BIG RED SHOOTOUT
Friday, Sept. 12
GAME #1: Temple vs. St. Bonaventure, 4 p.m.
GAME #2: Virginia Military Institute at Cornell, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 14
GAME #3: Virginia Military Institute vs. St. Bonaventure, 4 p.m.
GAME #4: Temple at Cornell, 7 p.m.
Other information
SITE: Charles F. Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
2014 RECORDS: Cornell 2-0, St. Bonaventure 2-3-1, Temple 5-0, Virginia Military Institute 1-3
LIVE AUDIO (Cornell games only): www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule?tid=8
LIVE STATS (all games): www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wsoc

ABOUT THE BIG RED
In search of its first winning season in 12 years, Cornell is off to a strong start following a pair of 1-0 victories last weekend. The Big Red opened the campaign with a dramatic victory, thanks to a goal from junior forward Caroline Growney in the 110th minute at Massachusetts. Growney then set up the winner Sunday at Marist, which came in the form of freshman forward Paige DeLoach's first collegiate goal. Growney was then named the Ivy League Co-Player of the Week on Monday – her first career Ivy award. Her goal at UMass was the latest overtime goal from a Big Red player since the NCAA went to the golden-goal format in 1997. … 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's 2-0 start this season is its first since 2005. … Continuity is 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. 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. Crowell assisted Growney's goal at UMass. … Sophomore Kelsey Tierney is off to a perfect start with two clean sheets and seven saves. She needed to make just one save against Marist, behind the back line of Cetrullo, junior Charlotte Tate, sophomore Aimee Tavzel and freshman Whitney Farber.
 
ABOUT ST. BONAVENTURE
While the Bonnies will be on Berman Field twice this weekend, they won't actually oppose the Big Red until an October meeting between the squads in Olean. St. Bonaventure enters the weekend with a 2-3-1 record. The two victories both came via shutout against Kent State (1-0 on Aug. 24) and Canisius (2-0 on Aug. 31). More recently, the Bonnies dropped a 3-1 affair last Friday at Akron before a scoreless draw Sunday at Robert Morris. … Freshman forward Danielle Vis leads the squad with a pair of goals and is tied for the scoring lead of four points with junior midfielder Abby Maiello. Both of Vis' goals have been game-winners. … Senior midfielder Brittany Charles has a goal and an assist, and junior forward Lauren Hill has scored St. Bonaventure's other goal this season. … Junior goalkeeper Christina Sarokon is 2-2-1 with a 0.77 goals-against average and .871 save percentage with three shutouts.
 
ABOUT TEMPLE
The Owls haven't had a winning season since 2000, but they're off to a program-record 5-0 start under second-year head coach Seamus O'Connor. Temple recorded shutouts in their first four games against Binghamton, Mount St. Mary's, Saint Joseph's and Rider before holding on for a 3-2 victory over Drexel on Sunday. … Junior midfielder Gina DiTaranto leads the team in goals (four) and points (eight). Defender Alyssa Kirk, the only senior on the Owls' roster, is second in team scoring with two goals and two assists for six points. Her two assists are tied for the team lead with junior midfielder Shannon Senour and junior defender Kaylee Harner. … Junior goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff has started all five games in goal with a 5-0 record, 0.41 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.
 
ABOUT VMI
The Keydets are coming off a 3-1 loss to Gardner-Webb on Monday at home, their third consecutive setback. Senior defender/midfielder Nicole Blixt scored the VMI goal on a cross from junior midfielder/forward Myranda Emery. The team's lone victory came in its opener, a 2-1 triumph over Howard. Freshman forward Emma Quirk and senior midfielder/defender Allie Segura scored the goals, with the latter proving to be the winner on a 73rd-minute penalty kick. VMI was then shut out in its next two games – a 2-0 loss Aug. 29 at Youngstown State and a 4-0 loss Sept. 3 at Longwood. … The Keydets have used three goalies over their four games. Sydnie Bligh has started three games, with a 1-1 record, 2.15 goals-against average and .762 percentage. Kirsten Hancock (0-1, 3.40, .733) has started once and made one relief appearance. … VMI has been outshot 90-16 so far season.
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED SHOOTOUT
The Big Red Shootout is in its inaugural season, marking the first time Cornell has hosted a women's soccer tournament since 1995. That turned out to be an awfully good season for the Big Red, when it tied a program record with 11 victories and finished 5-0-2 in Ivy League play. One of Cornell's five losses in nonleague play that season came in the opener of the Lanzera/Cornell Classic against Penn State. The Nittany Lions won, 2-0, under the direction of its second-year head coach, Patrick Farmer — who is now at the helm of the Big Red. … The tournament format will award three points for a victory, one point for a draw and no points for a loss. The order of tiebreakers to declare a champion are head-to-head result, goals scored, then goal differential. An all-tournament team of 11 players will be announced by 6 p.m. Sunday.
 
NEW FACES IN A FAMILIAR PLACE
Both games involving the hosts of the Big Red Shootout, Cornell's first home contests of the season, will represent the first meeting in program histories for Cornell with both VMI and Temple.
 
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. Farmer has amassed a 271-119-42 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.
 
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 last Friday 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 will conclude its three-game home stand – the longest of the season – with an in-state meeting against Buffalo at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19. The Big Red then takes to the road for its final tune-up before Ivy League play with a 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21 game at Binghamton