ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team continues a busy stretch of four games in 10 days with a holiday visit to Siena for a Monday matinee at Siena Field.
 

GAME INFORMATION

Cornell at Siena
DATE: Monday, Sept. 3, 2018
TIME: 3 p.m.
SITE: Siena Field – Loudonville, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 1-1, Siena 2-1-1
LIVE STATS: SienaSaints.com
 

ABOUT THE BIG RED

• Cornell has split two Friday matches to open its season, first rallying for a 2-1 overtime victory Aug. 24 at St. Bonaventure before a 2-0 setback against Buffalo earlier this weekend.
• In an evenly-contested tilt, the Bulls broke through in the 50th minute on a scramble in the penalty area after a corner kick. The Big Red forced nine saves out of Buffalo's goalkeeper – the most in a Cornell loss since a clash with Albany on Sept. 9, 2012.
• 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 the Bonnies.
• 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.
• For a full preview of the Big Red's 2018 season, go to https://cornellbigred.com/news/2018/8/23/outlook-more-goals-the-goal-for-womens-soccer.aspx.
 

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 185-125-33.
• 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 Siena with a 1.30 career goals against average that ranks seventh on the program's all-time list and a .826 career save percentage that ranks ninth.
 

QUICK STARTERS

• Cornell has had great success in the program's 37 season openers, picking up a 21-11-5 mark in the first game of the season after an overtime victory Aug. 24 at St. Bonaventure.
• The Big Red is now 3-0 when opened its season against the Bonnies. The first was a 5-0 affair on Sept. 10, 1993 in Ithaca, and the second was a final of 2-0 on Sept. 2, 2005 in Olean.
• Cornell now has three overtime victories to start the season in its history. The others were Sept. 4, 1994 at Penn State and Sept. 5, 2014 at Massachusetts.
 

A CALL TO ARMBANDS

• Seniors Meghan Kennedy and Jessica Ritchie are serving as the Big Red's co-captains this season. Both players figure to be 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 SIENA

• The Saints enter Monday's game on seven days' rest after a 1-1 draw Aug. 26 at Central Connecticut. Freshman Emily McNelis scored the tying goal in 78th minute shortly after corner kick service from junior Haleigh Schanz.
• Siena started its season with a 1-0 victory against Seton Hall on Aug. 17. A 3-0 loss to Hartford followed three days later before a 2-1 win Aug. 24 at Massachusetts.
• Jayanna Monds leads the team in scoring with three points on a goal and an assist. In addition to McNelis, Deanna Lomino and Megan Riccardi have the Saints' other goals so far.
• Junior Taylor Dorado has been the team's exclusive goalkeeper to date, posting a 1.18 goals against average and .783 save percentage with one clean sheet so far.
• Steve Karbowski is in his 19th season as the Saints' head coach.
 

THE SERIES WITH SIENA

• The Big Red has a 2-0-1 lead in the series with the Saints, which started in 2007.
• Cornell's only previous visit to Siena Field came on Aug. 28, 2016, when a fifth-minute goal by Paige DeLoach '18 stood up for a season-opening 1-0 Big Red victory. Making her collegiate debut, junior midfielder Juliana Comer had an assist on the play.
• The teams played to a scoreless draw to open the Big Red's 2015 season, though Cornell had a 22-3 advantage in shots.
 

UP NEXT

• Cornell returns to Berman Field to host Le Moyne at 7 p.m. Wednesday for a game that will be broadcast on the Ivy League on ESPN. The Big Red then concludes its busiest stretch of the season at 1 p.m. Sunday at Binghamton.