GAME #9: No. 19 Cornell vs. Yale
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 4 at 12:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 18-17-1
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 3-0, Oct. 5, 2013 (New Haven, Conn.)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell (7-1, 2-0 Ivy); Yale (1-7, 0-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: None

GAME #10: No. 19 Cornell vs. American
GAME TIME: Sunday, Oct. 5, at 12:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: American leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: American won, 3-2, Oct. 28, 2001 (Princeton, N.J.)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell (7-1)*; American (5-5)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: None
* record prior to Oct. 4

THE MATCH UP: The No. 19 Big Red field hockey team brings the nation's fourth longest winning streak and a newly acquired national ranking into this weekend's games as it plays host to Yale and American on Saturday, Oct. 4 and Sunday, Oct. 5, respectively. Both games will begin at noon. Live stats are available at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/

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 18-17-1 advantage in the all-time series. In recent years, the series has been extremely competitive with 15 of the last 18 meetings being decided by one goal.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale has lost five consecutive games, including Ivy contest vs. Harvard and Princeton, to fall to 1-7 on the season (0-2 Ivy). The Bulldogs have struggled to score, with six of their nine goals on the season coming from Jessie Accurso, Carol Middough, and Kelsey Nolan. Not a single Yale player has registered an assist. In goal, senior Heather Schleiser has played every minute for the Bulldogs and has posted a 2.70 goals-against average and a .750 save percentage, despite registering at least five saves in all but one contest.

LAST TIME VS. YALE: The Bulldogs scored two early goals and held off Cornell the rest of the way to earn a 3-0 victory in Ivy League action pm Oct. 5, 2013 on Johnson Field in New Haven, Conn. Yale dominated the first half of play, outshooting the Big Red, 10-2, and earning four penalty corners to Cornell's one. Emily Schukert registered a goal in the seventh minute and Georgia Holland staked the Bulldog's a 2-0 lead at the 14:10 mark. The Big Red made some effective halftime adjustments to its offense, getting off 11 shots and earning six penalty corners in the second stanza, but was unable to find the back of the net. On the other end, Yale's Jessie Accurso added a late goal to account for the 3-0 final.Cornell goalie Elizabeth Schaeffler made eight saves, four in each half, and was helped by a pair of defensive saves from Taylor Standiford and Mallory Bannon. Yale netminder Emily Cain was called on to make just one save in the opening half, while Heather Schlesier came in at the intermission and finished with seven saves.

THE SERIES WITH AMERICAN: The Eagles won the only meeting in the history of the series, a 3-2 decision  during the 2001 season.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES: American, which opened the 2014 season ranked 19th in the NFHCA Preseason Poll, has played a challenging schedule and has dropped three consecutive one-goal decisions to slip to 5-5 on the season. The Eagles have a balanced attack with 12 players registering at least one point on the season, led by Grace Wilson with a team-high five goals and three assists. Junior goalkeeper Kate McBeath has played every minute of the season and has posted a 1.35 goals-against average and a .714 save percentage.  
 
LAST TIME VS. AMERICAN: Despite and early goal by Carissa Mirasol and a late tally by Kimmy Gardner, the Big Red fell to American, 3-2, on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2001 in Princeton, N.J. Mirasol opened the game by scoring just 15 seconds into the contest, but the Eagles scored the next two goals before Gardner connected on a penalty corner to tie the score at 2-2. American's Karilyn Schellens converted a penalty stroke in the final minutes of the game to earn the victory, even though Cornell held the advantage in shots (12-7) and penalty corners (6-4). Kaitlin Tierney made three saves in the loss, while Laura Miller stopped nine to earn the win.

VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 63-54-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 21-1-1 lead against Lehigh. The Big Red also holds a winning record against Colgate (21-19-3) and Holy Cross (6-5). Cornell holds a losing record against American (0-1), Boston University (0-1), Bucknell (10-15-1), and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 25-12 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure and is 3-0 so far this season.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 11th season at Cornell (94-78, .547) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 265-125-10 (.675) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
 
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Cornell earned the first national ranking in program history this past week, coming in at No 19 in the latest 2014 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll.
 
WHAT A STREAK: Cornell's current six-game winning streak is the fourth longest in the nation, behind Virginia, St. Francis (Pa) and Northeastern, who are tied for first at eight games apiece.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Kelly Johnson and Krysten Mayers have each been named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week once this season, with Johnson earning the honor on Sept. 23, and Mayers winning on Sept. 30. Johnson took home the award after earning her first collegiate shutout in Cornell's Ivy League opener vs. Penn on Sept. 20, before matching a career-high with five saves in a 2-1 victory over Holy Cross the following afternoon. The following weekend, Mayers had a hand in four of the five goals the Big Red scored against Columbia and Monmouth, finishing with three goals and one assist. Mayers scored both goals, including the overtime game winner, against Columbia to keep Cornell atop the conference standings, before assisting on the game-tying goal and then scoring the go-ahead goal the next day vs. Monmouth ... Both Johnson and Mayers were named the ECAC Rookie of the Week after winning the Ivy League honor.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the second time in her career, junior Marisa Siergiej was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Sept. 16 after helping the Big Red win a pair of games to improve to 3-1 on the season. Siergiej recorded back-to-back two-goal games in wins over Lehigh and Delaware. She was also the anchor of a defensive unit that allowed just three penalty corners (1.5 per game) and 11 shots (5.5 per game), while holding the Blue Hens' Esmée Peet, the 2013 CAA Player and Rookie of the Year and 2014 preseason Player of the Year, to just one shot.

SIERGIEJ'S SURGE: Marisa Siergiej led the Big Red with a career-high 10 goals last season. Through the first eight games of this season, she has already amassed nine goals, tops in the Ivy League at 1.12 goals per game.
 
SOLID IN THE CIRCLE: Cornell's defense has been outstanding this season, giving up just 3.5 penalty corners per game, which is well below the school record of 5.3 during the 2009 season.

MORE SHOTS: Cornell has outshot all eight of its opponents this season and has put more shots on goal than all but Albany, who tied the Big Red at 8-8.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: After its offensive outburst to start the season, Cornell finds itself ranked second in the nation in scoring margin (2.44), fourth in assists per game (3.00), fourth in points per game (10.00), sixth in scoring average (3.41), and sixth in goals per game (3.50). On the defensive end of the field, Cornell ranks sixth in goals against average (0.90) and ninth shutouts per game (0.38).
 
INDIVIDUAL EFFORT: Senior Ann DiPastina ranks fourth in the nation in assists per game (1.00), while Taylor Standiford ranks 12th overall (0.88). Junior Marisa Siergiej ranks fifth in the country in goals per game (1.13), while Elizabeth Horak and Krysten Mayers both rank 35th overall (0.71). Siergiej is also 13th in the nation in points per game (2.25). Freshman goalie Kelly Johnson is sixth in the country in goals against average (0.89).
 
MOVING ON UP: Junior Marisa Siergiej currently sits in ninth place overall in Cornell history with 51 career points, needing just eight more to surpass Beth Paciello (1985-88) and move into eighth place ... Siergiej's 24 career goals is also good for ninth place all-time and she needs just two more to move into a tie for eighth place with Paciello … Taylor Standiford is tied with Catie DeStio in third place with 22 career assists and needs just five more to surpass Emily Robb (1995-98) … Ann DiPastina sits in a five-way tie for 14th place in Cornell history with 12 career assists and needs just one more to move into a tie with Kate Thompson (2007-10) in 13th place.
 
200 AMERICAN: With the Big Red's 6-0 victory over Lehigh on Sept. 12, Coach Hornibrook earned her 200th victory with an NCAA institution.  

FAST START: Over the first four games of the season, Cornell has outscored its opponents 20-4. The 20 goals are the most over a four-game stretch since the 2008 season, when the Big Red defeated Yale, Lehigh, Colgate and Bryant by a combined score of 19-5. Only once before has Cornell had as successful of a four-game stretch, scoring 21 goals in consecutive games vs. St. Lawrence, Rochester, Brockport and Ithaca College in 1974.
 
ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: The Big Red's 9-0 victory vs. Colgate on Sept. 5 tied a school record for most goals in a single game, matching Cornell's performances vs. against Bryant in 2008 and Saint Francis (Pa.) in 2006.

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 13th overall for winning percentage (.635) and 19th for career wins (205), rankings that would be higher if the NCAA counted her 60-8-6 record at Canada's New Brunswick.
 
RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's schedule features two teams that are ranked in the current 2014 NFHCA Division I Poll – No. 10 Albany, No. 13 Syracuse.  
 
FAST STARTS: In back-to-back games vs. Lehigh and Delaware, the Big Red took an early lead, scoring at the 1:00 mark vs. the Lehigh and at 1:05 vs. the Blue Hens.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 3-2 victory over Monmouth on Sept. 28, 2014 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 56 games, with 34 of those coming by a single goal, including 16 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 78 games, with 40 coming in one-goal games, including 11 in overtime … So far this season, the Big Red has played in five one-goal games, including one in overtime, and has posted a 4-1 record.

BALANCED OFFENSE: Just eight games into this season, the Big Red had 13 players register at least one goal. This season is the first time that at least 13 players have registered a point since having 13 in the 2008 season.

EARLY LEADS: 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 81-14 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only 12 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, 2014 as Cornell overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Monmouth, 3-2, in West Orange, N.J.

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 59th victory in a game in which it scores at least three goals when it defeated Monmouth (3-2) on Sept. 28, 2014.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 34-17 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 111-81 and has taken significantly more shots (895-529) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 290 penalty corners (5.7 per game).

OPENING UP: The Big Red opened its 43rd season on Sept. 5 with a dominating 9-0 victory over in state rival Colgate at Tyler's Field … The Big Red improved to 25-14-4 (.628) all-time in season-openers, while Coach Hornibrook improved to 8-3 (.727) in season openers during her time with Cornell.

FIRST POINTS: In its season-opener vs. Colgate, the Big Red saw 10 players register at least one point, with seven of those players finding the point column for the first time in their collegiate career. First time goal scorers included, juniors Katie Garrity and Stephanie Eggertson, sophomore Elizabeth Horak, and freshmen Gabby DePetro, Krysten Mayers, andKatie Carlson. Additionally, freshman Isabel Josephs added one assist for her first collegiate point. 

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Junior Taylor Standiford has been named team captain for the 2014 season, while senior Ann DiPastina has been named assistant captain.

USA, USA, USA –  A trio of Big Red field hockey players – Marisa Siergiej, Katy Weeks and Kelly Johnson – were selected to participate in a pair of US Field Hockey events this past summer, as Weeks played in the Women's National Championship while Siergiej and Johnson played in the Under 21 Championship.
 
CAN-A-DA, CAN-A-DA – Sam McILwrick was the youngest player selected to train with the U-21 Canadian national team in 2013 and went on to be named the 2013 U-18 Player of the Year by Field Hockey British Columbia. She was also named to the Canadian national "Target 2017" team in preparation of the 2017 Junior World Cup. 
 
EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICAN: Junior Marisa Siergiej was named a second-team Mideast Region All-American following the 2013 season. One of the premier defenders in the Ivy League, Siergiej was the anchor of a defensive unit that ranked fourth in the conference in goals allowed (2.12) and gave up just 6.1 penalty corners per contest. On the other side of the field, she was the Big Red's best scoring threat on penalty corner opportunities, netting 10 goals this season. She led the team in goals, game-winning goals (four), and points (22), marks that also placed her in the top 10 in the conference in all three categories.
 
ALL-IVY ACCOLADES: Cornell had four players named All-Ivy in 2013, two of whom are back for the 2014 season – junior Marisa Siergiej  and sophomore  Katy Weeks (second-team).

SMARTY PANTS: The Big Red placed a school-record 10 student-athletes on the 2013 Gladiator by SGI/NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad. The 10 honorees are the most ever, besting the mark of eight that made the team following the 2010 campaign. Additionally, freshman Katie Weeks was named a Division I Scholar of Distinction for having achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.90 or higher through the first semester of the 2013-14 academic year. Cornell has had at least four players earn the honor in nine of the past 10 seasons. In addition to the individual accolades, the squad also earned the NFHCA Collegiate National Academic Team Award for the sixth time during head coach Hornibrook's tenure.

250 WINS: The Big Red's 3-1 victory over Georgetown on Sept. 15, 2013 was the 250th win of head coach Donna Hornibrook's career.

SISTER ACT: The 2014 campaign will mark the first time since the 2007 campaign that the Cornell roster will not feature at least one set of sisters.

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 wraps up a three-game home stand next weekend when it welcomes No. 13 Syracuse to Marsha Dodson Field Sunday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m.