ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team will have four opportunities over the weekend to surpass its win total from a year ago, both overall and in league play, when Penn visits Niemand-Robison Field beginning on Saturday, April 22 at 12:30 p.m.

The Big Red enters the weekend with a 9-21-1 record after losing control of a pair of late leads on Tuesday at home against Colgate in a 7-6 loss and a 4-4 tie due to darkness.

Cornell has matched its win total overall and in Ivy League play already this season after it went 3-3 last week with doubleheader splits with MAAC leader Siena at home and South Division foe Columbia on the road. The Big Red hit .340 as a team with all nine regulars hitting .292 or better. Both Sarah Murray (.417, five runs, three RBI) and Ivey Wagner (.412, four runs) hit better than .400. For the season, Megan Murray leads four regulars hitting .300 or better with her .340 average, while rookie Bridgette Rooney has eight home runs and 24 RBI while slugging a team-high .557.

The Big Red has been outstanding in the field all season, posting a .967 fielding percentage - a mark that is just off the school record of .969 set in 2005. It was even better than that last week, making just three errors in the six games and posting a .983 fielding percentage.

That support has led to great improvement from the Cornell pitching staff, which has lowered its team ERA by nearly a run and a half. Freshman Lisa Nelson leads the team in wins (five), complete games (five), strikeouts (48) and ERA (5.27), while junior Maddie Orcutt paces the squad in opponent batting average (.298) and is second in ERA (5.28), wins (three), complete games (four) and strikeouts (38). Both freshmen Katie Lew and Cora Geunes have also gotten important innings in the circle, with Lew second on the team in innings pitched (56.1).

Penn brings a 15-17 overall record and 5-7 mark in Ivy League play into the weekend, good for third in the South Division. Leah Allen paced the team with a .400 average, as the school's career home run leader has added five to bring her career total to 29. Sarah Cwiertnia (.366, two home runs, 28 RBI), Jurie Joyner (.358, four home runs, 16 RBI) and Molly Oretsky (.357, four home runs, 12 RBI) lead an offense hitting .293 as a group. The Quakers have posted a solid .964 fielding percentage in front of a pitching staff led by Alexis Sargent. The senior is 9-8 with a 2.65 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 103.0 innings of work. Leslie King, in her 14th season in the Penn dugout, has won 285 games and the 2013 Ivy League title, along with five division crowns.

Cornell leads the all-time series 40-26, including 15-7 at home. The Quakers have had the better of it over the last six years, going 17-4 over the last 21 meetings, including winning five straight. The Quakers are 6-2 against the Big Red in its last two trips to Ithaca.