The women's soccer team brings a 5-1 record into its Ivy League opener Friday at Columbia before returning home for a non-league contest Sunday vs. Wagner.
 
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #7: Cornell at Columbia
DATE: Friday, Sept. 26, 2014
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium – New York, N.Y. (artificial surface)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell 5-1, Columbia 3-1-3
VIDEO: Big Red Digital
LIVE STATS: www.gocolumbialions.com
 
GAME #8: Wagner at Cornell
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Charles F. Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (grass surface)
2014 RECORDS (not including Friday's game): Cornell 5-1, Wagner 3-5-1
AUDIO: Big Red Digital
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

ABOUT THE BIG RED
In search of its first winning season in 12 years, Cornell is off to a strong start with five victories and one tough overtime loss. But that loss is the only blemish in Cornell's extra-time exploits this season, countered by a pair of wins. The latter of the two came last Sunday, when freshman Tess Pullano notched her first collegiate point by setting up junior Shanay Fischer for a 100th-minute winner against Binghamton in a 1-0 affair. The Big Red earned its fourth clean sheet in six games, but playing two goalkeepers for the first time. Sophomore goalkeeper Dana Daniels earned her first collegiate victory in relief despite not needing to make any saves in 54-plus minutes of play. Two days prior, the Big Red rallied for a 3-2 victory against Buffalo. Sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Crowell scored the final two goals, including the winner with 6:01 left in the second half. Junior forward Caroline Growney scored the Big Red's first goal, then set up the winner … Crowell (four goals, two assists) and Growney (three goals, four assists) share the team scoring lead with 10 points apiece. Sophomore forward Meera Marhoefer ranks third with three points on a goal and an assist. … The Big Red is in position to continue building off a strong 2013 campaign. 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 has at least five victories in its first six games for the first time since 2005. … Continuity is strong with 17 of 23 letterwinners 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 COLUMBIA
The Lions are 3-1-3 out of the gate, riding a five-game unbeaten streak. Goals for either side of the games have been at a premium, with Columbia entering Friday's game with a shutout streak of 297 consecutive minutes. All three of the squad's draws have been scoreless, and there have only been a total of 10 strikes for both teams in seven games. Most recently, senior forward/midfielder Alexa Yow scored in the 21st minute of Sunday's 1-0 victory at Saint Joseph's. The weekend started with Friday's scoreless deadlock with Albany in New York. … Sophomore forward/midfielder Grace Taylor leads the team with a goal and an assist for three points. Senior forward Coleen Rizzo, freshman forward Emily Johnson, junior defender Cadie Naquin, senior forward Courtney Garrity and Yow are the other goal-scorers. Rizzo's 22 shots have a far-and-away team lead, though nine of Yow's 11 shots have been on target. … The team's strong defense is backed primarily by junior goalkeeper Gabby Dubick, who sports a 2-1-2 record with a 0.81 goals-against average and .778 save percentage. Standing 6-foot-2, senior Grace Redmon has also appeared in three games, having not surrendered a goal in 246-plus minutes. … All four goals Columbia has conceded this season have come in the second half.
 
THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA
The Big Red snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Lions with a 2-0 victory on Sept. 27, 2013. Junior midfielder Shanay Fischer and sophomore forward Dempsey Banks scored the goals for the Big Red, and sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney made three saves for the shutout. Columbia leads the all-time series, 18-10.
 
ABOUT WAGNER
The Seahawks are winless in their last five games, including a 1-0 loss to Drexel in their most recent outing last Friday. All three of the squad's victories came via shutout in August against Iona, Saint Peter's and Stony Brook. But all three of those games were on the artificial surface of Spiro Sports Center on Staten Island, whereas Wagner is 0-3-1 on the road this season. … Megan Fritz and Samantha Jensen are tied for the team lead with three goals and six points apiece. Johanna Konrad has two goals for four points, and Diana Saber has a goal and an assist for three points. … Katie Marcy is the team's primary goalkeeper, posting a 3-4-1 record, 1.09 goals-against average, .816 save percentage and three shutouts. … The Seahawks were 11-5-2 last season and while the team is primarily comprised of underclassmen, 18 are returning letterwinners.
 
THE SERIES WITH WAGNER
The Big Red won the only previous meeting between the two teams, outshooting the Seahawks by a 39-1 margin in a 4-0 victory on Oct. 23, 2002. It was the 150th victory in program history for Cornell.
 
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 274-120-42 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.
 
CROWELL ON A ROLL
Sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Crowell has a pair of two-goal games to her credit this season and is just one point shy of her entire 2013 total. 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 two weeks ago, 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, being tabbed as an All-Ivy Second Team selection in each of the last two seasons. One of the team's best aerial threats, MacManus has now scored one goal in each of her 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 28 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 seven 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 returns to Ivy League play at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, when it plays host to Penn in the first league game of the season at Berman Field. The Big Red then turns its attention to a non-league regional rival, travelling to nearby Colgate for a contest at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6.