ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team hits the road this weekend, when it will attempt to topple a nationally-ranked Ivy League contender at 2:30 p.m. Saturday when it takes on Princeton at Roberts Stadium.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Cornell at Princeton
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017
TIME: 2:30 p.m.
SITE: Roberts Stadium – Princeton, N.J. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 2-7-3, 0-3-2 Ivy League; Princeton 12-2, 4-1 Ivy League
VIDEO: Ivy League Network
LIVE STATS: GoPrincetonTigers.com
UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameday

ABOUT THE BIG RED
• Cornell is coming off a strong effort at home, but an 82th-minute penalty kick allowed visiting Brown to escape Berman Field with a 1-0 victory last Saturday. Celia Story converted from the spot for the Bears.
• The Big Red forced five saves from Brown goalkeeper Christine Etzel, threatening several times when the game remained scoreless. Building on a string of strong starts, junior goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy made eight saves.
• Cornell has posted clean sheets in each of its last three road games, including a scoreless draw Oct. 14 at Yale. The central defense of primarily sophomore Abby Adams and senior Whitney Farber effectively neutralized Yale target forward Michelle Alozie — among the leading scorers in the Ivy League.
• With scoreless draws at Fairleigh Dickinson (Sept. 24) and Penn (Sept. 29) also in its pocket, Cornell hasn't conceded a goal on the road in over a month. A total of 368 minutes and 1 second have elapsed since Buffalo scored during the second half of a Sept. 8 game at UB Stadium — which the Big Red eventually won.
• After earning All-Ivy League honorable mention last year, Kennedy enters the weekend leading the circuit in saves per game (6.4) by a wide margin. That number also has her ranked 20th in the country, as of Tuesday.
• Senior forward Paige DeLoach leads Cornell in scoring with four points on two goals. Sophomore forward Kennedy Yearby, sophomore defender Kaili Gregory and freshman midfielder Shelby Wray have scored Cornell's other goals this season.
 
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 184-123-32.
• 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 made 23 saves in five career appearances before yielding her first goal on Oct. 9 against Colgate.
 
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 are frequently in the mix for the Big Red, with Fitzgerald primarily on the back line and Farber moving into a midfield role this year. Cornell carries eight seniors on its roster of 27 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 and Maryland, and one each from Nevada, Ohio, 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 PRINCETON
• Princeton is ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll for a seventh straight week, coming in at No. 15 after a 6-1 win last Saturday at Harvard. Courtney O'Brien's first of two goals came in the 32th minute to give the Tigers the lead for good.
• The Tigers have ranked as high as 11th, but then they suffered a 2-0 loss at home to Columbia on Oct. 14 to fall behind in the Ivy League title race. Princeton remains three points behind Columbia with two games remaining for every team in the league.
• Abby Givens leads the team in scoring with 24 points on nine goals and six assists. She's tied for the team lead in goals with Courtney O'Brien, who also has a pair of assists for 20 points. Mimi Asom has seven goals for 14 points.
• Natalie Grossi has started 13 of Princeton's 14 games in goal and has an 11-2 record, 0.46 goals against average, .872 save percentage and eight shutouts.
• Sean Driscoll is in his third season as the head coach at Princeton after he spent five years as the associate head coach at Fairfield.
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
• The Tigers own a 24-7-4 advantage in the all-time series, having won a 6-1 affair last year in Ithaca. Senior forward Paige DeLoach scored the Big Red's goal in the 62nd minute.
• Princeton is currently riding a 21-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.
• The Big Red lost, 2-0, in its last trip to Princeton in 2015.

UP NEXT
• Cornell concludes its season at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at Dartmouth.