ITHACA, N.Y. – Facing the final few games of the Ivy League slate, Cornell travels to Princeton on Saturday, Nov. 2 in a must win match. Princeton enters the weekend with a 10-3-1 overall record and a 2-1-1 mark in the Ivy League that has them sitting in second place. Saturday'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. Princeton
SITE: Myslik Field and Roberts Stadium
TIME: 4 p.m.
RECORDS: Cornell 8-5-1, 1-2-1 Ivy League;
                    Princeton 10-3-1, 2-1-1 Ivy League
SERIES RECORD: Princeton, 54-37-13
STREAMING: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com

LAST TIME OUT
The Cornell men's soccer team finished off the non-conference portion of its 2019 slate on Tuesday evening, defeating Bucknell by a final score of 1-0 from Berman Field. After a scoreless first half, senior forward Brady Dickens broke through for Cornell in the 56th minute of action to give the Big Red an advantage. Cornell (8-5-1) finished its non-conference schedule with a 6-4-0 record after outshooting the Bison, 9-2, on Tuesday. The Big Red held a massive 6-1 advantage in shots on goal, mostly set up by a strong free kick performance from junior Tyler Bagley. It was a Bagley free kick opportunity that set Dickens up for his goal in the 56th minute, as his free kick caromed off the upper left 90 and waited for Dickens to rush in to clean it up with his head.

Cornell entered the match against Bucknell needing a win, and got just that despite a number of key players missing the game to nurse minor injuries. Junior Murray Riach, sophomore Charlie Ferguson and Dickens all turned in strong performances in their elevated roles, with Riach playing well on the back line and Ferguson seeing success in the midfield. The Big Red possessed the ball well against the Bison, holding 56 percent of the possession for the match.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell owns an 8-5-1 overall record in 2019 with an undefeated 5-0-1 mark at home and a 3-5 record on the road. The Big Red rank No. 12 nationally in shots per game with 15.79 and are ranked No. 16 in shots on goal with 6.64 per game. Cornell is poised for a breakout goal scoring performance, ranking No. 54 in Division I with 1.71 goals per game. Defensively, Cornell ranks No. 86, allowing 1.24 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. 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 14 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 four starts (three straight) for the Big Red with a 1.42 goals against average, a .684 save percentage and 13 saves.

HEAD COACH JOHN SMITH
In his fourth year as head coach, John Smith owns an 89-59-15 career coaching record with a 27-33-5 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 PRINCETON
Princeton leads the all-time series against Cornell, 54-37-13, and have won three straight matches over the Big Red. Cornell's last win over the Tigers came in Princeton, N.J. on Oct. 31, 2015, a 2-1 win that featured goals from Jack Ferguson and Tommy Griffin. Current Cornell defensive captain Ryan Bayne started on the back line in that match in one of the 12 starts he made in 2015.

ABOUT THE TIGERS
Princeton enters Saturday with a 10-3-1 overall record having won four straight matches (Lehigh, Columbia, Harvard, Virginia Tech). The Tigers are undefeated at home this year with a 6-0-0 record and hold a 4-3-1 record on the road. Princeton is entering the toughest portion of its Ivy League schedule with matches against Cornell, Penn and Yale upcoming over the final three weeks. Princeton owns the No. 16-ranked scoring offense in the country averaging 2.21 goals per match alongside 13.71 shots and 5.21 shots on goal per game. Defensively the Tigers rank No. 70 allowing 1.125 goals per game.

Walker Gillespie leads the team in scoring with 13 points (6g-1a) and is closely followed by Kevin O'Toole (3g-3a), Frankie DeRosa (3g-3a) and Ryan Clare 23g-5a) who have all posted nine points. Clare is the team leader in assists with five.

Goalkeepers Jack Roberts and Jacob Schachner have shared goaltending duties as of late, with each starting three in the last six matches. In four total starts, Roberts is 4-0-0 with a 0.51 goals against average and a .909 save percentage (20 saves). Schachner is started in 10 matches this season, allowing 1.39 goals against and possesses a .696 save percentage (32 saves) on 106 shots faced.

UP NEXT
Cornell is set to play its final road match of the season on Saturday, Nov. 9 when it travels to Hanover, N.H. to face Dartmouth at 1:00 p.m. Dartmouth is currently 5-6-2 overall and is tied with Princeton for second in the Ivy League with a 2-1-1 record. The Green are led by Dawson McCartney (3g-4a-10p) and goalkeeper Alex Budnik (1.29gaa, .765 sv%, 52 saves).