GAME INFORMATION
GAME #13: Cornell at Harvard
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 15 at Noon
GAME SITE: Jordan Field (Cambridge, Mass.)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 25-13-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0, Oct. 17, 2015 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2016 RECORDS: Cornell (6-6, 1-2 Ivy); Harvard (7-4, 3-0 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/fh/2016-17/boxscores/20161015_j8le.xml
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell
 
THE MATCHUP: Coming off its first Ivy League win against Yale last weekend, the Big Red will look to hand Harvard its first conference loss of the year when it heads to Jordan Field in Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday, Oct. 15 at noon. After the gutsy 2-1 win over the Bulldogs, Cornell fell to No. 4 Syracuse on Sunday to slip to 6-6 overall (1-2 Ivy). The Crimson are riding a five-game winning streak and have used one of the stingiest defenses in the nation to post a 7-4 record overall (3-0 Ivy).
 
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 25-13-4 record all time vs. the Big Red. Head Coach Donna Hornibrookis 6-6 all-time in the series after a 1-0 victory a year ago on Dodson Field.
 
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard has won five straight contests to run its record to 7-4 overall and 3-0 in the Ivy League. The Crimson enters the week ranked 13th in the most recent RPI after a 3-1 decision over No. 19 Maine and a 1-0 victory over Boston University. During the five-game win streak, Harvard has allowed just three goals, thanks in large part to sophomore goalie Libby Manela, who ranks third in the nation in both goals-against average (0.96) and save percentage (.786). Offensively, the Crimson are led by Marissa Balleza, the younger sister of former Cornell great Hannah Balleza, with eight goals on and 16 points the season, while Ellie Cookson and Kyla Cordrey have recorded five and four assists, respectively.  
 
LAST TIME VS. HARVARD: Krysten Mayers scored in the 47th minute and Sam McILwrick blocked a Harvard penalty corner shot with no time remaining in the contest to hand the Big Red a 1-0 victory on Oct. 17, 2015 at Marsha Dodson Field. Mayers' game-winner came off a penalty corner when she collected the rebound after Harvard goalie Issy Davies saved Marisa Siergiej's initial shot, and slotted the ball to the far post to give Cornell the 1-0 lead. The Crimson turned up the pressure over the final 23 minutes, forcing Big Red goalie Kelly Johnson to make two of her four saves on the day during that span. Harvard had one final good chance to find the equalizer when it was awarded a penalty corner with 20 seconds to play. The Crimson allowed time to run out and sent every field player into the circle, but Elizabeth Jacobson's shot was deflected away by McILwrick to preserve the victory. Cornell held the slim 10-8 edge in shots and put seven shots on goal to Harvard's four. The Crimson finished with the 6-5 advantage in penalty corners. Davis posted five saves and received a defensive save from Harvard captain Caroline Code.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 13th season at Cornell (115-94, .550) ... She is the winningest coach in Big Red field hockey history, tied with Shelby (Pontz) Bowman, who registered 115 wins over 19 years … Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 281-136-10 (.670) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
 
CAREER RECORD WATCH:
Kelly Johnson
* Has set the Cornell record for wins (22), surpassing Alex Botte '12, Kaitlin Tierney '04 and Yanaka Bernal '91, who all previously held the record with 19 career wins.
* Ranks fourth in shutouts (7) … Needs one more to move into a second place tie with Carolyn Horner '14 and Karen Kuhm '78.
Luisa Schulte-Bockum
*Ranks second in defensive saves (10) … Needs just two more to break the school record, held by Amy Galebach (1997-2000).
Krysten Mayers
* Ranks seventh in goals (28) … Needs one more to move into a tie with Emily Robb (1995-98) in sixth place.
* Ranks eighth in points (66) … Needs two more to pass Joanne Powell (1976-79) in seventh place.
* Ranks eighth in game-winning goals (7) … Needs one more to move into a four-way tie for fifth place. 
Katy Weeks
* Ranks 11th in goals (19) … Needs seven more to break into the top 10.
* Ranks 12th in assists (14) … Needs one more to move into a five-way tie for eighth place.
* Ranks 11th in points (52) … Needs seven more to surpass Beth Paciello (1985-88) in 10th place.
 
RANKED OPPONENTS: The Big Red's schedule features three teams that are ranked in the latest NFHCA Division I Poll – No. 2 Syracuse, No. 11 Princeton and No. 15 Stanford … Cornell's last victory over a ranked opponent came when it 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.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 44-25 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 155-108 and has taken significantly more shots (1,193-721) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 371 penalty corners (5.4 per game).
 
TEAM NCAA RANKINGS: The Big Red entered the week ranked in the nation's top 25 in …
* Shutouts per game – 15th (0.25)
* Goals Against Average – 24th (1.75)
 
INDIVIDUAL NCAA RANKINGS:
* Kelly Johnson ranks 20th in goals-against average (1.69).
* Kelly Johnson ranks 30th in save percentage (0.712).
* Krysten Mayers ranks 51st in assists per game (0.50).
* Katie Carlson ranks 69th in goals per game (0.58).
* Katie Carlson ranks 88th in points per game (1.33).
 
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 17th overall for winning percentage (.628) and 18th for career wins (226), rankings that would be higher if the NCAA counted her 60-8-6 record at Canada's New Brunswick.
 
BALANCED ATTACK: Of the 15 field players on the roster that have seen action this season, 12 have registered at least one point.
 
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 is 74-4 in games in which it scores at least three goals, a mark that was raised when it defeated Vermont (4-1) on Sept. 25.
 
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 99-14 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only 16 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 Oct. 8, 2016 as Cornell overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Yale, 2-1.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 1-0 win over Yale on Oct. 8 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 71 games, with 43 of those coming by a single goal (.606), including 18 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 94 games, with 45 coming in one-goal games (.479), including 12 in overtime.
 
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Senior Katy Weeks and junior Sam McILwrick have been selected as team captains for the 2016 season.
 
RETURNING REGIONAL ALL-AMERICANS: Cornell returns a pair of Mideast Region All-American second-team selections to the roster in senior Katy Weeks and junior Krysten Mayers.
 
BIG RED INTERNATIONAL: Juniors Sam McILwrick and Krysten Mayers were selected to represent Canada and Barbados, respectively, as members of those nation's Under-21 teams that participated at the 2016 Pan American Junior Championship.
 
10 WINS: Cornell has won at least 10 games in eight of Coach Hornibrooks' 12 seasons. She is the only field hockey coach in Big Red history to lead the team to a single 10-win season.
 
RECAPPING 2015: For the first time in program history, the Big Red closed a campaign with a top 20 RPI and a top 20 strength of schedule (SOS), finishing at 19th overall in both categories. Cornell finished the 2015 season with a record of 11-6 overall and a mark of 5-2 in the Ivy League, good for second place in the conference standings. Of its six losses, four came to nationally ranked teams that made the NCAA tournament field, including three that finished in the top 10 of the RPI. Additionally, the Big Red's 11 wins tied the school record for victories in a season, previously set three times (2008, 2010, 2014), and the team set new school standards for points (147), goals (50) and assists (57).
 
UP NEXT: Cornell is back in action next weekend when it travels to Brown on Friday, Oct. 21 to take on the Bears at 4 p.m., before returning home to take on Rider at Marsha Dodson Field on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m.