HANOVER, N.H. – The women's soccer team will play its final game of the season at noon Saturday, when the Big Red visits Dartmouth with the hope of locking up the program's first winning season since 2002.
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #16: Cornell at Dartmouth
DATE: Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013
TIME: Noon
SITE: Burnham Field – Hanover, N.H. (grass surface)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell 7-7-1, 1-5 Ivy; Dartmouth 7-6-3, 3-3 Ivy
VIDEO: www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com
LIVE STATS: http://www.dartmouthsports.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?SPID=4705&DB_OEM_ID=11600&LIST_SPORT_KEY=W_SOCCER
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 five Ivy League games. In its last game action, the Big Red came up empty in a 4-0 loss Nov. 2 at Princeton. In the game before that, Cornell got two goals from sophomore forward
Caroline Growney, but suffered a 3-2 double-overtime loss to Brown. 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 freshman midfielder
Elizabeth 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 10 of the last 11 games in goal, sporting a 4-6 record with a 1.63 goals-against average and .734 save percentage.
ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green is coming off a 2-1 loss to Ivy League champion Harvard, leveling the squad's league record at 3-3. Kelly Brait scored in the second half for Dartmouth after the Crimson built a two-goal lead in the first 36 minutes. The Big Green's Ivy victories have come against Princeton, Yale and Columbia. … Emma Brush leads the team in scoring with six goals and three assists for 15 points, followed by Corey Delaney (4-4—12), Lucielle Kozlov (3-1—7) and Marina Moschitto (3-0—6). … Tatiana Saunders is the team's primary goalkeeper, sporting a 5-6-3 record, 1.00 goals-against average and .808 save percentage.
THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
The Big Green holds a 21-7-5 lead and a 17-game unbeaten streak in the series. The last time Cornell defeated Dartmouth was a 3-0 victory in an ECAC Tournament semifinal on Nov. 11, 1995, though the Big Red also defeated the Big Green, 3-1, in their regular-season game on Oct. 22, 1995. The last five games have been decided by a total of just seven goals, including a 3-2 overtime decision in Dartmouth's favor in 2008.
RARE TERRITORY
A win Saturday at Dartmouth 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.
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 second in the Ivy League.
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.
