GAME INFORMATION
GAME #10: Cornell vs. Colgate
GAME TIME: Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Series tied, 19-19-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-2, Oct. 3, 2012 (Hamilton, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (4-5); Colgate (2-9)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: None

THE MATCHUP: The Big Red field hockey team will play host to instate rival Colgate on Tuesday, Oct. 8 on Marsha Dodson Field at 4 p.m. The teams will battle for series supremacy, as the all-time matchup record stands tied at 19-19-3.  

THE SERIES WITH COLGATE: Cornell tied the series with Colgate, 19-19-3, with a 3-2 victory last season at Tyler's Field in Hamilton. Head Coach Donna Hornibrook holds a 5-4 record all-time against the Raiders.

LAST TIME VS. THE RAIDERS: The Big Red scored early and often, and then held off a late surge by Colgate, to steal a 3-2 victory on Tyler's Field in Hamilton, N.Y. Hannah Balleza had a hand in all three goals, while a pair of freshmen – Marisa Siergiej and Taylor Standiford – registered two goals and two assists, respectively. The the Big Red converted its first three penalty corners, with the first two coming in nearly the same fashion. For both goals, Siergiej scored on a direct shot, with the assists credited to Balleza and Standiford, to give Cornell a 2-0 advantage in the 24th minute of play. After having a role in the Big Red's first two goals of the game, Balleza scored at the 28:29 mark when she collected a rebound of an Amanda DiDomizio save and lifted the ball into the net to make it a 3-0 contest. The Raiders managed to get on the board late in the contest with a pair of goals in the final 11 minutes. The first tally came at 59:40 when Jade Dennett came up with a loose ball in the middle off a scrum of bodies, rolled to her left and slipped a shot past Cornell goalie Carolyn Horner. Just under four minutes later, Lauren Dittman converted a penalty corner on a direct shot. Kendall Zaharris and Adrianna Libutti earned the assists. That was as close as it would get, however, as Cornell held on for the victory. Colgate held the significant advantage in shots (18-9) and penalty corners (9-4), but once again, the Big Red was kept in the contest by the solid play of Horner, who finished with eight saves, including seven in the second half. DiDomizio stopped five for the home team.

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 is tied in the series with Colgate (19-19-3) and Holy Cross (5-5), but holds 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 HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 10th season at Cornell (81-75, .519) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 252-122-10 (.669) 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 4-3 overtime victory over Holy Cross on Oct. 6, 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 (.426) and 22nd for career wins (192), 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.

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 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 is one of five 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).

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 70-13 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 51st victory in a game in which it scores at least three goals when it defeated Holy Cross (4-3 in overtime) on Oct. 6, 2013.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 4-3 overtime victory over Holy Cross on Oct. 6, 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 65 games, with 33 coming in one-goal games, including 10 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.

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 hits the road this weekend, traveling again to Philadelphia to take on Saint Joseph University on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 1:30 p.m.