NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The women's soccer team reaches the middle of its Ivy League season at 4 p.m. Saturday when it looks to get back on the winning track against Yale. The game will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #14: Cornell at Yale
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015
TIME: 4 p.m.
SITE: Reese Stadium – New Haven, Conn. (artificial surface)
2015 RECORDS: Cornell 8-1-4, 1-1-1 Ivy League; Yale 4-5-2, 1-2 Ivy League
WEBCAST: Ivy League Digital Network
AUDIO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: YaleBulldogs.com
ALL-TIME SERIES: Yale leads, 18-15
 
ABOUT CORNELL
The Big Red (8-1-4, 1-1-1 Ivy) played to a scoreless draw against Colgate on Monday in its last game action. The game offered Cornell a chance to rebound from its first loss of the season on Saturday, when defending Ivy champion Harvard invaded Berman Field and locked up a 2-0 victory. The Big Red was the last team in Division I to suffer a loss this season, and it was also the final team in the country to surrender a goal (Sept. 27 vs. Wagner on a penalty kick). … Another scoreless draw against Penn on Oct. 2 ended a five-game winning streak for Cornell. The team's last victory was a 1-0 affair against Columbia on Sept. 25 in the teams' Ivy opener. Senior midfielder Brenna Mockler scored the goal, converting a rebound of her penalty kick, which was stopped by the Lions' goalkeeper. … Junior midfielder Elizabeth Crowell leads the team with seven points on three goals and an assist. Sophomore forward Paige DeLoach also has three goals, followed by a pair of freshmen — Jessica Ritchie has five points on two goals and an assist, and Carolyn Ruoff has four points on one goal and a team-high two assists. Sophomore forward Tess Pullano and senior midfielder Amanda Gaggioli have the Big Red's other goals this season. … Already guaranteed its first winnning season since 2002, the Big Red can also assure itself of its best Ivy League record since 1995 with a win Saturday against Yale.
 
RARIFIED AIR
Dating back to last season, which ended with a 1-0 victory over Ivy League contender Dartmouth, Cornell had 10 consecutive shutouts and a program-record run of 1,059 minutes, 19 seconds without retrieving the ball out of its own net. That broke the previous shutout streak mark of 939:24 from Oct. 7, 1987 to Sept. 17, 1988. … Cornell is also off to its best start in program history, having suffered no losses through 11 games. The previous record was eight, when the Big Red started the 1991 campaign 7-0-1. … Cornell has 11 shutouts in 13 games this season. The program record for most clean sheets in a single season is 12, set in 1987.
 
TIERNEY'S TALE
Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney, who has played every minute of the season to date, has been raking in both regional and national accolades for the team's defensive prowess. She leads the nation with a 0.22 goals against average and ranks third with a .923 save percentage. Tierney was consecutively named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Sept. 7 and Sept. 14, the ECAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 9, and she was named the lone goalkeeper on the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week for Sept. 6. The Ivy honors mark the first time Cornell has taken league player of the week accolades in consecutive weeks since 1988. … Tierney has more than doubled her career shutout total this season, with her current total of 17 clean sheets ranking third in program history behind Melissa Gambrell (22) and Sue DeLong (20). Tierney also ranks sixth in career goals against average (1.07) and victories (18).
 
NONE SHALL PASS
While junior goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney leads the nation in goals against average, she's also had a minimal workload in most of the Big Red's 13 games to date. Of her 11 shutouts this season, Tierney was required to make more than two saves in just five of them. That's a credit to Cornell's back line, which has primarily featured junior Kailey Joyce and freshman Zoe McCormick as central defenders and senior Charlotte Tate and sophomore Whitney Farber on the flanks. Junior Taylor Wright, sophomore Kaylee Fitzgerald and junior Aimee Tavzel have also played roles, and — after graduating three-time All-Ivy selection Claire MacManus '15 — the Big Red has received terrific play in the defensive midfield from primarily seniors Shanay Fischer and Brenna Mockler.
 
TOPS IN THE TOURNEY
The Big Red won the Alumni Classic, which was hosted by St. Bonaventure from Sept. 4-6, with victories over Cleveland State (3-0) and Akron (2-0). As a result, Cornell placed four players on the all-tournament team — freshman forward Carolyn Ruoff scored her first collegiate goal, junior Elizabeth Crowell scored goals in both games, junior goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney made five saves and senior defender Charlotte Tate was a key part of both shutout victories.
 
LOOKING BACK
What a difference one win makes. With Brenna Mockler looping a shoot from 20 yards into the net for a 1-0 victory over Dartmouth in the 2014 season finale, the Big Red won its eighth game in a season and its second game within Ivy League play for the first time since 2002. The program is now three-plus years into its transformation under head coach Patrick Farmer, who has amassed 287 victories over his career. The team started strong in 2014 with wins in five of its first six games. Among the victories in that stretch was a 3-2 come-from-behind win against Buffalo, which then went on a 14-game unbeaten streak and MAC championship. … Junior Elizabeth Crowell led the team with six goals and 14 points, the latter of which was one better than senior Caroline Growney. Both earned All-Ivy Honorable Mention, as did senior defender Charlotte Tate. … Though there are seven games left on the schedule, Cornell has already assured itself of its first winning season in 13 years.
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 22nd season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer is in his fourth 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 served as a head coach at Ithaca College, Penn State, Tennessee Tech and Syracuse, and his career record as NCAA head coach now stands at 281-141-44. 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. Dwight Hornibrook is in his fourth season as an assistant coach after serving as the head coach of SUNY Cortland men's soccer for eight years, and 2012 D3Soccer.com Goalkeeper of the Year Becca Salant has joined the staff as an assistant coach for the 2015 campaign.
 
A CALL TO ARMBANDS
Senior defender Charlotte Tate and senior midfielder Shanay Fischer are the Big Red's co-captains this season. Fischer is in her third season with the Big Red after starting her collegiate career at Saint Peter's, and Tate is a four-year starter who earned All-Ivy League honorable mention in 2014.
 
YOUTH IS SERVED
The Big Red is carrying a roster of 28 players this season, but only four are seniors. There are also eight juniors, nine sophomores and seven freshmen on the roster. Of Cornell's 127 points over the 2013 and 2014 seasons, 99 were produced by players who are still on the team, and 81 were produced by underclassmen.

NATIONAL APPEAL
The Big Red has 11 different states and the District of Columbia represented on the team roster, with its home state of New York claiming seven players. Cornell has five players that hail from California, three each from Illinois and Ohio, two each from Maryland and Oregon, and single representatives from Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.
 
ABOUT YALE
While the Bulldogs' standing of 194th in the Ratings Percentage Index is lowest among the eight Ivy League programs, Yale defeated Dartmouth — 85th in the RPI and ranked eighth in the Mid-Atlantic region by the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America — by a score of 1-0 last Saturday. The victory halted a five-game winless streak for Yale, and it was the 200th career win for head coach Rudy Meredith. … Freshman forward Michelle Alozie leads the team in scoring with five goals and four assists for 14 points, and freshman midfielder Sofia Griff has four goals and four assists for 12 points. Senior defender Ally Grossman has one goal to go along with a team-high five assists for seven points, and freshman midfielder Keri Cavallo scored her third goal of the season against the Big Green. … Senior Rachel Ames (3-4-2, 2.09 goals against average, .736 save percentage, 3 SO) has started 10 of the team's 11 games in goal. Her 64 saves on the season rank highest among Ivy keepers.
 
THE SERIES WITH YALE
The all-time series is extremely close despite a dearth of draws, with Yale taking a 18-15 lead after 1-0 victories in each of the last three seasons. The Bulldogs scored in the fifth minute of last year's game at Berman Field, then got eight saves from its goalkeeper. Though there have been no ties between the squads in 33 meetings, six of the games have gone to overtime. Cornell's last victory in the series came in 2010, and its last victory in New Haven was in 2001.

UP NEXT
Cornell returns home for its final regular-season game of the season at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 against Brown. The game will feature a ceremony to honor the the squad's four seniors, Shanay Fischer, Amanda Gaggioli, Brenna Mockler and Charlotte Tate. The Big Red then hits the road for games at Princeton (Oct. 31) and Dartmouth (Nov. 7).