GAME #11: Cornell vs. No. 13 Syracuse
GAME TIME: Sunday, Oct. 12, at 2:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Syracuse leads, 26-2-1
LAST MEETING: Syracuse won, 3-2 (OT), Oct. 27, 2013 (Syracuse, N.Y.)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell (8-2); Syracuse (8-3)*
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/ 
LIVE VIDEO: None
  * record prior to Oct. 11

THE MATCH UP: The Big Red field hockey team saw its seven-game winning streak ended last weekend by reigning Patriot League champion, American, but will have an opportunity to get back into the national spotlight when it takes on No. 13 Syracuse at Marsha Dodson Field on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m.  For fans that can't make it to the field, live stats are available at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/ 

THE SERIES WITH SYRACUSE: The series with the Orange began in 1979 and Syracuse has dominated from the beginning to earn a 26-2-1 all-time record against the Big Red. Cornell's first win in the series came in just the fourth-ever meeting between the two squads when it defeated Syracuse by a score of 1-0 inside the Carrier Dome in 1983. Its most recent victory came in 2007 when the Big Red earned a 3-2 victory on Coyne Field.

SCOUTING THE ORANGE: Syracuse, currently ranked 13th in the NFHCA Coaches' Poll, has been nationally ranked every week of the season and enters Saturday's contest with No. 5 Louisville with an 8-3 record. The Orange has a high-powered and balanced attack and entered the weekend with five players registering at least six goals and double-digit points on the season. Lieke Visser leads the team in both points (24) and assists (12), while Annalena Ulbrich has a team-high eight goals. Junior goalkeeper Jess Jecko has started nine games this season and has posted a 1.94 goals-against average and a .667 save percentage.  
 
LAST TIME VS. SYRACUSE: Cornell goalie Carolyn Horner posted 11 saves and senior Elly Plappert scored in the 55th minute to send the game to overtime, but Lauren Brooks scored at the 79:12 mark to give No. 3 Syracuse a 3-2 overtime victory over the Big Red field hockey team on Coyne Field on Oct. 27, 2013. The Orange outshot Cornell, 23-7, and earned nine penalty corners to the Big Red's three. Syracuse jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half behind goals from Brooks and Serra Dengan. Brooks' goal came in the sixth minute of play when she tipped a shot by Karlee Farr and just over three minutes later Dengnan scored when she collected a rebound off a Horner save and scored. Marisa Siergiej got the Big Red back into the contest when she converted a penalty corner shot at 20:19. Taylor Standiford and Hannah Balleza were credited with the assist. Just over three minutes later, Siergirj helped keep Cornell in the contest with a defensive save. The Big Red earned the equalizer after being awarded back-to-back penalty corners in the 53rd minute. Orange goalie Jess Jecko made consecutive saves before Katy Weeks collected a rebound and passed it across the circle to Plappert, who tipped the ball into the net. Syracuse had two scoring chances in the waning moments of regulation, but Horner made a pair of save to send the game to overtime.

VS. ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE: The Big Red is 3-34-1 all-time vs. the current members of the ACC, due mostly to a 2-26-1 record against its newest member, Syracuse. The Big Red's only other victory against the conference has come against Virginia (1-3). Cornell also has a losing record against Boston College (0-4) and North Carolina (0-1) and has never played Duke, Louisville or Wake Forest … Cornell is 1-7 vs. the ACC during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 11th season at Cornell (95-79, .546) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 266-126-10 (.674) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.


SINGLE SHUTOUT: Cornell's offense has been shut out just once this season, as the Big Red fell to American, 1-0, on Oct. 5. The Big Red held the edge in shots (11-5), shots on goal (6-4) and penalty corners (6-3) but could not capitalize.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Cornell earned the first national ranking in program history on Sept. 30, coming in at No 19 in the 2014 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. The Big Red fell out of the poll the following week after a 1-0 loss to American, but may have managed to hold onto its No. 19 ranking if it weren't for the fact that Indiana upset No. 4 Duke on the same day to jump into the rankings at No. 18.
  
IVY START: The Big Red has opened its Ivy League season at 3-0, its best conference start since winning the first five Ivy games of the 2008 season.

WHAT A STREAK: Prior to its loss to American on Oct. 5, Cornell's seven-game winning streak was the fourth longest in the nation, behind Virginia, St. Francis (Pa) and Northeastern, who were tied for first at eight games apiece.
 
GONE STREAKING: Cornell's seven-game winning streak from Sept. 12 to Oct. 4 was the second longest in program history, coming in behind the Big Red's eight-game streak from Nov. 9, 2008 to Sept. 26, 2009.


SIERGIEJ'S SURGE: Marisa Siergiej leads the Big Red with 10 goals this season, matching her career-high 10 goals from a season ago. Her 1.00 goals per game is good for first in the Ivy League and fifth in the nation.

SOLID IN THE CIRCLE: Cornell's defense has been outstanding this season, giving up just 3.1 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: Cornell enters the week ranked third in the nation in scoring margin (2.25), eighth in assists per game (2.80), 10th in points per game (9.20), 12th in scoring average (3.14), and 12th in goals per game (3.20). On the defensive end of the field, Cornell ranks third in goals against average (0.88) and eighth in shutouts per game (0.40).
 
INDIVIDUAL EFFORT: Senior Ann DiPastina ranks 10th in the nation in assists per game (0.90), while Taylor Standiford ranks 15th overall (0.80). Junior Marisa Siergiej ranks fifth in the country in goals per game (1.00), while Krysten Mayers  ranks 42nd overall (0.67). Siergiej is also 22nd in the nation in points per game (2.15). Freshman goalie Kelly Johnson is fourth 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 53 career points, needing just six more to surpass Beth Paciello (1985-88) and move into eighth place ... Siergiej's 25 career goals is also good for ninth place all-time and she needs just one more to move into a tie for eighth place with Paciello … Taylor Standiford sits in third place with 23 career assists and needs just four more to surpass Emily Robb (1995-98) … Ann DiPastina is tied with Kate Thompson (2007-10) in 13th place with 13 career assists and needs just one more to move into a tie with Natalie Appleton (2006-09) and Blair Corcoran (2002-05) in 11th place.
 
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.

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 outscored its opponents 20-4. The 20 goals were 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 (.634) and 19th for career wins (206), 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. 11 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 1-0 loss to American on Oct. 5, 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 57 games, with 35 of those coming by a single goal, including 16 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 79 games, with 40 coming in one-goal games, including 11 in overtime … So far this season, the Big Red has played in six one-goal games, including one in overtime, and has posted a 4-2 record.

BALANCED OFFENSE: So far this season, the Big Red has had 13 players register at least one point, marking the first time since 2008 that Cornell has had at least 13 players register a point in a 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 82-14 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 60th victory in a game in which it scores at least three goals when it defeated Yale (4-0) on Oct. 4, 2014.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 35-18 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 115-82 and has taken significantly more shots (925-537) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 293 penalty corners (5.5 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, and Katie 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 returns to Ivy League action next weekend when it travels to Jordan Field on Saturday, Oct. 18 at noon.