ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team will look to play the role of spoiler in its penultimate game of the season, when it travels to Ivy League-leading Princeton for a 1 p.m. Saturday game at Roberts Stadium.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #16: Cornell at Princeton
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Roberts Stadium – Princeton, N.J. (natural surface)
2015 RECORDS: Cornell 9-2-4, 2-2-1 Ivy League; Princeton 12-3, 5-0 Ivy League
WEBCAST: Ivy League Digital Network
AUDIO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: GoPrincetonTigers.com
 
ABOUT CORNELL
The Big Red (9-2-4, 2-2-1 Ivy) reached seven points in the Ivy League for the first time since 1995 with a 1-0 victory two weeks ago at Yale, but then it suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime defeat against Brown last Saturday at Berman Field. Charlotte Tate's performance highlighted Senior Day, with the fourth-year starter on defense netting her first collegiate goal early in the game before she set up sophomore forward Paige DeLoach's tally early in the second half. The Big Red had conceded just three goals on the season up until that point, but it fell victim to three Brown goals thereafter — the last coming in overtime to hand Cornell just its second loss of the season. … Junior midfielder Elizabeth Crowell leads the team in scoring with nine points on four goals and one assist. She is tied with DeLoach for the team lead in goals, and Tate joins freshman midfielder/forward Carolyn Ruoff as the only two members of the team with two assists. Freshman midfielder Jessica Ritchie ranks third with five points on two goals and an assist. … 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).
 
SPOILER WATCH
Cornell was in the Ivy League hunt until its loss last week, though it has an opportunity to leave its mark on the title race this weekend. Princeton took sole possession of first place with a 2-1 win over Harvard, meaning a Cornell victory on Saturday would keep the Crimson within striking distance of the Tigers entering the league's final games on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Big Red was in a similar position last year, entering the final week out of contention but taking down second-place Dartmouth by a 1-0 margin.
 
RARIFIED AIR
Dating back to last season, which ended with the aforementioned 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 has 12 shutouts in 15 games this season, which ties the program record originally set in 1987 for most clean sheets in a single season. … Cornell also got 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.
 
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 led the nation in goals against average for the entire season, but now ranks fourth (0.38). She also ranks ninth in save percentage (.882). 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 18 clean sheets ranking third in program history behind Melissa Gambrell (22) and Sue DeLong (20). Tierney also ranks tied for fifth in career victories (19) and sixth in career goals against average (1.03).
 
NONE SHALL PASS
While junior goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney ranks among the nation's best in goals against average, she's also had a minimal workload in most of the Big Red's games. Of her 12 shutouts this season, Tierney was required to make more than two saves in just six 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.
 
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 282-142-44. 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 Houghton for nine 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 PRINCETON
The Tigers once sat at 2-3 this season after consecutive home losses to Rutgers, Duquesne and Delaware in early September, but they have since rattled off 10 consecutive victories and are the top-ranked team in the Mid-Atlantic Region by the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America. Princeton put itself in position to potentially clinch the Ivy title this weekend after defeating defending champion Harvard last Saturday, 2-1. Freshman forward Mimi Asom scored in the sixth minute, then set up junior forward Tyler Lussi's winner in the 57th minute. … Princeton has scored at least two goals in every game during its winning streak, powered by Lussi and Asom. Lussi, the 2014 Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, leads the team in scoring with 12 goals and four assists for 28 points. Asom isn't far behind with 10 goals and four assists for 24 points. She has won six consecutive Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. … Junior Hannah Winner (10-3, 1.24, .700, 2 SO) is the team's primary goalkeeper.
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
The Tigers own a 23-7-4 advantage in the all-time series, having won a 2-1 affair last year in which it was outshot by the Big Red at Berman Field in Ithaca. Lussi scored the winning goal in the 56th minute. … Princeton is currently riding a 19-game winning streak in the series, including overtime victories in 2009 and 2010. Cornell played Princeton in its first game on the varsity level in 1982.

UP NEXT
Cornell will close out its season with a 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 contest at Dartmouth.