ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team returns to Ivy League play at 1 p.m. Saturday when it plays host to Yale at Berman Field. The Big Red will then make the quick turnaround to play its final non-league game of the season at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at NJIT.
 
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #13: Yale at Cornell
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Charles F. Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell 6-6 (1-2 Ivy); Yale 5-4-2 (0-1-2 Ivy)
AUDIO: www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule?tid=8
LIVE STATS: www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc
 
GAME #14: Cornell at NJIT
DATE: Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014
TIME: 4:30 p.m.
SITE: Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium – Newark, N.J. (artificial surface)
2014 RECORDS (not including Saturday's game): Cornell 6-6; NJIT 3-11-1
VIDEO (no audio): http://portal.stretchinternet.com/njit/
LIVE STATS: www.sidearmstats.com/njit/wsoc/
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
In search of its first winning season in 12 years, Cornell has fallen back to .500 for the first time since the onset of the season after a 3-2 loss Monday at St. Bonaventure. Senior forward Kerry Schubert scored both of the Big Red's goals in a span of just over 10 minutes in the second half, but the Bonnies netted the winner in the 89th minute. All 27 of Cornell's healthy players appeared in the game, and five of the starting 11 were making their first, second or third starts of the season. The loss wrapped up a demanding stretch of three consecutive road games. It started with a 2-1 loss on Oct. 6 at Colgate, then Cornell suffered a 2-0 setback Saturday at Harvard. In relation to the Ratings Percentage Index, Colgate and Harvard were the Big Red's toughest two opponents of the season. … Cornell is 1-2 in Ivy League play, with the victory coming in a wild 3-2 affair against Penn on Oct. 3. The Big Red blitzed Penn for three goals in the opening 32 minutes, then held on for the program's first victory against the Quakers since 1996. Junior forward Caroline Growney set up sophomore Elizabeth Crowell's goal in the second minute, then scored one of her own 13 minutes later on a diagonal run set up by senior midfielder Claire MacManus' perfect through-ball. Freshman forward Meera Dheer then netted the winner on a 30-yard effort from the right side. … With her goal at Colgate, Crowell has regained the team scoring lead with six goals and two assists for 14 points. Growney had four goals and a team-high five assists for 13 points, which is two off the career high she set last season (7-1—15). After scoring twice Monday at St. Bonaventure, Schubert is now third in team scoring with three goals for six points. … Cornell was 7-8-1 last season, which featured more than double the program's win totals from the 2011 and 2012 seasons combined. Cornell had at least five victories in its first six games for the first time since 2005. … Continuity is strong with 17 of 23 letter winners returning from last season, plus a group of newcomers yielding a few new starters. Despite the strong group of incumbents, the team still has a younger slant. There are just four seniors on the roster — including co-captains Sydney Cetrullo and Claire MacManus. … The top three scorers and 10 of the 12 players who had points last season are back with the Big Red in 2014.
 
ABOUT YALE
On paper, the Bulldogs' season looks similar to the Big Red's to date. Yale got off to a fast start with three straight victories, then improved to 5-1 with a win against Hofstra on Sept. 19. The Bulldogs are winless in five games since, though that includes a pair of 1-0 losses and scoreless draws against Harvard and Dartmouth. Most recently, the Bulldogs dropped a 4-0 decision to Central Connecticut State on Monday. … Senior midfielder Frannie Coxe leads the team in scoring with three goals and three assists for nine points. She is a three-way tie for most goals on the team with freshman midfielder Sarah McCauley and sophomore forward Geneva Decker. … Senior Elise Wilcox has started eight of the team's 11 games in goal, posting a 2-2-2 record with a 0.54 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and two shutouts. Wilcox has been the sole keeper used in Ivy League play.
 
THE SERIES WITH YALE
The all-time series is extremely close, with Yale taking a 17-15 lead after 1-0 victories in each of the last two seasons. Goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney made five saves for the Big Red. The last time the teams met in Ithaca, the Bulldogs prevailed on an own goal off a corner kick on Oct. 13, 2012. Though there have been no ties between the squads in 33 meetings, six of the games have gone to overtime.
 
ABOUT NJIT
The Highlanders broke a six-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over fellow independent Delaware State on Oct. 10, then followed that up with a scoreless draw against Columbia two days later. The squad was scheduled to play Lafayette on Wednesday night, but the game was postponed because NJIT's roster was deemed to be too depleted by illness and injuries. … Junior forward Kaelyn Gamel leads the team in scoring with three goals for six points. Sophomore midfielder Dana Schules is one point behind with one goal and three assists for five points, and she shares the team lead in assists with junior midfielder Madeline Griep. Sophomore forward Carly Berdan is the team's only player with multiple goals, netting two for four points. … Junior Samantha Bersett has started 11 of the team's 15 games in goal, posting a 2-6 record to go with a 1.50 goals-against average and .816 save percentage. Sophomore Karen David (1-5-1, 1.10, .901) has appeared in nine games, including four starts.
 
THE SERIES WITH NJIT
The only other times the programs have met was last season, when the Big Red cruised to a 4-0 victory at Berman Field behind two goals from Rachel Nichols '14. Those strikes bookended first-half goals from Caroline Growney and Elizabeth Crowell, and Dempsey Banks and Charlotte Tate added assists. This year's game will be the first time Cornell and NJIT have met in The Garden State.
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 22nd season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer is in his third season as the Cornell women's soccer program's fifth head coach. Farmer came 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. Farmer has amassed a 275-125-42 record at Cornell, 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 fourth season as an assistant coach, and Dwight Hornibrook is in his third season as an assistant coach after serving as the head coach of SUNY Cortland men's soccer for eight years.
 
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
Junior forward Caroline Growney was named Ivy League Player of the Week on Oct. 6 after helping the Big Red to a 3-2 victory over Penn the week before with a goal and an assist. Growney also earned the honor on Sept. 8, which makes her the first Cornellian to win the Ivy honor twice in the same season since 1997. A hard-nosed forward, Growney has also proven to be durable in her time with the Big Red. A three-year starter, the New Mexico export has appeared in all 44 of Cornell's games since her arrival on East Hill in 2012.
 
CROWELL ON A ROLL
Sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Crowell has a pair of two-goal games to her credit this season and has already topped her point total from her freshman campaign. Her first two goals this season were both banked off the woodwork and into the net during a 5-0 rout of Virginia Military Institute on Sept. 12. Two days later, Crowell assisted on the Big Red's lone goal in a double-overtime loss to Temple. She was not only named to the Big Red Shootout All-Tournament Team, but she was tied for most votes received. She led the tournament in scoring with five points.
 
TOPS IN THE TOURNEY
After finishing in second place in the Big Red Shootout on Sept. 12 and Sept. 14, the Big Red had three players voted to the event's all-tournament team — junior forward Caroline Growney, sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Crowell and junior defender Charlotte Tate.
 
ON TO THE NEXT CENTURY
In the same year Cornell University is celebrating its sesquicentennial, the women's soccer team has celebrated a slightly bigger number. The Big Red registered the 200th victory of the program's history of 32-plus years last Friday with a 3-2 victory against Buffalo at Berman Field. Opponents for some other milestones include Hamilton in 1982 (first), Yale in 1988 (50th), Colgate in 1994 (100th), Wagner in 2002 (150th) and now Buffalo in 2014 (200th).
 
QUICK STARTERS
Cornell has enjoyed great success in the 33 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 19-10-4 mark in the first game of the season. That trend continued this season with a dramatic 1-0 victory Sept. 4 at Massachusetts on the strength of junior forward Caroline Growney's 110th-minute goal. Sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Crowell assisted on the strike, and sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney made six saves for her third career shutout.
 
A CALL TO ARMBANDS
Senior midfielder Claire MacManus and senior defender Sydney Cetrullo are the Big Red's co-captains this season. It's just the second time in the last eight years that the Big Red has had fewer than three captains, with 2011 (Abigail Apistolas and Sidra Bonner) and 2009 (Katie Hayes and Lena Russomagno) being the other occurrences in that span.
 
ALOHA!
Last season, forward Dempsey Banks and midfielder Elizabeth Crowell gave the Big Red two freshmen with at least 10 points in a season for just the second time in program history and the first time since 1988. Banks' total of 12 points ranked ninth all-time in freshman scoring. She joined the Big Red by way of 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. Crowell joined the Big Red immediately after her sister, Megan Crowell '13, concluded her playing career at Cornell as a four-time letterwinner.
 
SHE'S HONORED
Senior midfielder Claire MacManus has been recognized for being one of the top defensive midfielders in the Ivy League, as she has been tabbed as an All-Ivy Second Team selection in each of the last two seasons. One of the team's best aerial threats, MacManus scored one goal in each of her first three seasons on East Hill. Her latest strike was the game-winner against Delaware State on Oct. 6, 2013. MacManus is also a midfielder on the women's lacrosse team, being named to the All-Ivy League Second Team in that sport as well.
 
YOUTH IS SERVED
The Big Red is carrying a roster of 27 players this season, but only four are seniors. All four of the fourth-year players — Kelly Abrams, Sydney Cetrullo, Claire MacManus, Kerry Schubert — have started at some point in their careers. There are also six juniors, eight sophomores and nine freshmen on the roster. Of Cornell's 66 points last season, 49 were produced by underclassmen and 54 were produced by returning players to the squad this season.

NATIONAL APPEAL
The Big Red has 13 different states and the District of Columbia represented on the team roster, with its home state of New York claiming eight players. Cornell has three players that hail from Pennsylvania and California, two each from New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois, and single representatives from Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

UP NEXT
Cornell plays exclusively Ivy League games the rest of the way. The Big Red's final road game of the season comes at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26 at Brown, then the squad returns to Ithaca to wrap up the regular season with home games against Princeton on Saturday, Nov. 1 and Dartmouth on Saturday, Nov. 8.