ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team returns home for its final tune-up before the start of Ivy League play when it hosts Albany at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Berman Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 

GAME INFORMATION

Albany at Cornell
DATE: Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Charles F. Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 1-5, Albany 6-4
VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 

ABOUT THE BIG RED

• Cornell will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak, with its latest setback coming via 1-0 decision on Sunday afternoon at Saint Joseph's. It marked the fourth time in six games this season the Big Red was shut out.
• Making her second start of the season, goalkeeper Chrissy Mayer made five of her six saves in the game's first 25 minutes. Juliana Comer had the Big Red's only shot in the 15th minute.
• Meghan Kennedy is Cornell's primary goalkeeper, sporting a 1-3 record, 1.71 goals against average and .767 save percentage.
• The Big Red has just three goals in its first six games, and one in its last five. The latest strike came from Aidan Julia Reineman in a 2-1 loss to Siena on Sept. 3. A fellow freshman, Evanthia Spyredes, earned the assist on the play for her first collegiate point.
• Cornell started up its 37th varsity season in dramatic fashion, with junior center back Kaili Gregory's golden goal on a free kick from 22 yards in the 100th minute against St. Bonaventure on Aug. 24.
• Gregory also set up the Big Red's first goal of the season, making a long pass that led to sophomore midfielder Naomi Jaffe's goal from a near impossible angle in the 65th minute to tie the game.
 

HEAD COACH DWIGHT HORNIBROOK

• After serving as an assistant coach for five seasons, Dwight Hornibrook was named the program's sixth head coach in advance of the 2017 season.
• Hornibrook had 17 years of head coaching experience with the men's soccer programs at Houghton and SUNY Cortland before joining the Cornell women's soccer team. He has helped the Big Red win 33 games over the last six-plus years and now has an overall record as a head coach of 185-129-33.
• Two-time Cornell captain goalkeeper Tori Christ '14 returns for her second season as an assistant coach, and Eva Francavilla has joined the staff as an assistant coach.
 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Senior midfielder Jessica Ritchie is Cornell's active scoring leader with three goals and three assists for nine points. Junior forward Kennedy Yearby also has three career goals, adding an assist for seven career points. Junior defender Kaili Gregory also has two career goals, both on restarts – the first a penalty kick, and the second on a free kick just outside the box.
• Senior Meghan Kennedy returns as the squad's primary goalkeeper for a third season after leading the Ivy League with 82 saves last year. She enters the game against Albany with a 1.35 career goals against average that ranks seventh on the program's all-time list and a .822 career save percentage that ranks 10th.
• Kennedy entered the week ranked 39th in the country with an average of 5.75 saves per game.
• Cornell has the 13th-most fouls per game in country with an average of 5.67.
 

THE REGGAE GIRL

• Freshman Jadyn Matthews recently returned from a tour of duty with the Jamaica women's nationall soccer team, which is nicknamed the 'Reggae Girlz'.
• Matthews appeared twice as a reserve in CONCACAF Women's Caribbean Zone final round games against Antigua and Barbuda on Aug. 25 and Cuba on Sept. 2. The final round starts Oct. 5.
• Matthews has become the second Cornell women's soccer to play for her senior national team, joining Rachel Nichols '14 after her tenure with The Philippines.
 

A CALL TO ARMBANDS

• Seniors Meghan Kennedy and Jessica Ritchie are serving as the Big Red's co-captains this season. Both players are among the team's leading contributors this season, with both wearing the armband for the first time in their collegiate careers. Cornell carries just three seniors and has 14 underclasswomen on its roster of 23.
 

NATIONAL APPEAL

• The Big Red has 12 different states and the District of Columbia represented on the team roster of 23.
• The most represented state on the Big Red is California, which is called home by six players. Four hail from New Jersey, three from Florida, and one each from Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
• Though there are no Canadians among the players, head coach Dwight Hornibrook is native to the New Brunswick capital of Fredericton.
 

ABOUT ALBANY

• The Great Danes fell to 6-4 on the season after a 3-2 loss Saturday at Dartmouth. Albany scored on a pair of penalty kicks to take the lead into the final 26 minutes, but Dartmouth answered back less than two minutes later and ultimately netted the winner in the 73rd minute.
• Albany raised some eyebrows under second-year head coach Nick Bochette by starting the year with an impressive road victory on Aug. 17 against nationally-ranked Arizona.
• Mariah Williams leads the team in scoring with 15 points on seven goals and one assist. Claire Stackel has 10 points on four goals and two assists. The rest of the team has combined for seven goals.
• Andrea Leitner is the team's primary starting goalkeeper with a 5-2 record, 1.45 goals against average, .698 save percentage and two clean sheets. But Sophia Chen got the start in Albany's most recent game at Dartmouth, conceding three goals while making eight saves in a loss.
 

THE SERIES WITH ALBANY

• The Big Red holds a 3-1 lead in the all-time series with the Great Danes, with the most recent meeting coming just over five years ago.
• Cornell won in dramatic fashion, 5-4, the last time it saw Albany on Sept. 15, 2013 at Berman Field. The Great Danes tied the game with 42.1 seconds left in the second half, but the Big Red surged ahead for good with 7.8 seconds left on an open header by Brenna Mockler '16 off a corner kick.
• It marked the second straight year the winner scored five goals, after Albany earned a 5-2 victory on Sept. 9, 2012.
• The Big Red's other victories against Albany came in 2005 (2-1 in OT) and 2006 (5-0).'
 

UP NEXT

• The Big Red hits the road to open the Ivy League slate with a 6 p.m. Saturday visit to 2017 runner-up Columbia.
• Cornell then returns home to prepare for Penn's visit at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29.