PRINCETON, N.J. – The women's soccer team will play its penultimate game of the season at 7 p.m. Saturday, when the Big Red visits Princeton with the hope of clinching the program's first winning season since 2002.
 
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #15: Cornell at Princeton
DATE: Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Roberts Stadium – Princeton, N.J. (grass surface)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell 7-6-1, 1-4 Ivy; Princeton 6-5-4, 0-4-1 Ivy
VIDEO: www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com
AUDIO: www.ustream.tv/channel/brsn-live
LIVE STATS: www.goprincetontigers.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell had seven wins in its first 11 games for the first time since 2003, but the team has dropped its last four Ivy League games. In its last game action, the Big Red got two goals from sophomore forward Caroline Growney, but suffered a 3-2 double-overtime loss to Brown on Sunday during the Big Red's Senior Day at Berman Field. Growney's first goal was assisted by freshman midfielder Elizabeth Crowell and senior forward Rachel Schlobohm, while her second came unassisted and tied the game in the 82nd minute. … Growney has taken sole possession of the team scoring lead with seven goal and one assist for 15 points. The Big Red has four players with at least 10 points for the first time since 1995. Four points behind Growney with 11 points is Crowell (three goals, five assists), and senior midfielder Rachel Nichols (three goals, four assists) and freshman forward Dempsey Banks (two goals, six assists) each have 10 points. … Freshman Kelsey Tierney has started nine of the last 10 games in goal, sporting a 4-5 record with a 1.41 goals-against average and .750 save percentage.
 
ABOUT PRINCETON
The Tigers are coming off a 3-1 nonleague victory Tuesday night at chilly Colgate. Melissa Downey and Gabriella Guzman scored about 10 minutes apart early in the second half, then Tyler Lussi added her team-leading seventh goal of the season the clinch the victory with two minutes left. Backup keeper Hannah Winner made one save for the win. … The victory followed a 4-0 loss last Saturday at Harvard and a 3-3 draw with Columbia on Oct. 19. The tie against the Lions is the Tigers' lone non-loss in Ivy League play so far. … Lussi leads the team in scoring with seven goals and four assists for 18 points. Lauren Lazo has four goals and four assists for 12 points, followed by Melissa Downey's three goals and one assist for seven points. … Darcy Hargadon has gotten the lion's share of time in goal, starting in 11 games and registering a 4-3-4 record, 1.28 goals-against average, .659 save percentage and five shutouts.
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
The Tigers own a 21-7-4 advantage in the all-time series, having won a 5-1 affair on Oct. 27, 2012 en route to an undefeated run to the Ivy League title. Princeton won a bizarre game in 2011 after an early-season snow storm wreaked havoc on the mid-Atlantic coast and forced the two teams to play on a field traditionally reserved for field hockey use. Gabriella Guzman scored the contest's lone goal in the 24th minute after consecutive shots off the crossbar. Princeton is currently riding a 17-game winning streak in the series, including overtime victories in 2009 and 2010. Cornell played Princeton in its first game on the varsity level in 1982.
 
RARE TERRITORY
A win Saturday at Princeton would give the Big Red two Ivy League victories in a season for the first time since 2002. It would also guarantee Cornell has a winning season for the first time since 2002 (9-6-2).
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 21st season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer is in his second season 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 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 third season as an assistant coach, and Dwight Hornibrook is in his second season as an assistant coach after serving as the head coach of SUNY Cortland men's soccer for eight years. Brett Sarsfield has also joined the staff as a volunteer assistant coach.
 
HAPPY TO HELP
Senior midfielder Rachel Nichols is tied for sixth in program history for career assists. She set up Caroline Growney for the Big Red's second goal against Harvard on Oct. 12, giving her 13 assists in her four years on East Hill. Nichols has the rare distinction of having played for a national team when she competed for The Philippines in tournaments over the last two years.
 
AND THE WINNER IS …
Freshman goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Sept. 23 after stopping 11 of 12 shots on target the previous week, while also notching her first collegiate shutout in a 2-0 victory over Binghamton on Sept. 18. It was the second consecutive week that the Big Red captured the league honor, with freshman Elizabeth Crowell being named both the Ivy League Player of the Week and the Rookie of the Week on Sept. 16 after a dominating performance of two goals and three assists in games against Marist and Albany. Crowell became the first Big Red player with three assists in a game since Amy Snow on Sept. 15, 1991. She was also the program's first Ivy League Player of the Week since Maneesha Chitanvis on Oct. 8, 2012, and the first Rookie of the Week since senior Mary Keroack on Sept. 6, 2010.
 
SPOT DUTY
Senior midfielder Rachel Nichols' overtime goal Sept. 13 against Marist was the Big Red's first converted penalty kick since Sept. 5, 2010, when Caedran Harvey scored her first collegiate goal from the spot in a 7-0 win over Delaware State. Cornell had not been awarded a penalty kick since Sept. 14, 2011 in a game against Binghamton. The trend continued Sept. 22 against NJIT, when sophomore forward Caroline Growney drew a foul in the box and also scored on her first collegiate penalty kick.
 
YOUTH IS SERVED
Of Cornell's 63 points this season, 47 have been produced by freshmen or sophomores. Senior midfielder Rachel Nichols has 10 of the 16 points via upperclassmen, plus junior forward Kerry Schubert and junior midfielder have one goal apiece, and senior forward Rachel Schlobohm has two assists.
 
QUICK STARTERS
Cornell has had great success in the 31 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 17-10-4 mark in the first game of the season. That trend was reignited this season, when a 1-0 victory over Sacred Heart gave the Big Red its first win in a season debut since defeating Oakland (Mich.) in 2008.
 
BLANK YOU VERY MUCH
Senior goalkeeper Tori Christ recorded the first shutout of her collegiate career on Sept. 6 at Sacred Heart. She needed to make just two saves to record the shutout in her 16th collegiate start. Tending goal runs in the family for Christ, whose father, Philip, played goalie for the Northeastern hockey team in his collegiate days and currently serves as a practice goalie for the NHL's Buffalo Sabres. Freshman Kelsey Tierney then posted her first shutout on Sept. 18 vs. Binghamton. The duo has also combined on two shutouts, giving the team six clean sheets through 14 games.
 
ALOHA!
Freshman forward Dempsey Banks needed less than five minutes to record the first point of her collegiate career, notching the primary assist on Kerry Schubert's goal Sept. 6 at Sacred Heart. Banks joins the Big Red from Honolulu, Hawaii, coming from the same strong Punahou School and Leahi SC programs that produced Jayann Gabrio '13, a key central defender for the Big Red over her collegiate career. Banks has been on the scoresheet in seven of the nine games this season in which Cornell has scored goals. Her six assists are tied for the Ivy League lead.
 
GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
The Big Red has tri-captains for the fifth time in seven years with seniors Tori Christ and Rachel Nichols, and junior Claire MacManus wearing the armbands. Christ is the Big Red's first goalkeeper to serve as a two-time captain since Sherrie Chocola in 1985 and 1986.
 
SHE'S HONORED
Junior midfielder Claire MacManus was recognized for being one of the top defensive midfielders in the Ivy League last season, when she was tabbed as an All-Ivy Second Team selection. One of the team's best aerial threats, MacManus has now scored one goal in each of her three seasons on East Hill. Her latest strike was the game-winner against Delaware State on Oct. 6. MacManus is also a midfielder on the women's lacrosse team.
 
BREAKDOWN
The Big Red is carrying a roster of 25 players this season, which is the smallest since it carried 25 in 2009. While there are six seniors on this year's team, the most-represented class is the freshmen. Patrick Farmer's first recruiting class included eight freshmen, plus the addition of one transfer and two walk-ons.

NATIONAL APPEAL
The Big Red has 12 different states and China represented on the team roster, with its home state of New York claiming seven players. Cornell has three players that hail from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, two each from California and Virginia, and single representatives from Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon. Dana Daniels comes from China, but joins the Big Red via The Bullis School in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

UP NEXT
The Big Red will play its final game of the season at noon Saturday, Nov. 9 at Dartmouth.