GAME #6: Cornell at Lafayette
GAME TIME: Monday, Sept. 18, at 7:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Rappolt Field (Easton, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Lafayette leads, 12-5-2
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-0, Sept. 2, 2007 (Easton, Pa.)
2017 RECORDS: Cornell (4-1, 0-0 Ivy); Lafayette (5-1, 1-0 PL)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
 
THE STORY LINE: The Cornell field hockey team heads to Lafayette to face the Leopards tonight on Rappolt Field at 7:00 p.m. The Big Red has opened the 2017 campaign with five consecutive one-goal decisions, posting a 4-1 record in the process after falling to No. 24 Rutgers, 2-1, on Friday evening. Lafayette is 5-1 on the season following a 3-2 overtime victory against Colgate to open Patriot League play on Saturday.
 
THE SERIES WITH LAFAYETTE: The series with the Leopards began in 1985 and was dominated from the very beginning by Lafayette, which won seven of the first nine meetings, with the other two contests ending in ties. Cornell earned its first win in 1998 and picked up four more along the way, including the last two meetings in 2006 and 2007, but the Leopards still own the 12-5-2 all-time lead.
 
SCOUTING THE LEOPARDS: Lafayette improved to 5-1 after its 3-2 victory in overtime against Colgate on Saturday afternoon. The Leopards have been fairly dominant in their victories, outscoring opponents, 16-4, with their only loss coming in a 2-0 decision at No. 19 James Madison. Lafayette has a tremendously balanced offense, as Grace Angelella and Rosie Shanks have a team-high three goals, while Ellen Colbourne, Cody Hunsicker, and Caroline Turnbull all have two goals apiece. In goal, sophomore Sarah Park has started all six contests and has posted an .824 save percentage to go along with a 1.29 goals-against average.
 
VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 68-55-7 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 (11-15-1), and Lafayette (5-12-2) … Cornell is 30-13 vs. the Patriot League during Coach Hornibrook's tenure.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Donna Hornibrook is in her 14th season at Cornell (123-96, .564) ... 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 294-143-10 (.670) record as a head coach, including a 111-39-4 mark at Houghton and a 60-8-6 record at New Brunswick.
 
ONE-GOAL GAMES: Cornell has opened the 2017 campaign with five consecutive one-goal decisions, posting a 4-1 record in the process.
* Cornell has had five or more one-goal games in a row 11 times in field hockey history.
* Of those 11 instances, only four have taken place during Coach Hornibrook's tenure and in three of the four the Big Red has posted a winning record (2006: 1-5).
* Of the seven instances prior to Coach Hornibrook's arrival, the Big Red posted a winning record just once (1988: 3-2).
* The last time the Big Red had five straight games decided by a single goal came during the 2012 season (3-2).
* If the streak runs to six games, it will be the longest since 2009 (5-1).
* The longest streak of one-goal games in Cornell history was nine and it came during the 1992 season and included one tied contest. During that streak, the Big Red went 1-7-1.
 
THE UNDEFEATED: At the time of its first loss of the season to No. 24 Rutgers on Sept. 15, Cornell was one of just four undefeated field hockey teams remaining in the nation, joining UConn, Syracuse and Penn State.
 
WINNING WAYS: With the win over Maine on Sept. 10, Cornell tied the school record for consecutive victories (8), previously set during the 2008-2009 seasons.
 
STRONG START: With its four wins to open the season, Cornell got off to its best start (4-0) since the 2009 squad went 7-0.
 
THE 300: Head Coach Donna Hornibrook is closing in on 300 career wins, with 294 victories to her credit.  To date, she has 123 wins with Cornell, 111 at Houghton, and 60 at New Brunswick.
 
SHUT OUT STREAK: Cornell posted three consecutive shutouts to start the season, the most since the 2015 squad earned four straight from Sept. 11 to Sept. 20.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Kelly Johnson was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Sept. 11 after matching a career-high with 10 saves to help Cornell upset No. 24 Maine, 2-0, in a neutral site game.  Of Johnson's 10 saves, seven came in the final 31 minutes as the Big Red clung to the one-goal advantage. 
 
GREAT GOALIE DUO: Senior Kelly Johnson and sophomore Maddie Henry have split time through Cornell's first five games of the season and have combined for three shutouts. Together, they have helped Cornell to rank third in the nation in goals-against average (0.80), fourth in save percentage (.867) and third in shutouts per game (0.60).
 
NCAA RANKINGS (TEAM):
* 3rd – Goals Against Average (0.80)
* 3rd – Shutouts Per Game (0.60)
* 4th – Save Percentage (.867)
* 10th – Win Percentage (.800)

NCAA RANKINGS (INDIVIDUAL): 
Kelly Johnson
* 23rd – Win Percentage - .667
* 27th – Save Percentage (.750)
* 30th – Goals Against Average (1.60)
Isabel Josephs
* 38th – Assists Per Game (.60)
 
JUST A BIT OUTSIDE: For a goalie to be ranked in the NCAA statistics, they must play in 50% of their team's total minutes. Sophomore goalie Maddie Henry is just shy of that mark by 2:26. However, if she were eligible to be ranked, she would lead the nation in save percentage (1.000), GAA (0.00), and win percentage (1.000). 
 
CAREER RECORD WATCH:
Kelly Johnson
* Has set the Cornell record for wins (24), 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 (37) … Needs one 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 fifth in points (86) … Needs five more to move into a tie with Hannah Balleza (2010-13) in fourth place and eight more to match the school record set by Catie DeStio (2007-10).
* Ranks third in game-winning goals (9) … Needs two more to move into a tie with Linda Miller (1980-83) in third place.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Big Red is 49-26 all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 173-114 and has taken significantly more shots (1,282-777) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 392 penalty corners (5.2 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 79-4 in games in which it scores at least three goals, a mark that was raised when it defeated No. 24 Maine (3-2) on Sept. 10.
 
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 106-14 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 2-1 loss to No. 24 Rutgers on Sept. 15 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has won 101 games, with 50 coming in one-goal games (.495), including 13 in overtime. . During that same span, Cornell has lost 73 games, with 44 of those coming by a single goal (.606), including 18 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.
 
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.
 
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 opens Ivy League play next weekend at Penn on Saturday, Sept. 23 at noon.  Even though the Quakers hold a 25-14-2 lead all-time, the series has been back-and-forth in recent years, as the teams have split the last eight meetings, with six of those coming as one-goal decisions.