GAME INFORMATION
GAME #12: Cornell vs. Harvard
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 25-12-4
LAST MEETING: Harvard won, 2-1, Oct. 18, 2014 (Cambridge, Mass.)
2015 RECORDS: Cornell (7-4, 2-1 Ivy); Harvard (7-3, 2-1 Ivy)
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LIVE STATS
 
GAME #13: Cornell at No. 10 Albany
GAME TIME: Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Alumni Turf Field (Albany, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Albany leads, 5-3
LAST MEETING: Albany won, 2-1, Sept. 7, 2014 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
* 2015 RECORDS: Cornell (7-4, 2-1 Ivy); Albany (10-2, 2-1 America East)
LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS
 
* records prior to the weekend's contests
 
THE WEEK AHEAD: The Big Red field hockey team has a tough week ahead, as it welcomes Harvard to Marsha Dodson Field on Saturday, Oct. 17 for a crucial Ivy League contest, before travelling to No. 10 Albany for a midweek non-conference game on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Both Cornell and the Crimson are tied for third place in the Ivy League standings, behind first place Penn and Princeton. Harvard is 7-3 on the year after winning six of its last seven outings. The Great Danes, who advanced to the NCAA semifinals a year ago, have spent the entire 2015 season ranked in the top 10 of the NFHCA Coaches Poll and enter the weekend with a record of 10-2 overall.  
 
THE SERIES WITH HARVARD: One of Cornell's longest on-going rivalries, the Big Red first played Harvard during the 1976 season, a 3-0 Crimson victory. Over the next 10 years, Harvard would dominate the series, with Cornell winning just one contest (1978), and allowing the Crimson to post a 25-12-4 record all time vs. the Big Red. Head Coach Donna Hornibrook is 5-6 all-time vs. the Crimson after a 2-1 loss a season ago.
 
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: After losing two of its first three games to Holy Cross and Maine, Harvard has won six of its last seven outings to improve to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the Ivy League. Junior Marissa Balleza (9-4—22) and senior Elizabeth Jacobson (8-4—20) have done the bulk of the scoring for the Crimson, accounting for 70 percent of the team's goals and 64 percent of the team's total points. In goal, senior Issy Davies has started all 10 contests and has posted a 1.75 goals-against average to go along with a .691 save percentage and one shutout. 
 
LAST TIME VS. HARVARD:  Harvard scored two first half goals and then withstood an offense flurry by the Big Red to steal a 2-1 victory from Cornell on Oct. 18, 2014 at Jordan Field. The Big Red held the edge in shots 10-8, including a mark of 7-4 in the second half, and a huge advantage in penalty corners at 7-1 but couldn't come back after falling behind 2-0 at the half. Both goalies -- the Cornell's Kelly Johnson and Harvard's Issy Davies -- made four saves. The Big Red's lone goal came when Marisa Siergiej tallied her 11th goal of the season on a penalty corner shot in the 51st minute. The goal was the 26th of her career, moving her into an eighth place tie with Beth Paciello (1985-88) in Cornell history for career goals. Taylor Standiford, who took the insertion pass and moved around a defender before slotting the pass to Siergiej, earned her ninth assist of the season.
 
THE SERIES WITH ALBANY: The Great Danes hold the slim lead in the all-time series, 5-3, thanks to its current four-game winning streak. The teams first met in 1999, a 2-1 Cornell victory. The Big Red fell, 4-2, the following year, but responded with consecutive wins in 2001 (6-1) and 2002 (3-0). The Great Danes four-game streak began with a 5-1 victory in 2007 … Head Coach Donna Hornibrook is 0-4 against Albany.
 
SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES: No. 10 Albany had a five-game winning streak snapped last weekend when it fell to Maine (6-2). The Great Danes defeated Yale the following day to improve to 10-2 overall heading into this weekend's America East contests vs. UMass-Lowell and Vermont. Junior All-American Paula Heuser leads the team with 12 goals and 30 points, while senior Laura Page has a team-high eight assists. Sophomore midfielder Anna Bottino has proven to be a dangerous scoring threat with six goals and six assists. Junior All-American Maxi Primus returns in goal for the Great Danes and has played every minute of every game, posting a 1.82 goals-against average and a .734 save percentage. A year ago, Primus was the national statistical champion in goals against average (.80) while posting 10 shutouts.  
 
LAST TIME VS. ALBANY:  The Big Red took an early lead, but couldn't hold on as Albany scored the final two goals of the contest to steal a 2-1 victory on Sept. 7, 2014 at Marsha Dodson Field. The teams seemed destined to head to overtime until Paula Heuser, the reigning America East Midfielder of the Year, set up the game-winning goal with just over three minutes to play. Cornell held the slim advantage in both shots (13-12) and penalty corners (9-7) against the unanimous preseason America East favorite in what was an evenly matched contest. Albany keeper, Maxi Primus, made six saves, while Big Red freshman Kelly Johnson stopped five.  Both teams also received a defensive save by a field player with both the Great Danes' Jaclyn Hibbs and Cornell's Sam McILwrick helping their goalies. The Big Red broke into the scoring column in just the sixth minutes of action as junior Marisa Siergiej scored off a penalty corner, with the assists going to Taylor Standiford and Ann DiPastina. The lead was short-lived, however, as Heuser pulled the Great Danes even with a goal in the 16th minute of play off a set play from a penalty corner. With time winding down in the contest, Heuser used a great individual effort to drive down the right sideline and managed to send the ball back to the center-top of the circle to Fiori Van Rijswijk, who blasted it into the far post. Cornell had two great opportunities to send the game into overtime, as an Albany yellow card forced the visitors to play a man-down and the Big Red earned two penalty corners with less than two minutes to play, but Primus was up to the task, registering a pair of saves.
 
AGAINST THE AMERICA EAST: Cornell is 5-12 all-time against the current members of the America East, with three victories coming against Albany (3-5) and two against Maine (2-3). The Big Red is winless against Fairfield (0-1) and Vermont (0-3), but has never faced UMass-Lowell or New Hampshire in field hockey … Coach Hornibrook is 2-10 all-time against the America East.
 
LIVE FROM NEW YORK: The Cornell Department of Athletics and Physical Education is proud to announce that this season it is offering live video streaming. All home games for the remainder of the season will be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 12th season at Cornell (105-86, .550) ... She is the second winningest coach in Big Red field hockey history, behind only Shelby (Pontz) Bowman, who registered 115 wins over 19 year … Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 276-133-10 (.671) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
 
TOP 20 RPI: The Big Red enters the week of Oct. 11 ranked 20th in the RPI, one of three Ivy League teams ranked among the top 20 (Penn and Princeton) … The Ivy League has the most teams ranked in top 20  outside of every conference other than the Atlantic Coast Conference.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 38-22 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 131-99 and has taken significantly more shots (1,020-632) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 336 penalty corners (5.6 per game).
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: The Big Red has had two players named Ivy League Rookie of the Week so far this season … Kate Fitzpatrick was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week, as well as the ECAC Rookie of the Week on Sept. 15 after tallying one goal against Sacred Heart and one goal vs. Monmouth ... Isabel Siergiej took home both the Ivy League and the ECAC honor on Sept. 22 after scoring two goals on two shots vs. Vermont and being named to the Catamount Classic All-Tournament Team.
 
A NATIONAL PRESENCE: Cornell sophomores Kelly Johnson and Sam McILwrick have been selected to represent the United States and Canada, respectively, as members of their nation's U21 junior national teams that will compete in the Junior Pan American Games this spring.
 
RECORD SETTER: With her three defensive saves at No. 2 Syracuse on Oct. 4, Luisa Schulte-Bockum matched the school single-season record (7), tying the mark set by Amy Galebach during the 2000 season.
 
TEAM NCAA RANKINGS: The Big Red ranks in the top 25 in the nation in …
* Shutouts per game – 3rd (0.45)
* Defensive saves – 6th (8)
* Goals Per Game – 23rd (2.73)
* Points Per Game – 23rd (7.55)
* Scoring Average – 23rd (2.70)
* Winning Percentage – 25th (.636)
 
INDIVIDUAL NCAA RANKINGS:
* Luisa Schulte-Bockum ranks third in defensive saves (7).
* Krysten Mayers ranks third in goals per game (1.00).
* Krysten Mayers ranks seventh in points per game (2.27).
* Isabel Siergiej and Taylor Standiford rank 60th in assists per game (0.45)
 
IVY LEAGUE RANKINGS:
* Krysten Mayers ranks second in the Ivy League in points (25).
* Krysten Mayers ranks second in the Ivy League in points per game (2.27).
* Krysten Mayers ranks second in the Ivy League in goals (11).
* Marisa Siergiej ranks ninth in the Ivy League in goals (6).
* Krysten Mayers ranks second in the Ivy League in goals per game (1.00).
* Marisa Siergiej ranks 10th in the Ivy League in goal per game (0.55).
* Isabel Siergiej ranks seventh in the Ivy League in assists (5).
* Taylor Standiford ranks seventh in the Ivy League in assists (5).
* Isabel Siergiej ranks 10rth in the Ivy League in assists per game (0.45).
* Taylor Standiford ranks 10nth in the Ivy League in assists per game (0.45).
* Katy Weeks ranks fourth in the Ivy League in game-winning goals (2).
* Luisa Schulte-Bockum ranks first in the Ivy League in defensive saves (7).
* Sam McILwrick ranks ninth in the Ivy League in defensive saves (1).
* Kelly Johnson ranks first in the Ivy League in shutout wins (3).
* Mackenzie Gagliardi ranks second in the Ivy League in shutout wins (2).
* Kelly Johnson ranks third in the Ivy League in goals-against average (2.01).
* Kelly Johnson ranks seventh in the Ivy League in save percentage (.636).
 
SINGLE SEASON RANKINGS
* Luisa Schulte-Bockum has already set the school record with seven defensive saves this season, tying the mark set by Amy Galebach during the 2000 season.
* Krysten Mayers currently ranks 15th overall on Cornell's single-season points list (25).
* Krysten Mayers currently ranks 11th overall on Cornell's single-season goals list (11).
* Kelly Johnson is 12th on Cornell's single-season list for shutouts (3).
 
CAREER RECORD WATCH:
* Marisa Siergiej currently sits in sixth place overall in Cornell history with 76 career points, needing nine more to surpass Emily Robb (1995-98) and move into fifth place.
* Krysten Mayers ranks 12th overall for career points (46), needing just three more to move into the top 10.
* Taylor Standiford is 16th overall for career points (38) and needs just one more to tie Alyssa DePaola (2005-07) in 15th place.
* Marisa Siergiej's 34 career goals is also good for fourth place all-time and she needs just one more to move into a tie for third place with Hannah Balleza (2010-13).
* Krysten Mayers ranks 10th in Cornell history for career goals (21), needing five more to move into a tie with Beth Paciello (1985-88) in ninth place.
* Taylor Standiford sits in second place with 32 career assists and needs just two more to break Cari Hills (1994-97) school record.
* Marisa Siergiej has already set the school record for penalty strokes converted in a career (five).
* Marisa Siergiej is tied for third place in Cornell history with Beth Paciello with nine career game-winning goals. She needs just two more to move into a tie with Linda Miller (1980-83) in second place.
* Luisa Schulte-Bockum currently ranks second overall in Cornell history with eight defensive saves, needing just four more to break the school record, held by Amy Galebach (1997-2000).
 
RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's schedule features five teams that are ranked in the latest NFHCA Division I Poll – No. 1 Syracuse, No. 10 Albany, No. 15 Delaware, and both Maine and Princeton coming in tied at No. 19 … A season ago, Cornell defeated No. 20 Maine on Oct. 26, 2014, giving the Big Red its first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 19 Syracuse, 3-2, on Oct. 25, 2007.
 
SHUTOUT STREAK: The Big Red had shutout four straight opponents – Sacred Heart (9/11), Monmouth (9/13), Vermont (9/19) and Maine (9/20) – matching the school record for consecutive shutouts, set twice before. The last time Cornell had four straight clean sheets came over the 1990 and 1991 seasons, as the Big Red defeated Dartmouth (1-0), Colgate (1-0) and Brown (1-0, OT) to close the 1990 season before opening the 1991 campaign with a 5-0 win over CW Post. Cornell has had four straight shutouts in the same season just once before, blanking Brockport (3-0), Lafayette (0-0, 2OT), Colgate (1-0) and Princeton (0-0, 2OT) in 1985.
 
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 16th overall for winning percentage (.632) and 17th for career wins (216), rankings that would be higher if the NCAA counted her 60-8-6 record at Canada's New Brunswick.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 1-0 victory over Yale on Oct. 10 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 64 games, with 39 of those coming by a single goal, including 18 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 85 games, with 42 coming in one-goal games, including 11 in overtime.
 
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 90-14 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only 14 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 Nov. 8, 2014 as Cornell overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Dartmouth, 4-1.
 
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 has won 67-of-71 in a game in which it scores at least three goals, a mark that was raised when it defeated Holy Cross (5-1) on Oct. 11, 2015.
 
10 WINS: Cornell has won at least 10 games in seven of Coach Hornibrooks' 11 seasons. She is the only field hockey coach in Big Red history to lead the team to a single 10-win season.
 
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Seniors Taylor Standiford and Marisa Siergiej have been named team captains for the 2015 season. Standiford also served as team captain a year ago.
 
2014 SEASON RECORDS:
* A year ago, Cornell posted an 11-5 record overall, tying the school record for victories in a single season, previously set in 2008 and 2010.
* The squad set a school record for points (127), points per game (7.94), goals (45), and assists (37) in a single-season.
* Defensively, the team set a school record, allowing just 3.9 penalty corners per contest.
 
TICKLE THE ALL-IVY: Following the 2014 season, Marisa Siergiej was one of four unanimous first-team All-Ivy selections. In addition to Siergiej, freshman Sam McILwrick and sophomore Katy Weeks were named second-team All-Ivy, while both senior Ann DiPastina and freshman Krysten Mayers earned honorable mention.
 
EVERYBODY'S (REGIONAL) ALL-AMERICAN: A year ago, Marisa Siergiej become just the 12th player in Big Red history to be named first-team All-Mideast Region All-American.
 
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Cornell earned the first national ranking in program history on Sept. 30, 2014 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.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red will play its final home games of the season and honor its seniors – Katie Garrity, Marisa Siergiej, Taylor Standiford, and Elizabeth Schaeffler – when it welcomes Brown and Lehigh to Marsha Dodson Field. Cornell will face the Bears on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 11:30 a.m., before taking on the Mountain Hawks on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m.