ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team will face one of its most challenging two-game weekends in recent memory when it travels to take on 23rd-ranked Rutgers on Friday night before returning to Berman Field for a Sunday matinee against San Diego State.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Cornell at #23 Rutgers
DATE: Friday, Sept. 9, 2016
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Yurcak Field – Piscataway, N.J. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 2-1, Rutgers 3-1-1
VIDEO: BTN Plus
LIVE STATS: ScarletKnights.com
LIVE UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameday
 
San Diego State at Cornell
DATE: Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016
TIME: Noon
SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS (not including Friday's results): Cornell 2-1, San Diego State 0-3
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameday

ABOUT THE BIG RED
After 1-0 victories on the road against Siena (Aug. 28) and Loyola (Sept. 2) on the strength of fifth-minute goals from junior forward Paige DeLoach and one shutout each from senior goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney and sophomore goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy, Cornell suffered its first loss of the season on Sunday. Syracuse spoiled the Big Red's home opener with a 2-1 victory on a golden goal by Stephanie Skilton just over four minutes into overtime. Cornell forced extra time on junior forward Tess Pullano's second career goal off a goal-mouth scramble in the 63rd minute, with senior defender Kailey Joyce and sophomore defender Zoe McCormick collecting assists. The loss ended a stretch of 13 non-league games without a loss (10-0-3) dating back to Oct. 13, 2014. … DeLoach leads the team in scoring with four points on her two goals, then Pullano has three points on her goal against Syracuse and an assist on DeLoach's goal at Loyola. … Friday's game at Rutgers is Cornell's first against a ranked opponent since a Sept. 1, 2012 contest at George Washington — Farmer's first game at the helm of the Big Red.
 
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, recording 10 consecutive shutouts and a program-record shutout streak of 1,059 minutes, 19 seconds dating back to November 2014. The penultimate team to concede its first goal last season is the Big Red's opponent Friday — Rutgers. 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. Both the starting goalkeeper, senior Kelsey Tierney, and both primary central defenders, senior Kailey Joyce and sophomore Zoe McCormick, return to the Big Red this year. ... 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. Sophomore midfielder Jessica Ritchie had two goals and an assist for five points last year, while sophomore midfielder Carolyn Ruoff is the only returning player with two assists last year.
 
HEAD COACH PATRICK FARMER
Now in his 24th season as a head coach in the NCAA, Patrick Farmer is entering 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 has 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 will join the Big Red staff as an assistant coach, and Megan Giles is the new volunteer assistant coach after winning two All-Southland Conference honors during her four-year career at Oral Roberts.
 
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. That clean sheet brought Tierney's career total of shutouts to 19, which ranks third in program history behind Melissa Gambrell (22) and Sue DeLong (20). Tierney also ranks tied for fourth in career victories (20) and sixth in career goals against average (1.09). 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 RUTGERS
After advancing all the way to the national semifinals in 2015, the Scarlet Knights started the year with a victories over Rider and Saint Joseph's around a 1-1 draw with Providence. Rutgers then made a statement by getting two first-half goals off corner kicks for a 2-0 victory over then-No. 10 Connecticut to snap the Huskies' 15-match home winning streak. But the Scarlet Knights were handed their first loss on Sunday when Georgetown scored early in overtime for a 2-1 victory. … Senior forward Madison Tiernan leads the team in scoring with three goals and an assist for seven points, and freshman midfielder Nicole Whitley has a goal and three assists for five points. Freshman forward Brittany LaPlant also has a pair of goals. … Redshirt senior Alana Jimenez has been the team's exclusive goalkeeper so far, posting a 3-1-1 record, 0.77 goals against average, .818 save percentage and two shutouts.
 
THE SERIES WITH RUTGERS
The Big Red and Scarlet Knights were frequent opponents in the early days of their programs, but have not met since Rutgers' 2-0 victory on Sept. 15, 1996 at the UConn/Umbro Classic. Cornell holds a 3-8 record in the all-time series, with its last victory coming by a 4-3 margin on Sept. 18, 1988.
 
ABOUT SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs have lost their first three games this season, starting with a 5-0 setback against ninth-ranked UCLA. After a 3-0 loss to Long Beach State, which has also received a vote in the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of American poll, SDSU has most recently suffered a 2-0 loss to crosstown rival San Diego. The Aztecs start this weekend with a Friday evening contest at No. 16 Penn State, the reigning national champion. … Goalless so far, SDSU leading shooting so far has been senior midfielder Victoria Barba (eight shots). She was an All-Mountain West second team selection last year. Redshift freshman Gabby English (0-3, 3.33, .524) has played exclusively in goal. … The Aztecs return eight starters from a team that went 15-4-1 last year. SDSU was 10-1 in conference play before losing in penalty kicks in the MWC Championship to San Jose State.
 
THE SERIES WITH SAN DIEGO STATE
This will be the first meeting between Cornell and San Diego State, and it will represent the first time Cornell has played against a team based in another time zone since its trip to the Hawaii Invitational in 2006 to take on Hawaii and San Francisco. The Big Red's all-time record against current Mountain West Conference schools is 0-3. Two of those losses came to Colorado College, and the other was against Fresno State.

UP NEXT
Cornell continues its non-league schedule by hosting Seton Hall at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15 at Berman Field. The Big Red then hits the road for a noon Sunday, Sept. 18 matchup at regional rival Binghamton before starting Ivy League play Friday, Sept. 23 at Columbia.