GAME INFORMATION
GAME #1: Cornell vs. Lock Haven
GAME TIME: Friday, Sept. 6, at 5:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Series tied, 3-3
LAST MEETING: Lock Haven won, 2-1 (OT), Aug. 31, 2012 (Lock Haven, Pa.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0); Lock Haven (1-1)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: None

GAME #2: Cornell at Albany
GAME TIME: Sunday, Sept. 8, at 2:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Alumni Field (Albany, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Series tied, 3-3
LAST MEETING: Albany won, 1-0, Sept. 6, 2008 (Albany, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0)*; Albany (2-0)
LIVE STATS: None
LIVE VIDEO: None

* record as of Sept. 5

OPENING UP: The Cornell field hockey team opens its 42nd season on Friday, Sept. 5 as it welcomes Lock Haven to Marsha Dodson Field for a contest at 4 p.m., before hitting the road to take on Albany on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. … The Big Red is 24-13-4 (.634) all-time in season-openers. Last season, the Big Red fell to Lock Haven, 2-1, in overtime in the first game of the season, giving Coach Hornibrook just her second loss in a season opener (7-2) during her time with Cornell.

THE SERIES WITH LOCK HAVEN: The series with the Lady Eagles has been one of the more competitive ones since its inception in 2007. Not only is the series tied at 3-3, but of the six meetings, five have been decided by a single goal, including three overtime contests. LHU won the first two meetings, including the most lopsided victory in the series, a 3-1 decision in the very first meeting, before Cornell won three consecutive contests. The Lady Eagles tied the series last season with a 2-1 overtime victory.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Lock Haven is off to a strong start, losing a 2-1 decision to preseason No. 1 UNC, before defeating Bucknell, 1-0, last weekend. Both of the Lady Eagles goals have been unassisted, with one each credited to Kiersten Cepeda and Kelly Harsh. In goal, Elaina White has seen all 140 minutes of action, making 16 saves for a .889 save percentage. 

LAST TIME VS. LOCK HAVEN: The Big Red has a history of playing in tight games, and the first contest of the 2012 season proved to be no different as Cornell fell to Lock Haven, 2-1, in overtime under the lights at Charlotte Smith Field in Lock Haven, Pa. The Lady Eagles earned the victory in the 80th minute when Taylor Kennedy picked up a loose ball in the Cornell defensive end, carried it into the crease, and then beat freshman goalie Elizabeth Schaeffler to the far post, ruining the rookie's solid collegiate debut. Schaeffler finished with 10 saves, including eight in the first half to keep Cornell in the contest despite constant pressure from the home team. LHU held the advantage in shots (17-8), shots on goal (12-9) and penalty corners (12-10). Schaeffler's counterpart, Kelsey Moll, finished the game with just seven saves, but had a crucial stop during overtime, to earn the victory. Despite plenty of action throughout the game, all the regulation scoring took place in the final 15 minutes of the contest with the Lady Eagles' Kelly Harsh converting a penalty corner with a low, hard shot to the near post. Nakira Downes and Nikki Weaknecht were credited with the assists. With just under 10 minutes to play, Cornell earned the equalizer when a broken corner resulted in Brittany Thompson finding Hanna Balleza on the near post and the All-Ivy selection found the back of the net to send the game to overtime.

VS. THE ATLANTIC 10: Cornell is 7-5 all-time vs. the current members of the Atlantic 10 with six victories coming against the conference's two newest members – Lock Haven (3-3) and Saint Francis (Pa.) (3-0). The Big Red also has a winning record against Saint Joseph's (1-0). Cornell has a losing record against Massachusetts (0-1) and Richmond (0-1), and has never faced La Salle, Saint Louis or Virginia Commonwealth … Coach Hornibrook is 7-3 all-time against the A10.

THE SERIES WITH ALBANY: The all-time series with the Great Danes is tied at 3-3, thanks to a two-game winning streak by Albany. The teams first met in 1999, a 2-1 Cornell victory. The Big Red fell, 4-2, the following year, but responded with consecutive wins in 2001 (6-1) and 2002 (3-0). The Great Danes evened the series with back-to-back wins in 2007 (5-1) and 2008 (1-0) … Head Coach Donna Hornibrook is 0-2 against Albany.

SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES: Albany has gotten off to a 2-0 start with a pair of dominating wins, defeating Bryant, 8-0, and Providence, 4-1. Liza Morgan leads the Great Danes with five goals, while Corrine McConville has chipped in two goals and one assist. In cage, Maxi Primus has played all 140 minutes but has seen just four shots on goal, and has made three saves (.750).

LAST TIME VS. ALBANY: In her first collegiate game, goalkeeper Melanie Jue was outstanding, making 19 saves before allowing Albany's Michelle Simpson to score in the 54th minute as the No. 19 Great Danes defeated Cornell, 1-0. Jue's 19 saves were the most for a Big Red goalie since Kaitlin Tierney stopped 20 shots vs. Princeton on Oct. 21, 2000. Albany led in every offensive statistical category, holding the advantage in shots (31-6) and penalty corners (14-5). Still, Jue made 12 crucial saves in the second half to keep the Big Red in the contest before Simpson took a pass from Ashlyn Bach, dribbled across the mouth of the goal and converted on a reverse-stick shot at the 54:00 mark. Cornell had a solid scoring opportunity to tie the game in the waning minutes with a great shot by Kate Thompson off a penalty corner with 11:53 to play, but Great Danes' goalie Ashley Ross made the stop, one of just three saves by Ross on the day. The Big Red had another corner opportunity with just one minute remaining, but failed to get off a shot when the insertion pass was mishandled.

AGAINST THE AMERICA EAST – Cornell is 3-10 all-time against the current members of the America East, with all three victories coming against Albany (3-3). The Big Red is winless against Fairfield (0-1), Maine (0-3), and Vermont (0-3), but has never faced UMass-Lowell or New Hampshire in field hockey … Coach Hornibrook is 0-8 all-time against the America East.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 10th season at Cornell (76-70, .520) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 246-117-10 (.672) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.

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

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 Siegiej (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.

MOVING ON UP: Senior Hannah Balleza ranks third overall in Cornell history with 31 career goals. She needs just five 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 74. She needs just 10 more points to move into a tie with Emily Robb (1995-98), who sits in fourth place overall with 84 points.

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).

WINNING!!: With her 10 career wins, Carolyn Horner ranks 13th in Cornell history. She needs just one more to move into 12th place overall with Kelly Clark (1985-87).

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).

SAVES A LOT: Carolyn Horner has 162 career saves to her credit, good for 12th overall in Big Red history. She needs 46 more to surpass her predecessor, Alex Botte '12, who sits in 11th place with 207 career saves.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 25-14 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 84-64 and has taken significantly more shots (697-426) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 227 penalty corners (5.8 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 68-12 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only eight 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. 4, 2011 as Cornell defeated Lock Haven, 3-2, in Ithaca, N.Y.

KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Brown last season, 4-3, in double overtime, it marked only the third time in Coach Hornibrook's career with Cornell that the team scored three goals and lost the contest. Under Coach Hornibrook, the Big Red improved to 47-3 in games in which it scores at least three goals when it defeated Holy Cross (4-0) on Oct. 28, 2012.

CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 2-1 loss to Dartmouth in the final game of the 2012 season continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 48 games, with 29 of those coming by a single goal, including 13 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 63 games, with 31 coming in one-goal games, including nine in overtime.

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.

UP NEXT: The Big Red plays a pair of home games next weekend when it welcomes St. Francis (Pa.) and Georgetown to Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell takes on the Red Flash on Friday, Sept. 13 at 4 p.m., before facing the Hoyas on Sunday, Sept. 15 at noon.