GAME INFORMATION
GAME #1: Cornell at Massachusetts
DATE: Friday, Sept. 5, 2014
TIME: 4 p.m.
SITE: Rudd Field – Amherst, Mass. (natural surface)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell 0-0, Massachusetts 1-2-1
VIDEO: www.atlantic10.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&db_oem_id=31600&mid=80215
LIVE STATS: www.umassathletics.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wsoccer.html?event=1345670
 
GAME #2: Cornell at Marist
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Tenney Stadium – Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (grass surface)
2014 RECORDS (not including Friday's game): Cornell 0-0, Marist 1-1
VIDEO: www.goredfoxes.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=95202&db_oem_id=27700
LIVE STATS: www.goredfoxes.com

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is kicking off its 33rd season of varsity women's soccer, coming off a 7-8-1 campaign last year. That record represents a six-win improvement from 2012 to 2013, and the seven victories is more than double what the Big Red accumulated in the two years prior. The Big Red will be seeking its first winning season in 12 years. … At the helm of the turnaround is head coach Patrick Farmer, who returns for his third season leading the Big Red and his 22nd as a head coach in the NCAA. … Continuity will be strong with 17 of 23 letterwinners returning from last season, plus a group of newcomers expected to produce at least 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. Junior Caroline Growney headed the list with a team-high seven goals and one assist for 15 points. Sophomore Dempsey Banks had three goals and a team-high six assists for 11 points, and classmate Elizabeth Crowell had three goals and five assists for 11 points.
 
ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS
After advancing to the Atlantic 10 Championship final last season, the Minutewomen were 1-2-1 in August to start the season — most recently suffering a 2-1 overtime loss to Providence in their home opener on Aug. 31. The team's lone victory to date also required extra time, with sophomore forward Megan Burke scoring the only goal of a game at Bryant in the 111th minute. UMass opened the season with a 1-1 draw vs. Towson and a 2-1 loss to James Madison at the JMU Invitational. … Burke has two goals to lead the team with four points, with junior forward Jackie Bruno and sophomore midfielder/defender Julia Weithofer scoring the team's other goals so far. Sophomore Danielle Kriscenski has been the lone goalkeeper used in four games, sporting a 1-2-1 record, 1.13 goals-against average, .706 save percentage and one shutout.
 
THE SERIES WITH MASSACHUSETTS
Friday's game will be the first meeting between Cornell and UMass since 1995, when a series of seven games over eight years ended with the Minutewomen's 2-1 victory on Oct. 29. Massachusetts has won all seven meetings between the two programs, though none of the victories have been by more than two goals.
 
ABOUT MARIST
The Red Foxes have started the season with a 2-0 loss Aug. 22 against Seton Hall and a 2-1 victory Monday at UMass-Lowell. Senior midfielder/forward Amanda Epsetin scored Marist's first goal to tie the game, then the Red Foxes got the winner on a Riverhawks own goal late in the second half. Epstein is the team's top scorer among returning players, ranking third last season with three goals and a team-high eight assists for 14 points. Senior Andrea Wicks is the team's primary goalkeeper for a third straight season.
 
THE SERIES WITH MARIST
The Big Red and Red Foxes are even in three previous meetings, including a win, a loss and a draw for each side. Cornell's victory came last season, when Rachel Nichols '14 scored on a penalty kick in the ninth minute of overtime after she was fouled by a Marist defender in the box. The Big Red's first goal came on a freshman connection, with forward Dempsey Banks setting up Elizabeth Crowell for her first collegiate goal in the 27th minute. The other two meetings between the programs were in tournaments. They played to a scoreless draw in 2002's Vermont Invitational, then Marist topped Cornell, 2-0, in the 2011 Red Fox Invitational.
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 22nd season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer is entering 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. Prior to his stint at Wisconsin, Farmer has amassed a 261-97-40 record at 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.
 
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.
 
QUICK STARTERS
Cornell has had great success in the 31 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 17-10-4 mark in the first game of the season. That trend resumed last season, with a 1-0 victory at Sacred Heart on the strength of a fifth-minute goal from senior Kerry Schubert and an outstanding defensive effort to only surrender two shots on goal.
 
ALOHA!
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 last season ranked ninth all-time in freshman scoring. She joined the Big Red from last year 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.
 
AND THE WINNER IS …
The Big Red had consecutive Ivy League Rookies of the Week last season as part of its 6-2-1 start to the 2013 campaign. Midfielder Elizabeth Crowell earned the honor (as well as Ivy League Player of the Week) on Sept. 16 after scoring in back-to-back games and becoming the first Big Red player with three assists in a game since 1991. Goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney then was selected as the Ancient Eight's top rookie the following week after stopping 11 of 12 shots on target against Cincinnati and NJIT, while also collecting her first collegiate shutout.
 
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.
 
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 will make its home debut Friday, Sept. 12 and Sunday, Sept. 14 as hosts of the Cornell Classic at Berman Field. The four-team, four-game tournament will include Big Red games against Virginia Military Institute on the first day and Temple in the finale.