ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's soccer team opens Ivy League play at 6 p.m. Saturday, when it travels to New York for a match against 2017 runner-up Columbia at Commisso Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN Plus.
 

GAME INFORMATION

Cornell at Columbia
DATE: Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018
TIME: 6 p.m.
SITE: Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium – New York, N.Y. (artificial surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 1-5-1, Columbia 3-4-1
VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoColumbiaLions.com
 

LAST TIME OUT

• Cornell enters league competition on the heels of a thrilling 2-2 draw with Albany on Tuesday at Berman Field. All of the goals were scored in the second half, including Kennedy Yearby's strike with 75 seconds left in the regulation to tie the game off a pass from Kaili Gregory.
• Yearby also set up the Big Red's first goal in the 49th minute, before Jessica Ritchie's clever backheel set up Shelby Wray for the point-blank finish.
• Goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy made 10 saves, including a huge stop on Meghan Malone's blast from 16 yards to keep the Big Red in the game just minutes after Albany took a 2-1 lead.
 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2-2 TIE VS. ALBANY

 
 

ABOUT THE BIG RED

• Kennedy Yearby and Kaili Gregory are tied for the team lead in scoring with three points on one goal and one assist apiece. Gregory's goal was of the golden variety, coming in the 100th minute of Cornell's season-opening 2-1 victory on Aug. 24 at St. Bonaventure.
• With eight games left to play, Cornell has already matched its goal output from the entire 2017 campaign.
• Naomi Jaffe and Aidan Julia Reineman have the Big Red's other goals this season. Reineman also leads the team with 14 shots through seven games.
• Meghan Kennedy is Cornell's primary goalkeeper, sporting a 1-3-1 record, 1.69 goals against average and .786 save percentage. Chrissy Mayer (0-2, 1.00, .778) has also made a pair of starts, the last coming in Sunday's 1-0 loss at Saint Joseph's.
 

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 185-129-34.
• 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

• Junior forward Kennedy Yearby (four goals and two assists) and senior midfielder Jessica Ritchie (three goals, four assists) are Cornell's active scoring leaders with 10 points apiece. Junior defender Kaili Gregory and sophomore midfielder Shelby Wray each have two goals for four points.
• 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 Columbia with a 1.37 career goals against average that ranks seventh on the program's all-time list and a .823 career save percentage that ranks 10th.
• As of Wednesday, Kennedy ranked 17th in the country with an average of 6.6 saves per game.
• Cornell has the ninth-least fouls per game in country with an average of 5.43.
 

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 COLUMBIA

• The Lions have fallen below .500 for the first time this season after a 4-0 loss on Sunday at 10th-ranked and undefeated Georgetown. It was Columbia's third straight loss, coming on the heels of home setbacks to Hofstra (Sept. 13) and Rider (Sept. 9).
• Gracie Wall (two goals, two assists) and Mallaika Tomar (one goal, four assists) are tied for the team lead with six points. Jordyn Geller and Emma Anderson have five points on two goals and one assist apiece, and Maddie Temares also has a pair of goals.
• The Lions have earned 43 corner kicks against just 23 conceded, though they have also been whistled for three penalty kicks without having to yet be awarded one from the spot on the offensive end.
• Sophie Whitehouse, a second-team All-Ivy pick last year, returns as the starter in goal with a 3-4-1 record, 1.55 goals against average and .721 save percentage.
• Tracey Bartholomew is in her fifth season as the head coach at Columbia.
 

THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA

• The Big Red holds a 19-13 advantage in the all-time series between the Ivy League rivals, who have met in every season since the Lions added the sport in 1986.
• Columbia scored twice in the opening 23 minutes and held host Cornell to just one shot on goal in a 2-0 victory on Sept. 22, 2017 in the teams' last meeting. Meghan Kennedy made eight saves for the Big Red.
• The Lions have won each of its last six home games against the Big Red. Cornell's last victory in New York was a 2-1 affair on Sept. 25, 2004.
• Columbia has a home shutout streak against Cornell of 369 minutes, 48 seconds, dating back to a goal by Brook Chang '12 on Sept. 26, 2008.
 

UP NEXT

• Cornell returns home to prepare for a visit from Penn at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29.
• The Big Red then hits the road for its next two games at Harvard (Oct. 6) and Colgate (Oct. 9).