sisters – twins Keelin and Mallory Bannon.

TWINS AND MORE TWINS!: While fans of the Big Red know that seniors 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. Senior Carolyn Horner's twin, Gabby, plays lacrosse at Tufts.

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

LANGUAGE 101: Senior Carolyn Horner is fluent in Chinese.

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

ALL-IVY ACCOLADES: Cornell had five players named All-Ivy in 2012, four of whom are back for the 2013 season – seniors Hannah Balleza (first-team) and Carolyn Horner (first-team), junior Ann DiPastina (honorable mention) and sophomore Marisa Siergiej (second-team).

SMARTY PANTS: The Big Red placed five student-athletes on the 2012 Gladiator by SGI/NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad. Cornell has had at least four players earn the honor in sight of the past nine seasons. Additionally, the 2012 squad earned the NFHCA Collegiate National Academic Team Award for the fifth time during head coach Donna Hornibrook's tenure.

UP NEXT: The Big Red plays its final home game of the season when it welcomes Brown to Marsha Dodson Field on Saturday, Oct. 26 at noon. Cornell will honor its six seniors – Hannah Balleza, Keelin Bannon, Mallory Bannon, Shannon Berry, Carolyn Horner and Elly Plappert – prior to the contest.