ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell men's soccer concludes its non-conference schedule on Tuesday, Oct. 29 with a 6:00 p.m. match against Bucknell. Tuesday's match will be streamed live on the Ivy League Network via ESPN+ with live stats available through the Ivy League and CornellBigRed.com.
 

Game Information

Cornell vs. Bucknell
SITE: Berman Field
TIME: 6 p.m.
RECORDS: Cornell 7-5-1, 1-2-1 Ivy League;
                    Bucknell 5-5-5, 2-2-3 Patriot League
SERIES RECORD: Cornell, 7-1-0
STREAMING: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com

LAST TIME OUT
The Cornell men's soccer team fought for the entire 110 minutes on Saturday, Oct. 26, playing Brown to a 1-1 draw at Berman Field. Senior midfielder John Scearce broke the ice for the Big Red, scoring his second goal of the season in the 28th minute with assists from juniors Charles Touche and Harry Fuller. Cornell out-shot the Bears 16-8 overall, but both teams matched one another in shots on goal with four each. The Big Red were unable to capitalize on a corner kick advantage that saw them generate eight set piece opportunities to just four for Brown. Freshman goalkeeper Brady McSwain made his second consecutive start between the posts for Cornell, making three saves in the longest match of his young career. In addition to scoring the lone goal of the afternoon for the Big Red, Scearce led the team in shots with eight and tallied three of Cornell's four shots on goal.

Both teams did their offensive damage in the first half, with Brown taking a 1-0 lead over the Big Red with a goal in the 22nd minute. Jackson Goebel served the ball up for Matthew Chow in front of goal, who then redirected the ball to Derek Waleffe at the top of the 18 for the goal. Six minutes later, Cornell evened the score up at 1-1 with the header from Scearce. A well placed long throw-in by Fuller founds the heads of Touche and Scearce, who fought through contact from the Bears goalkeeper for the finish.

Cornell has played its fair share of overtime matches in 2019, now owning a 2-1-1 record when needing extra time. Both sides had chances in overtime with a combined six corner kick opportunities (4, Cornell; 2, Brown).

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell owns a 7-5-1 overall record in 2019 with an undefeated 4-0-1 mark at home and a 3-5 record on the road. The Big Red rank No. 9 nationally in shots per game with 16.31 and are ranked No. 16 in shots on goal with 6.69 per game. Cornell is still searching for a more consistent scoring output, despite ranking No. 50 in Division I with 1.77 goals per game. Defensively, Cornell ranks No. 106, allowing 1.334 goals per match.

Junior Harry Fuller is the team leader in points (11) and goals (4), while also tied for the team-high in assists with three. Tied for the team-high in assists are senior George Pedlow and first year Brandon Morales with three each. Cornell has distributed the goal scoring this season with 12 different goal scorers. Seniors Ryan Bayne, John Scearce, Dickens and Pedlow, juniors Tyler Bagley, Charles Touche, Vardhin Manoj and Fuller, sophomore Emeka Eneli, and freshmen Will Citron, Griffin Garrard, and Morales have done the scoring for Cornell. Eneli and Manoj are tied for the second-most goals on the team with three each.

In goal, senior Ryan Shellow has started in 10 of 12 matches and possesses a 7-3 record to show for it. Shellow has a 1.17 goals against average and owns a .667 save percentage alongside five shutouts so far in 2019. First year goalkeeper Brady McSwain has made three starts for the Big Red with a 1.86 goals against average, a .667 save percentage and 12 saves.

HEAD COACH JOHN SMITH
In his fourth year as head coach, John Smith owns an 88-59-15 career coaching record with a 26-33-5 mark as head coach of the Big Red. Prior to his time at Cornell, Smith spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Stanford where he helped lead the Cardinal to a 50-20-11 record and a national championship in 2015. In addition to his head coaching experience at Cornell, Smith served as the head coach at Incarnate Word for five seasons from 2006-2010 where he coached the Cardinals to a 62-26-10 record.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST BUCKNELL
In a series that dates back to 1930, Cornell holds a 7-1-0 advantage over Bucknell all-time with the last meeting between the two sides occurring on Sept. 12, 2008. Bucknell defeated Cornell in the last meeting, 3-0, in Lewisburg, Pa. at the Days Inn Invitational where the Big Red also faced New Hampshire. Cornell last faced Bucknell in Ithaca during the 1997 season, the last of a three year series against the Bison that spanned from 1995-97.

ABOUT THE BISON
Bucknell enters Tuesday having not lost a match since a 2-0 loss to then #21 Navy on Oct. 6. The Bison are 3-0-2 over the last five matches, including ties in each of the last two (0-0, Army; 1-1, Binghamton). Bucknell ranks No. 97 nationally in scoring offense, averaging 1.40 goals per game. The Bison pair the offense with a defense that ranks No. 44 in goals against average, allowing less than one goal per game at 0.986.

Goalkeeper Luke Smith ranks No. 13 in Division I with a 0.699 goals against average and is No. 74 in save percentage at .741. The freshman Smith has made nine starts in goal for the Bison, splitting time with senior Emmett Witmer, who has drawn six starts in his senior campaign. Witmer matches Smith with a .750 save percentage, but has allowed 1.45 goals against on average alongside 27 saves.

Matt Thorsheim leads the Bison in scoring with 15 points on five goals and five assists. Thorsheim is matched for the team-high in goals by Patrick O'Hara, who ranks second on the team in overall scoring (12 points) despite coming off the bench in 11 of 15 matches. All of O'Hara's goals have come during the regular pace of play, with Thorsheim scoring three times on penalty kick opportunities.

UP NEXT
Cornell will head to Princeton, N.J. to face Princeton at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2. The Tigers are currently tied with Penn and Dartmouth for second place in the league table thanks to a 2-1-1 record in conference play. Princeton owns a 9-3-1 record overall and are winners of three straight entering its match against Virginia Tech on Tuesday.