ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team returns home at 2:30 p.m. Saturday to take on defending Ivy League champion Princeton at Berman Field. With a win, the Big Red can match its best point total in an Ivy League season since 1995.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Princeton at Cornell
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016
TIME: 2:30 p.m.
SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 4-8-2, 1-3-1 Ivy League; Princeton 9-4-2, 1-3-1 Ivy League
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is 4-8-2 after a 1-0 loss last Saturday at Brown, when the Bears scored the game's only goal with 5:55 remaining in the second half on a scramble off a corner kick. That dropped the Big Red to 1-3-1 in Ivy League play, with the lone victory coming on its last appearance at Berman Field on Oct. 15 — a 2-1 victory against Yale. Sophomore midfielder Jessica Ritchie scored in the first half to give the Big Red the lead, converting a rebound on a save after a shot from senior midfielder Elizabeth Crowell. The Bulldogs equalized on a penalty kick early in the second half, but freshman midfielder Juliana Comer's first collegiate goal in the 77th minute proved to be the winner. Freshman forward Kennedy Yearby and junior midfielder Whitney Farber earned assists on the goal, which also propelled Comer to Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. She is the first Big Red playing to win the award since 2013, when now-seniors Crowell and goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney won it on consecutive weeks. … Though the Big Red has been eliminated from Ivy League championship contention, a win Saturday or on Nov. 5 against visiting Dartmouth would allow Cornell to match its highest point total — seven — in league play since 1995. The Big Red was 2-4-1 in Ivy games last season, which was its best mark against the Ancient Eight since going 5-0-2 in 1995. … A dearth of offense has plagued the Big Red for much of the season, with the team scoring just six goals to date. Junior forward Paige DeLoach leads the team in scoring with four points on two goals, then junior forward Tess Pullano, Comer and Yearby each have three points on one goals and one assist.
 
HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST SATURDAY'S LOSS VS. BROWN
 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE OCT. 15 WIN VS. YALE

 
BIG RED REWIND
Cornell is coming off a memorable season in which it accomplished a host of heights the program has not recently seen. The Big Red was the last Division I women's team in the country to concede a goal in 2015, recording 10 consecutive shutouts and a program-record shutout streak of 1,059 minutes, 19 seconds dating back to November 2014. Cornell's undefeated mark through 11 games was also a first in program history, and the team's final record of 9-4-4 marked its best finish since 1995.. ... Senior midfielder Elizabeth Crowell led the team in scoring for a second straight year with nine points. The All-Ivy League first team selection had four goals and one assist, with her goal total tying for the team lead with DeLoach. … Cornell went 2-4-1 in the Ivy League last year to earn seven points against Ancient Eight opponents for the first time since 1995. The Big Red can match that point total with a victory against Princeton.
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 24th season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer is in his fifth season as the Cornell women's soccer program's 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 amassed a 261-97-40 record at 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. Dwight Hornibrook is in his fifth season as an assistant coach after serving as the head coach of SUNY Cortland men's soccer for eight years, and the Big Red has added two new coaches for this year. Longtime Le Moyne head coach Tracey Leipold has joined the Big Red staff as an assistant coach, and Megan Giles is the volunteer assistant coach after winning two All-Southland Conference honors during her four-year career at Oral Roberts.
 
KENNEDY EMERGING
Sophomore goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy has appeared in eight games for the Big Red and continues to impress. Her .902 save percentage ranks fifth in the nation, and her stingy 0.63 goals against average is 22nd and average of 5.75 save per game is 42nd. Kennedy has a 2-3-2 record and three shutouts.
 
TIERNEY'S TALE
Senior Kelsey Tierney played every minute of the historic season in goal for the Big Red last year, helping the team tie a program single-season record with 12 shutouts and earning All-Ivy League first team honors. Tierney led the nation in goals against average for much of the season and finished the year ranked seventh (0.50), and she also ranked 13th in save percentage (.868). Her 12 shutouts ranked fourth in the nation, and she started this season on a similar note with a four-save blanking of Siena on Aug. 28. Tierney now has a career total of 20 shutouts, which is tied for second in program history with Sue DeLong and trails only Melissa Gambrell (22). Tierney also ranks tied for fourth in career victories (21) and sixth in career goals against average (1.17). Tierney and classmate Elizabeth Crowell gave the Big Red its first All-Ivy first-teamers since 1995.
 
A CALL TO ARMBANDS
Seniors Kelsey Tierney, Kailey Joyce and Elizabeth Crowell are serving as the Big Red's tri-captains this season. The group has three All-Ivy League selection between them, providing the Big Red with leadership that has logged significant minutes over their collegiate careers.
 
BALANCING ACT
For the first time in Patrick Farmer's tenure as the head coach, the Big Red has a balanced roster in terms of age and production. Cornell is carrying a roster of 30 players, including seven seniors. There are also nine juniors, six sophomores and eight freshmen on the roster. Of Cornell's 108 points over the last two seasons, 63 were produced by players who are still on the team.

NATIONAL APPEAL
The Big Red has 12 different states and the District of Columbia represented on the team roster, with its home state of New York claiming nine players. Cornell has three players each that hail from California and Maryland, two each from the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and one each from Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon and Texas. The nine players from New York marks the most on a Cornell roster since it had 15 Empire State natives on the 1997 squad.
 
ABOUT PRINCETON
The Tigers won the Ivy League championship in 2015 and won a first-round game in the NCAA tournament against Boston University, but they have already been eliminated from Ivy contention this season after three consecutive losses to Brown, Columbia and Harvard — the teams currently occupying the top three spots in the standings. Like Cornell, Princeton is 1-3-1 in Ivy play and in a tie for fifth place. … The Tigers moved to 9-4-2 overall on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw with a Bucknell squad that has only lost one game to date. Sophomore forward Mimi Asom scored the equalizing goal in the 71st minute. … Senior forward Tyler Lussi, a two-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year and a second-team all-American last year — leads the team in scoring with 22 points on nine goals and four assists. Asom, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, has 13 points on six goals and one assist. … Natalie Grossi has started all 15 games in goal and sports a 9-4-2 record, 0.92 goals against average, .759 save percentage and four shutouts.
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
The Tigers own a 23-7-4 advantage in the all-time series, having won a 2-0 affair last year. Cornell outshot Princeton the last time the Tigers came to Berman Field in 2014, but Princeton left with a 2-1 win. Princeton is currently riding a 20-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 closes out its season with Senior Day at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 against Dartmouth.