GAME INFORMATION
GAME #1: Cornell at Bucknell
GAME TIME: Friday, Aug. 31, at 4:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Graham Field at Holmes Stadium (Lewisburg, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Bucknell leads, 15-11-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0, Sept. 3, 2017 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2018 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy); Bucknell (0-2, 0-0 Patriot)
LIVE STATS: http://bucknellbison.com/sidearmstats/fhockey 
LIVE VIDEO: https://watchstadium.com/network/patriot-league-network/
 
GAME #2: Cornell at Lock Haven
GAME TIME: Sunday, Sept. 2, at 1:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Charlotte E. Smith Field (Lock Haven, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Tied, 5-5
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 2-1, Oct. 1, 2017 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy); Lock Haven (1-1, 0-0 A-10)
LIVE STATS: http://www.golhu.com/sidearmstats/fhockey
LIVE VIDEO: TBA
 
OPENING UP: The Cornell field hockey team opens its 47th season this weekend as it heads to the Keystone State to take on Bucknell on Friday, Aug. 31 and Lock Haven on Sunday, Sept. 2 … The Big Red is 27-15-4 (.630) all-time in season-openers. Last season, the Big Red edged Ohio University, 1-0, to see head coach Donna Hornibrook's record improve to 10-4 in season openers during her time with Cornell.
 
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 (14) being decided by a single goal. Bucknell holds the 15-110-1 lead all-time, having won six of the last eight meetings, but the Big Red earned a 1-0 victory a year ago.
 
SCOUTING THE BISON: Bucknell is off to a 0-2 start, opening the year with a 2-1 loss at Longwood and a 3-0 loss at No. 17 James Madison.
* The team was picked to finish third in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, while a pair of Bison – Lexi Quick and Brittany Willwerth – were named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
* Nicole Rupnik has scored the only goal of the season for Becknell with both Quick and Willwerth earning the assist.  
* Olivia Harris has played every minute in goal and has posted a .688 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average.
 
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Big Red is 70-56-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League, thanks mostly to a 24-1-1 lead against Lehigh. The Big Red also holds a winning record against Colgate (22-20-3) and Holy Cross (7-5). Cornell has a losing record against American (0-2), Boston University (0-1), Bucknell (11-15-1), and Lafayette (6-12-2).
 
THE SERIES WITH LOCK HAVEN: The series with the Lady Eagles has been one of the more competitive ones since its inception in 2007. Not only is the series tied (5-5), but of the 10 meetings, eight have been decided by a single goal, including five overtime contests. LHU won the first two meetings, before Cornell won three consecutive contests. The Lady Eagles regained the lead in the series with three straight overtime victories in 2012, 2013, and 2015, but the Big Red rebounded with consecutive wins in 2016 and 2017.
 
SCOUTING THE LADY EAGLES: LHU is off to a 1-1 start to the season with a 1-0 win at Lehigh and a 3-2 loss at Sacred Heart.
* The team was picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches' Poll, while Tamia Roach was named to the Preseason All-Conference Team.
* Raoch, Dana-Lee De Gannes, and Taryn Piano have all registered one goal on the season.
* Alyscia Smith has a team-high two assists.
* Brianna DeAngelis has played every minute and has posted a .700 save percentage and a 1.50 goals-against average.
 
VS. THE ATLANTIC 10: Cornell is 9-7 all-time vs. the current members of the Atlantic 10 with eight victories coming against the conference's two newest members – Lock Haven (5-5) and Saint Francis (Pa.) (3-0). The Big Red has a winning record against Saint Joseph's (1-0), but a losing mark against Massachusetts (0-1) and Richmond (0-1), and has never faced La Salle, Saint Louis or Virginia Commonwealth.
 
RETURNING ALL-IVY: Cornell had four players named All-Ivy a year ago, with two returning for their junior seasons. Goalie Maddie Henry was named to the second-team, while midfielder Maddy Conklin was named honorable mention.
 
SMARTY PANTS: The Big Red placed 11 student-athletes on the 2017 ZAG Field Hockey/NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad, including Taylor Gladd who was named Division I Scholars of Distinction for having achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.90 or higher through the first semester of the 2017-18 academic year.
* Cornell has had at least four players earn the honor in 12 of the past 14 seasons.
* In addition to the individual accolades, the squad earned the NFHCA Collegiate National Academic Team Award for the 10th time since 2004.
 
CORNELL CAREER RECORD LIST:
Maddie Henry
* Ranks 14th in wins (11) … Needs two more to move into a tie with Karen Kuhn (1975-77) for 13th place.
* Ranks 17th in shutouts (2) … Needs one more to move into a tie with Shannon Prescott (2005-07) for 16th place and two more to move into the top 10.
 
FRESH FACE: Alesha Widdall, a seven-year member of the US Women's Field Hockey Senior National Team, has joined the Big Red staff as an assistant coach for the 2018 season.
* A member of the 2016 US Olympic training team, Widdall helped prepare the US squad that took fifth place overall at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
* In total, she has won seven medals with Team USA, including gold medals at the 2017 World League Semifinals, the 2014 Champions Challenge, and the 2013 World League Round 2.
 
10 WINS: Cornell has reached double-digit wins in each of the last six straight season.
 
SLIM MARGIN: Last season, the Big Red had 12 games decided by a single goal, going 8-4 in the process.
* The 12 one-goal games were the most in program history, surpassing the previous high of 11, reached three times before (1992, 1996, 2001), with the 1992 season also featuring two ties, as the Big Red went 4-7-2 during that stretch
 
SHUT OUT STREAK:
* Last season, goalie Maddie Henry recorded the second-longest shutout streak in Cornell history, standing at 291:09.
* The 291:09 streak, which began during the final game of the 2016 season vs. Dartmouth and ended vs. Penn on Sept. 23, 2017, is second behind only Sue Zieman, who went 349:30 over the final five games of the 1985 season without giving up a goal.
* During her streak, Zieman posted four straight shutouts, two of which went to double overtime, before allowing a goal at the 39:30 mark in a win over Cortland in the season finale.
 
KNOCK THREE TIMES: Since the start of the 2004 season, the Big Red is 81-5 in games in which it scores at least three goals, a mark that was raised when it defeated Lehigh, 4-0, on Oct. 29, 2017.
 
EARLY LEADS: Scoring first has been a big part of the Big Red's success in recent years. Since the 2004 season, Cornell has posted an impressive 112-14 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 Donna 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 at Dartmouth on Nov. 4, 2017 continued the Big Red's trend of playing in one-goal games. Since the start of the 2006 season, the Big Red has won 106 games, with 54 coming in one-goal games (.509), including 14 in overtime. During that same span, Cornell has lost 78 games, with 44 of those coming by a single goal (.564), including 19 in overtime
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Big Red is 52-28 (.650) all-time on Marsha Dodson Field. Collectively, the team has outscored its opponents by a margin of 185-122 and has taken significantly more shots (1,375-824) than its opponents. The defense has been equally solid in the circle, allowing just 415 penalty corners (5.2 per game).
 
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Senior Gabby DePetro and junior Maddie Henry have been selected as team captains for the 2018 season.
 
RECAPPING 2017: Cornell finished the 2017 season with a 10-6 record, giving the program double-digit wins for the fifth straight season and the ninth time in Hornibrook's 14-year tenure. The 10th victory of the season at Dartmouth gave Coach Hornibrook her 300th win as a head coach and also tied the Class of 2018 with the Class of 2011 and 2017 as the winningest class in program history with 42 victories during their four-year career. The program saw several individual records fall in 2017, most notably Krysten Mayers '18 breaking the school's 34-year old career points record (99), as well as the school mark for career goals (42). Additionally, goalkeeper Kelly Johnson '18 closed her illustrious career as the Big Red's career wins leader (25). Following the season, Sam McILwrick '18 was named a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection. The senior back headlined four Big Red selections, as she was joined by Mayers and sophomore Maddie Henry on the second-team, while sophomore Maddy Conklin was named honorable mention. The four Ivy selections were the most for Cornell since having five honorees during the 2014 season. McIlwrick and Mayers went on to be named to the Longstreth/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division I All-Mideast Region team, with McILwrick earning first-team honors and Mayers being named to the second team
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red travels to Rutgers on Friday, Sept. 7 for a contest at 3 p.m., before returning to Ithaca for its home opener vs. Rider at Marsha Dodson Field on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m.