ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team return to Berman Field for two games over the holiday weekend, taking on defending Ivy League champion Harvard on Saturday before wrapping up the non-league portion of its schedule on Monday against regional rival Colgate.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Harvard at Cornell
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 2-4-2, 0-1-1 Ivy League; Harvard 6-5, 0-2 Ivy League
VIDEO: Ivy League Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameday
 
Colgate at Cornell
DATE: Monday, Oct. 9, 2017
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS*: Cornell 2-4-2; Colgate 6-4-1
VIDEO: Ivy League Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameday

ABOUT THE BIG RED
• Cornell has not surrendered a goal over the last 287 minutes, 36 seconds, having now posted consecutive shutouts in its last two games. The latest result was a scoreless draw Friday at Penn, highlighted by 10 saves from junior goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy. It was her second clean sheet of the season and the fifth of her career.
• After being outshot in the first half, 14-1, the Big Red threatened more over the final 65 minutes. Cornell has not scored over its last three games, and it has four goals in eight games to date.
• The Big Red has now scratched out a scoreless draw in each of its last two biennial visits to Rhodes Field after losing its first six games since the facility's opening in 2002.
• Senior forward Paige DeLoach, sophomore forward Kennedy Yearby, sophomore defender Kaili Gregory and freshman midfielder Shelby Wray have scored Cornell's goals this season.
• After earning All-Ivy League honorable mention last year, Kennedy enters the weekend leading the circuit in saves per game (5.57) by a wide margin. That number also has her ranked 48th in the country, as of Monday.
 
HEAD COACH DWIGHT HORNIBROOK
• After serving as an assistant coach for five seasons, Dwight Hornibrook was named the head coach in February 2017. While he's in his first season at the helm of the Big Red, he has 17 years of head coaching experience with the men's soccer programs at Houghton and SUNY Cortland. After joining the Cornell women's soccer team, Hornibrook had helped the Big Red win 30 games over the last five years — the program's highest total in such a span since 2002-06. Hornibrook's overall record as a head coach is 184-120-31.
• After a three-year professional career, two-time Cornell captain goalkeeper Tori Christ '14 joins the Big Red as an assistant coach. Megan Giles is the team's other assistant coach after serving as the volunteer assistant coach with the Big Red last year. Dana Daniels '17 now fills the role of volunteer assistant coach after completing a four-year career with Cornell as both a goalkeeper and field player.
 
MAYER ON THE MARK
• Sophomore Chrissy Mayer made 13 saves to earn a clean sheet in her first collegiate start on Sept. 24 at Fairleigh Dickinson. Playing in her hometown state of New Jersey, Mayer's effort was the highest save total for a Cornell goalkeeper since Oct. 26, 2008, when Kelly Murphy '12 had 13 stops in a 2-0 blanking of host Brown. Mayer has now made 18 saves in four career appearances without yielding a goal.
 
CASE IN POINTS
• Of Cornell's 36 points last season, 32 were notched by players who return to the squad this year. Also, eight of the team's 16 goals from its memorable 2015 season were scored by players on its current squad — four from senior Paige DeLoach, two from junior Jessica Ritchie and one each from seniors Carolyn Ruoff and Tess Pullano.
 
A CALL TO ARMBANDS
• Seniors Kaylee Fitzgerald and Whitney Farber are serving as the Big Red's co-captains this season. Both players figure to be among the leading contributors on the back line this season, with Fitzgerald shifting back to central defense after playing much of her first three years on East Hill as a holding midfielder. Cornell carries eight seniors on its roster of 28 this season.

NATIONAL APPEAL
• The Big Red has 14 different states, the District of Columbia and the province of Alberta represented on the team roster. The most represented state on the Big Red is California, which is called home by six players. Five hail from New York, four from New Jersey, two each from Illinois, Maryland and Ohio, and one each from Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and Alberta. Head coach Dwight Hornibrook also hails from Canada, native to the New Brunswick capital of Fredericton.
 
ABOUT HARVARD
• After going undefeated in Ivy play en route to the league title last year, the Crimson has lost its first two Ivy games this year. Most recently, Harvard conceded a pair of late goals in a 3-0 loss Saturday at Yale.
• Following the graduation of first-team All-American and two-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year Maragaret Purce, a great deal of the Crimson's offense now goes through junior midfielder Leah Mohammadi. She leads the squad in scoring with nine points on four goals and one assist, and she has 24 of the team's 52 shots on goal.
• Freshman forward Murphy Agnew leads the team with three assists and ranks second in goals (two) and points (seven). After being named to the All-Ivy League first team as a defender last year, senior Dani Stollar (1-1–3) is playing in the midfield this year.
• The Crimson has deployed a goalkeeper rotation in which junior Danielle Etzel (2-3, 0.53, .893) plays the first half and sophomore Kat Hess (4-2, 1.26, .774) plays the second. Harvard has five shutouts among its six victories.
• Chris Hamblin is in his second season as the head coach at Harvard after serving as an assistant coach with the Crimson for five years.

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD
• The teams played to a scoreless draw last season, with Cornell becoming one of just two teams to not lose to Harvard in Ivy League play.
• Harvard holds a commanding 23-3-9 lead in the all-time series with Cornell, including a 2-0 victory on Oct. 10, 2015 in its last visit to Berman Field. That loss halted the Big Red's 11-game unbeaten streak to start the year.
• Cornell's last victory against the Crimson came in 1993.
 
ABOUT COLGATE
• The Raiders enter Saturday's game against Lafayette on a six-game unbeaten streak, having most recently defeated American, 3-0, last Sunday. While 3-0-1 in Patriot League play, Colgate is actually tied for third behind Navy and Bucknell (both 4-0).
• All four of Colgate's losses came against teams (LSU, New Hampshire, Boston College and Mississippi State) that are ranked 65th or higher in the Rankings Percentage Index as of Monday.
• Colgate's attack is balanced, with six different players having scored the team's last six goals. Emily Crichlow leads the team in scoring with eight points on three goals and two assists. Mara Cosentino (seven points) and Abby Sotomayor (six points) also have three goals apiece. Two of Sotomayor's goals have been on penalty kicks, and Eliza Doll also has one from the spot.
• Sophomore Kelly Chiavaro (4-4-1, 2.00, .647, 2 SHO) has been the team's primary goalkeeper.
• Kathy Brawn is in her 27th season as the head coach at Colgate.
 
THE SERIES WITH COLGATE
• The Raiders are on a six-match unbeaten streak against the Big Red to take an 19-15-4 lead in the all-time series between the regional rivals. Colgate won last year's game, 1-0, despite 20 shot attempts from Cornell.
• The teams played to a scoreless draw on Oct. 12, 2015 in their last meeting at Berman Field, with the Big Red back line so strong that Kelsey Tierney '17 earned the shutout without needing to make a single save.
• Cornell's last victories came in 2009 and 2010, both by final scores of 2-0.

UP NEXT
• Cornell hits the road for a tough Ivy League test Saturday, Oct. 14 at Yale before returning to Ithaca for its Senior Day game against Brown on Saturday, Oct. 21.