GAME INFORMATION
GAME #8: Cornell at Yale
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 5 at Noon
GAME SITE: Johnson Field (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 18-16-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0 (OT), Sept. 29, 2012 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (3-4; 1-1 Ivy); Penn (2-5; 0-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/yale/ 
LIVE VIDEO: None

GAME #9: Cornell at Holy Cross
GAME TIME: Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m.
GAME SITE: Hart Turf Field (Worcester, Mass.)
SERIES RECORD: Holy Cross leads, 5-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 4-0, Oct. 28, 2012 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (3-4); Holy Cross (3-6)*
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/holycross/ 
LIVE VIDEO: None

* Prior to Oct. 4

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red field hockey hits the road for a pair of contests this weekend against Yale and Patriot League foe Holy Cross. Cornell will take on the Bulldogs on Saturday, Oct. 5 at noon, before facing the Crusaders on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. 

THE SERIES WITH YALE: The series with the Bulldogs began in 1979, the first official season of Ivy League play, with a 3-0 Yale victory. The Bulldogs went on to enjoy an eight-game unbeaten streak before Cornell earned a 2-1 overtime victory in 1987. Despite not winning a contest until the 1987 season, the Big Red still holds an 18-16-1 advantage in the all-time series. In recent years, the series has been extremely competitive with 15 of the last 17 meetings being decided by one goal, including last year's 1-0 overtime victory for the Big Red.

LAST TIME VS. YALE: With just under six minutes gone in the overtime session, Cornell senior forward Kat DiPastina notched the game-winner when she carried the ball from the endline back to the center of the circle and blistered a shot into the side of the cage to give the Big Red a 1-0 victory over Yale on Marsha Dodson Field. DiPastina's goal wasn't the only excitement of the extra session, as Yale earned three penalty corners, matching its total from regulation, and Cornell goalie Carolyn Horner needed to make three spectacular saves to preserve her second shutout of the season. Horner finished with eight saves Despite the scoreless tie at the end of regulation, the Big Red completely carried the play through the first 70 minutes. Cornell held the 18-11 edge in shots and held a 14-6 advantage in penalty corners, but like Horner, Bulldog goalie Emily Cain finished with eight saves.

THE SERIES WITH HOLY CROSS: The Crusaders own the 5-4 lead in the series with Cornell, thanks mostly to four consecutive victories from 1997-2003. The Big Red has won two in a row, picking up a 1-0 victory on Sept. 23, 2007, and a 4-0 triumph last season ... Coach Hornibrook is 2-0 vs. the Crusaders.

LAST TIME VS. HOLY CROSS: After a slow start on a brutally cold afternoon, the Big Red got hot, scoring three second half goals en route to a 4-0 victory over Holy Cross on Marsha Dodson Field. The final goal of the game, scored in the 60th minute, gave Hannah Balleza her 14th of the season, matching Cornell's single-season record along with Kelley Boutin (1999) and Linda Miller (1982). In addition to the goal, Balleza recorded one assist. Cornell (8-8) also received goals from Brittany Thompson, Marisa Siergiej and Ann DiPastina, while Taylor Standiford registered one assist. The Big Red completely dominated the game, outshooting the Crusaders, 20-3, and Carolyn Horner needed to make only one save to earn her fifth shutout of the season, moving her into a tie for third place in Cornell history for shutouts in a single-season along with Yanaka Bernal (1990).On the other end, Kat Matchett made 14 saves for the Crusaders and allowed three goals in 58:06, before giving way to Kelly Stosky, who allowed Balleza's goal without registering a save.

VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 58-53-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 19-1-1 lead against Lehigh. The Big Red is tied in the series with Colgate (19-19-3), but holds a losing record against American (0-1), Bucknell (10-15-1), Holy Cross (4-5) and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 20-12 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 10th season at Cornell (79-74, .516) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 249-121-10 (.668) 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 next victory will be the 250th 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 and 20th for career wins, rankings that would be higher if the NCAA counted her 60-8-6 record at Canada's New Brunswick.

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.

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 1-3 against the Keystone State.

MOVING ON UP: Senior Hannah Balleza ranks third overall in Cornell history with 34 career goals. She needs just two more tallies to move into a tie for second place with Catie DeStio (2007-10). She also currently ranks fifth in Big Red history for career points with 82. She needs just two more points to move into a tie with Emily Robb (1995-98), who sits in fourth place overall with 84 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 leads the Big Red with three goals on the season. Her three goals are already a career high, having entered the 2013 season with just two goals.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 28-16 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 97-73 and has taken significantly more shots (789-474) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 261 penalty corners (5.9 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 69-13 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only 10 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. 28, 2013 as Cornell overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Columbia, 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 50th victory in a game in which it scores at least three goals when it defeated Columbia (3-2) on Sept. 28, 2013.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 2-1 double-overtime loss to No. 18 Drexel on Sept. 29, 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 52 games, with 32 of those coming by a single goal, including 15 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 64 games, with 32 coming in one-goal games, including nine in overtime.

WINNING!!: With her 12 career wins, Carolyn Horner ranks 11th in Cornell history. She needs just one more to move into 10th place overall with Karen Kuhn (1975-77).

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 188 career saves to her credit, good for 12th overall in Big Red history. She needs 20 more to surpass her predecessor, Alex Botte '12, who sits in 11th place with 207 career saves.

SHOT STOPPER: Carolyn Horner finished the 2012 season ranked fifth in the nation in save percentage (.796) and was 11th overall in saves per game (7.56).

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 returns home for a midweek matchup with instate rival Colgate on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 4 p.m., before traveling to Philadelphia to take on Saint Joseph's on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 1 p.m.