GAME INFORMATION
GAME #1: Cornell vs. Ohio University
GAME TIME: Friday, Sept. 1, at 5:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 1-0-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-1, Sept. 9, 2016 (Piscataway, N.J.)
* 2017 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy); Ohio University (1-1, 0-0 MAC)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ivyleaguenetwork.com/

GAME #2: Cornell vs. Bucknell
GAME TIME: Sunday, Sept. 3, at 2:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Bucknell leads, 15-10-1
LAST MEETING: Bucknell won, 2-1, Sept. 5, 2012 (Lewisburg, Pa.)
* 2017 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy); Bucknell (1-1, 0-0 PL)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/fhockey/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ivyleaguenetwork.com/

OPENING UP: The Cornell field hockey team opens its 46th season this weekend as it welcomes Ohio University and Bucknell to Marsha Dodson Field … The Big Red is 26-15-4 (.622) all-time in season-openers. Last season, the Big Red dominated Colgate, 5-0, to see head coach Donna Hornibrook's record improve to 9-4 in season openers during her time with Cornell.
 
MAKE-A-WISH FUNDRAISER ON SUNDAY: The Big Red field hockey team will host a fundraiser for Make-a-Wish Foundation on Sunday, Sept. 3. The benefit will run in conjunction with the team's game vs. Bucknell on Marsha Dodson Field at 2 p.m. The team will be raising money through a variety of efforts, including online donations, donations at the game, t-shirt sales, a half-time fan-participation competition, and a post-game youth clinic for grades 3-8. The clinic will be coached by the players and staff from both Cornell and Bucknell teams, and will include specialized goalkeeper training. Instruction will begin shortly after the game ends (4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.). Participation cost is a $20 donation with all proceeds going to Make-a-Wish. The first 20 registered participants to check-in on game-day will receive an event t-shirt! Participants MUST bring their own equipment (including shin guards, mouth guard, stick and turf shoes).
 
THE SERIES WITH OHIO UNIVERSITY: Cornell defeated the Bobcats last season in the first-ever meeting, 2-1.
 
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS: Ohio University is off to a 1-1 start, opening the year with a 6-1 win over Saint Louis last weekend before falling to conference foe Ball State in a non-conference match, 4-1. U.S. Under-21 national team member Kendall Ballard led the team with 12 goals and 28 points a season ago and is off to a hot start this year (three goals, one assist, seven points). Sophomore Karynne Baker (two goals, two assists, six points) also ranks among the conference's early scoring leaders. Senior Maria Russell was also an all-conference choice a year ago. Head coach Neil Macmillan, in his 13th season directing the Bobcats program, enters the weekend one win shy of becoming the program's all-time winningest coach (123-114). Ohio was 6-11 overall a year ago, including 3-3 in the Mid-American Conference.
 
VS. THE MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE: Cornell earned its first win over a MAC school when it defeated Ohio University last season to improve to 1-0 all-time vs. the Bobcats. The Big Red is now 1-6 against the current members of the conference. Cornell is 0-5 vs. Kent State and 0-1 vs. Central Michigan, but has never faced Ball State, Longwood, Miami (Ohio), or Missouri State ... Coach Hornibrook is 1-0 vs. the conference.
 
THE SERIES WITH BUCKNELL: Cornell's history with the Bison started with a 2-2 tie during the 1974 season, and it has continued to be a close fought series with half of the meetings (13) being decided by a single goal. Bucknell holds the 15-10-1 lead all-time, having won six of the last seven meetings, but the programs have not faced off since the 2012 campaign.
 
SCOUTING THE BISON: The Bison are 1-1 this season, opening the year with a 6-2 loss to Monmouth before rallying for a 3-1 road victory at Temple. Bucknell will visit Syracuse on Saturday afternoon prior to heading to Ithaca. Led by preseason All-Patriot League selections Stephanie Dressler and Nicole Rupnik, the Bison will attempt to make the four-team conference tournament for the 10th straight year. Dressler has a goal and an assist, including the game-winner against Temple. Coming off a 9-9 overall season (3-3 Patriot), head coach Jeremy Cook has now posted an 86-86 career coaching record.
 
VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 67-55-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 23-1-1 lead against Lehigh. The Big Red also holds a winning record against Colgate (22-19-3) and Holy Cross (7-5). Cornell has a losing record against American (0-2), Boston University (0-1), Bucknell (10-15-1), and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 29-13 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 14th season at Cornell (119-95, .556) ... She is the winningest coach in Big Red field hockey history, having passed Shelby (Pontz) Bowman, who registered 115 wins over 19 years … Hornibrook became the sixth coach in Cornell field hockey history in January 2004 ... She has a 282-137-10 (.669) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
 
CAREER RECORD WATCH:
Kelly Johnson
* Has set the Cornell record for wins (22), surpassing Alex Botte '12, Kaitlin Tierney '04 and Yanaka Bernal '91, who all previously held the record with 19 career wins.
* Ranks fourth in shutouts (7) … Needs one more to move into a second place tie with Carolyn Horner '14 and Karen Kuhm '78.
Krysten Mayers
* Ranks third in goals (36) … Needs two more to move into a tie with Marisa Siergiej (2012-15) in second place and four more to match Linda Miller's (1980-83) school record.
* Ranks seventh in points (83) … Needs one more to move into a tie with Emily Robb (1995-98) in sixth place and two more to match Marisa Siergiej (2012-15) in fifth place.
* Ranks fifth in game-winning goals (8) … Needs one more to move into a tie with Marisa Siergiej (2012-15) and Beth Paciello (1985-88) for third place.
 
10 WINS: Cornell finished the 2016 season with a 10-7 record, winning at least 10 games in nine of Coach Hornibrooks' 13 seasons. She is the only field hockey coach in Big Red history to lead the team to a single 10-win season.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE (A NEW) HOME: The Big Red is 47-25 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 170-112 and has taken significantly more shots (1,259-755) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 383 penalty corners (5.3 per game).
 
KNOCK THREE TIMES: When the Big Red fell to Penn, 4-3, on Sept. 21, 2013 it marked only the fourth time in Coach Hornibrook's career with Cornell that the team scored three goals and lost the contest. Under Coach Hornibrook, the Big Red is 78-4 in games in which it scores at least three goals, a mark that was raised when it defeated Dartmouth (9-1) on Nov. 5, 2017.
 
EARLY LEADS: Scoring first has been a big part of the Big Red's success in recent years. Since Coach Hornibrook has taken over the program, Cornell has posted an impressive 102-14 record in games in which they have scored first. Conversely, the team has won only 17 games in which they have had to come back from an early deficit to win. The first was Coach Hornibrook's very first victory with the team, a 6-3 win over Lehigh in 2004, with the latest coming on Oct. 23, 2016 as Cornell overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Rider, 3-1.
 
CLOSE CALLS: Cornell's 3-2 double overtime win against No. 13 Princeton on Oct. 29, 2016 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has lost 72 games, with 43 of those coming by a single goal (.606), including 18 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has won 97 games, with 46 coming in one-goal games (.474), including 13 in overtime.
 
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Seniors Katie Carlson, Isabel Josephs, and Sam McILwrick have been selected as team captains for the 2017 season. McILwrick served as co-captain during the 2016 season as well, making her just the ninth player in Big Red field hockey history to be named captain twice. 
 
RETURNING REGIONAL ALL-AMERICANS: Cornell returns a pair of Mideast Region All-American second-team selections to the roster in seniors Krysten Mayers and Sam McILwrick.
 
BIG RED INTERNATIONAL: This past summer, Cornell sophomore Rose Gorski helped Team USA to a silver medals at the 2017 Maccabi Games.
 
RECAPPING 2016: Cornell finished the 2016 season on a four-game winning streak, including an upset of No. 13 Princeton, to post a 10-7 record overall and a mark of 4-3 in the Ivy League. The Big Red finished ranked third in the Ivy League, posting its fourth consecutive top-three finish and earned double-digit wins for the fourth straight season and the ninth time in head coach Donna Hornibrook's 13-year career. With the Big Red's win over Brown on Oct. 21, Hornibrook earned the 116th win of her career with Cornell, surpassing Shelby (Pontz) Bowman to become the winningest coach in the history of the Big Red field hockey program. Following the season, the trio of Katy Weeks '17, Krysten Mayers '18 and Sam McILwrick '18 were honored by the Ivy League and the NFHCA. Weeks was named All-Ivy for the fourth time of her illustrious career, taking home first-team honors, along with McILwrick, while Mayers was named to the second-team. Weeks went on to be named to the All-Mideast Region first-team, while both Mayers and McILwrick were named to the second team.  
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red heads to the University of Vermont for a pair of games next weekend, as it takes on the Catamounts on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m., before facing the University of Maine in a neutral site contest the following day at 1 p.m.