GAME INFORMATION
GAME #5: Cornell vs. Penn
GAME TIME: Saturday, Sept. 20 at 12:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 23-13-2
LAST MEETING: Penn won, 4-3, Sept. 21, 2013 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell (3-1); Penn (2-2)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/ 
LIVE VIDEO: None

GAME #6: Cornell vs. Holy Cross
GAME TIME: Sunday, Sept. 21, at 12:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Series tied, 5-5
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 4-3 (OT), Oct. 6, 2013 (Worcester, Mass.)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell (3-1)*; Holy Cross (2-5)*
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/ 
LIVE VIDEO: None

* records prior to Sept. 20

THE MATCH UP: The Big Red field hockey team returns home and opens Ivy League play this weekend as it welcomes Penn and Holy Cross to Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell will take on the Quakers on Saturday, Sept. 20 before facing the Crusaders on Sunday, Sept. 21. Both games are slated to begin at noon.

THE SERIES WITH PENN: The Big Red and the Quakers have squared off 38 times since first meeting in 1976 and Penn holds a 23-13-2 advantage in the all-time series. The Quakers dominated the series early on, posting a 17-2-2 record from 1978-1998, but Cornell has won six of the last nine. The series has been incredibly close in recent years, with 15 of the last 22 meetings between the two squads being decided by one goal, with eight overtime contests.

SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn has gotten off to a 2-2 start with impressive victories over Lehigh and Fairfield and a pair of one-goal losses to Bucknell and Liberty. Alexa Hoover leads the team in goals (6) and points (14), while Emily Corcoran has chipped in five goals. Both Elizabeth Hitti and Alex Iqbal lead the team with three assists apiece. In goal, Allison Weisenfels has played every minute over the course of four games and has posted a 1.75 goals-against average and a .741 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. PENN: The Big Red came from behind to tie the score twice, but couldn't find a final equalizer, as it fell to Penn, 4-3 on Sept. 21, 2013 on Ellen Vagelos Field in Philadelphia, Pa. Elly Plappert scored twice to lead the Big Red, while Marisa Siergiej added a goal off a penalty corner. Both Taylor Standiford and Hannah Balleza registered one assist. Penn received three goals from Jasmine Cole, while Emily Corcoran added a goal and two assists. Cornell outshot the Quakers, 20-8, and held the 10-9 advantage in penalty corners, but the home team was kept in the game by the stellar play of its goalie Carly Sokach, who finished with 12 saves, including stopping a Cornell penalty stroke with seven minutes to play that would have tied the game at 4-4. Carolyn Horner made three saves in 44:47 before giving way to Elizabeth Schaeffler, who did not face a shot on goal.

THE SERIES WITH HOLY CROSS: The series with the Crusaders is tied at 5-5. Holy Cross won the first ever meeting, 1-0 in 1995, but Cornell responded with back-to-back wins in 1995 and 1996. The Crusaders won the next four meetings before the Big Red ended the skid with a 1-0 victory in 2007. Cornell has currently won three in a row, knotting the series last season with a 4-3 overtime victory ... Coach Hornibrook is 3-0 vs. the Crusaders.

SCOUTING THE CRUSAIDERS: After opening the season with a 2-1 record that included a pair of one-goal victories over LaSalle and UMass-Lowell, Holy Cross lost four in a row to slip to 2-5 on the year heading into its game at Colgate on Saturday, Sept. 20. The team has managed to score just five goals, with Kaitlyn Murray and Katy Cronin scoring two goals apiece, while Michelle McNeil has tallied all three of the Crusaders' assists on the year. In goal, Kat Matchett has started six games and has posted a 1.60 goals-against average and a .750 save percentage, while Maya Langman has played in two games with one start and has a 2.67 GAA and a .789 save percentage.

LAST TIME VS. HOLY CROSS: After a disappointing result the previous day at Yale, the Big Red rebounded with a 4-3 overtime win on Oct. 6, 2013 against  Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. After the Big Red jumped out to a 2-0 halftime lead, Holy Cross responded with three consecutive goals in a 14 minute spurt in the second half to take the lead. Katy Weeks scored in the 65th minute of regulation to force overtime and Marisa Siergiej scored just 1:26 into the extra stanza to steal the victory. Weeks finished with a goal and two assists to lead Cornell with a career-high four points, while Mallory Bannon registered one goal and assisted on Siergiej's game-winner. Katherine Stone also scored for the Big Red. Cornell held the significant 18-5 edge in shots and earned eight corners to the Crusaders' two. Holy Cross was kept in the game by goalie Kat Matchett, who made 10 saves, six of which came in the second half as the home team made its comeback. 

VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 62-54-7 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 is tied in the series and Holy Cross (5-5). Cornell holds a losing record against American (0-1), Boston University (0-1), Bucknell (10-15-1), and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 24-12 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure and 2-0 so far this season.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 11th season at Cornell (90-78, .536) ... Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 261-125-10 (.672) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
 
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, its best start since the 2010 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 four games of this season, she has already amassed seven goals, including two goals in each of the Big Red's three victories.
 
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.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: After its offensive outburst to start the season, Cornell finds itself ranked second in the nation in goals per game (5.00), points per game (14.50), scoring average (5.00) and scoring margin (4.00). The Big Red is also second overall in assists per game (4.50).
 
INDIVIDUAL EFFORT: Senior Ann DiPastina ranks second in the nation in assists per game (1.50), while Taylor Standiford ranks fifth overall (1.25). Junior Marisa Siergiej ranks second in the country in goals per game (1.75), while Elizabeth Horak (1.25) is ninth overall. Siergiej is also third in the nation in points per game (3.50), while Horak 10th – 2.75) and DiPastina (24th – 2.00) rank among the top 25.
  
MOVING ON UP: With her eight points last weekend, junior Marisa Siergiej moved into 11th place in Cornell history with 47 career points. She needs just two more points to move into the top 10, tying Carissa Mirasol (2000-03) and Abbi Horn (2005-08) in ninth place with 49 points ... Siergiej's 22 career goals is also good for ninth place all-time and she needs just four more to move into a tie for eighth place with Beth Paciello (1985-88) … Taylor Standiford sits in fifth place in Cornell history with 20 career assists, needing just one more to tie Hannah Balleza (2010-13) in fourth place …  Ann DiPastina needs just one more assist to move into Cornell's top 20.
 
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.  

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 14th overall for winning percentage (.630) and 20th for career wins (201), 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 three teams that are ranked in the current 2014 NFHCA Division I Poll – No. 4 Syracuse, No. 7 Albany, and No. 20 Princeton.  
 
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 2-1 loss to Albany on Sept. 7, 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 74 games, with 36 coming in one-goal games, including 10 in overtime … Last season, nine of Cornell's 17 games were one-goal decisions.

BALANCED OFFENSE: Just four games into this season, the Big Red had nine players register at least one goal. Head Coach Donna Hornibrook has had at least nine players register one goal in all but two seasons with the Big Red (2004, 2012).

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 78-14 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only 11 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 Oct. 8, 2013 as Cornell overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Colgate, 3-2, in Ithaca, N.Y.

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 58th victory in a game in which it scores at least three goals when it defeated Delaware (4-2) on Sept. 14, 2014.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 32-17 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 108-80 and has taken significantly more shots (865-517) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 284 penalty corners (5.8 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 hits the road next weekend for a pair of games at Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 27 at noon and at Monmouth on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 1 p.m.