ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's soccer team will play its final home game of the year on Saturday night when it takes on Dartmouth in an Ivy League matchup on Berman Field. Prior to the game, the team will honor the 11-member senior class.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #16: Cornell Big Red vs. Dartmouth Big Green
WHEN: 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5
WHERE: Berman Field — Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
2016 RECORDS: Cornell 1-12-2 (0-5-0 Ivy League), Dartmouth 5-4-5 (3-1-1 Ivy League)
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameday
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell heads into the game against Dartmouth still seeking its first Ancient Eight win of the season. Three of the Big Red's five Ivy League games have been decided by one goal. On Saturday, Princeton used two second half goals to win, 2-1, and on Oct. 23, Brown used a second half penalty kick to take the game, 1-0. In the Ivy opener on Oct. 2, Penn topped the Big Red on Berman, 2-1. … Cornell earned its first win of the season on Oct. 11 at Colgate, 3-2. Early in the second half, the Big Red received goals from Ryan Watters and Jonathan Cullom less than four minutes apart to take a 2-1 lead. Colgate answered back to tie the game at 2-2, but Jack Ferguson converted a penalty kick in the 87th minute to give Cornell the victory. … Cornell played a challenging non-conference schedule in 2016 – one that included four games in six days. Cornell took on Binghamton on Wednesday, Sept.14, and tied the Bearcats, 1-1, in extra time. The Big Red then returned home for the CU Inaria Classic and played Saint Francis on Friday, Sept. 16 – going to a second overtime period before ultimately falling, 2-1 – and then took on New Hampshire on Sunday, Sept. 18, dropping the game, 2-0. Cornell finished out the four game week against No. 3 Syracuse and gave the Orange a tough test but ultimately fell, 3-1. … The Big Red opened up Ancient Eight play on Oct. 2 with that tough 2-1 loss to Penn before dropping consecutive games to Harvard and Yale.
 
ABOUT HEAD COACH JOHN SMITH
Smith comes to East Hill after spending four years at Stanford, two as associate head coach. In 2015, Smith helped lead the Cardinal to its first national title in program history and an 18-2-3 record, the team's most wins since 2002. Smith, who worked primarily with Stanford's strikers, was named NSCAA Far West Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2014. Prior to his time in Palo Alto, Smith amassed a 62-26-10 record in six seasons as the head coach of Division II power Incarnate Word and spent time as an assistant coach at CSU Bakersfield. Smith is a graduate of Rollins, where he was two-time All-American. He was selected 13th overall by the Columbus Crew in the 1997 MLS Draft and played for two years in the A-League. He was named the Cornell men's soccer program's 12th head coach in March 2016.
 
IRONMAN
Junior defender Spencer Kopko is the only Big Red player to have played every single minute this season. The Ithaca native has logged 1,414 minutes – including two, 110 minute efforts in double-overtime battles against Central Connecticut State and Binghamton – in the 15 games that Cornell has played this season.
 
YOUNG BLOOD
The Big Red has seen several freshmen step into some big roles in their first season at Cornell. Brady Dickens leads the Big Red in scoring with two goals and two assists for six points. Fellow striker George Pedlow is fourth in scoring with two goals and one assist and earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors for Sept. 20-26. Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Shellow has started nine games in goal for the Big Red and made 50 saves while Riley Adams and Christophe Gerlach have both logged over 645 minutes in the midfield and on the backline, respectively.
 
LATE GAME GOALS
Senior Duff Bedrosian's 79th minute goal against Princeton on Oct. 29 was the third goal this year that Cornell has scored in the final 25 minutes of play. Senior Jack Ferguson scored the game-winning goal in the 87th minute in Cornell's 3-2 win over Colgate on Oct. 11, while junior Jonathan Cullom forced overtime against Saint Francis on Sept. 16 when he tied the game at two in the 86th minute.
 
SAVES BY SHELLOW
Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Shellow set a program record when he made 13 saves in the game against Syracuse on Oct. 13. The 13 saves are the third-most made in a single game this year in the NCAA. Shellow has made 58 saves in 2016, which is second in the Ivy League, and is averaging 4.83 saves per game, which is also second in the conference.
 
WEEKLY HONORS
Freshman George Pedlow earned the Ivy League Men's Soccer Rookie of the Week award for the week of Sept. 20-26. Pedlow scored in the 32nd minute against No. 2 Syracuse, becoming the first player in 2016 to score first in a game against Syracuse. Pedlow has also been named to the Weekly Honor Roll twice while classmates Ryan Shellow and Brady Dickens have earned a spot three times and two times, respectively.
 
AN ABUNDANCE OF OVERTIMES
The Big Red has played in five overtime games so far in 2016. In the first seven games that Cornell played this season, four of them went to overtime. The last – and only other time – the Big Red played in four overtime games through the first seven games played in a season came in 1995. Cornell went on to play in eight overtime games that year, the most in program history. The last season in which Cornell did not play in a single overtime game was 2008.
 
CAPTAIN'S ARMBANDS
Head coach John Smith has selected senior Zach Bialik and junior Eric Nuss to serve as the Big Red's captains for the 2016 season. Bialik, a midfielder, logged more than 60 minutes on 10 occasions in 2015. Nuss has started on defense in all 47 games he's played over the last three seasons and he logged a team-leading 1,450 minutes in 2015.
 
INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
Cornell men's soccer is a diverse group, with players hailing from 15 different states and England, as senior JJ Black and freshman George Pedlow both come to the Big Red from England. Six players come from New York while California, Colorado and New Jersey have three representatives each.
 
THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
The Big Green's 2-0 win over the Big Red last November in Hanover improved Dartmouth to 36-28-5 all-time over Cornell. Cornell last won against Dartmouth in 2013 in a 1-0 win on the road in Hanover.
 
ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green enters the game against the Big Red with a 3-2 record in its last five games and in a second-place tie with Columbia in the Ancient Eight standings by way of a 3-1-1 league record. Prior to a loss, 1-0, to Harvard on Saturday, the team earned wins over Yale, Penn, and Columbia and tied Princeton in overtime. … Dartmouth has two players with three goals and two assists for eight points on the season in Noah Paravicini and Justin Donawa. The Big Green also has four players with two goals and 10 players with at least one point. Matt Greer leads the team in shots on goal with 14. James Hickok has played the majority of minutes in goal for the Big Green, posting a .810 save percentage and a .78 goals against average. He also has three shutouts and maintains a 5-3-4 record.
 
UP NEXT
Cornell will play its final game of the season on Saturday, Nov. 12, when the Big Red heads to Columbia to take on the Lions.