ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team plays three of its next four games at home, starting with an Ivy League contest against Harvard at 1 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Game Information:

Harvard at Cornell
SITE: Berman Field — Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 4-4-1, 0-2 Ivy League;
                    Harvard 8-2, 2-0 Ivy League
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 25-3-9
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
•  Cornell game notes

Red Redux:

•  Cornell became the first Ivy League team since 2015 to hang a pair of goals on Penn, but the defending league champions rallied for three unanswered goals and a 4-2 victory on Saturday at Rhodes Field in Philadelphia.
•  Both Big Red goals came early in the second half, including an own goal on a long cross from freshman forward Liza Mariner just 23 seconds after halftime. Sophomore forward Evanthia Spyredes notched the second goal 2 minutes, 6 seconds later on a penalty kick drawn by freshman midfielder Ashley Durik.
•  Cornell is remains a .500 team even with the loss, but it is now winless in its last five. The season's lone draw to date is within that stretch — a 1-1 tilt against Binghamton that also featured a Spyredes goal in the third minute on Sept. 18.
•  The Big Red started its Ivy League campaign with a 2-0 home loss to Columbia on Sept. 28. Cornell had a slight edge in possession time in an evenly-played first half before the Lions surged in the closing 45 for the victory.

About the Big Red

•  Cornell has already quadrupled its win total from last year, entering the game against Harvard at 4-4-1 (after going 1-13-1 in 2018). The Big Red started the season with four straight victories for the first time since 2005.
•  Sophomore forward Evanthia Spyredes has taken over the team scoring lead with five points on a pair of goals and an assist. Sophomore Jadyn Matthews and freshman Ashley Durik have four points on two goals apiece. Both of Durik's goals came in her collegiate debut on Aug. 30 against Iona. Matthews tallied the other goal against Iona before later netting the winner in a 1-0 triumph at Bucknell.
•  Senior forward Kennedy Yearby remains Cornell's active scoring leader with four goals and four assists for 12 points.
•  All three of Cornell's goalkeepers have played in multiple games to date. Freshman Nicole Shulman has found the most success with a 3-1 record with a 0.62 goals against average, .833 save percentage and one shutout, while senior Chrissy Mayer has started four straight with a 1-2-1 record, 1.32 goals against average, and .786 save percentage.
•  The Big Red continues to deploy freshmen into key roles, including one of the primary goalkeepers (Shulman) and a central defender (Sydney Waiters), starting midfielder Ashley Durik and starting forward Liza Mariner. 

Head Coach Dwight Hornibrook

•  Dwight Hornibrook is in his third season as the program's sixth head coach after serving as an assistant coach for five years.
•  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 37 games over the last eight years and now has an overall record as a head coach of 189-141-35. 

National Duty

•  Sophomore Jadyn Matthews has international experience, having helped the Jamaica women's national soccer team qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. She appeared twice as a reserve in CONCACAF Women's Caribbean Zone final round games in 2018, though was not ultimately included on the World Cup roster.
•  Matthews became the second Cornell women's soccer to play for her senior national team, joining Rachel Nichols '14 after her tenure with The Philippines.
•  Freshman goalkeeper Nicole Shulman also has experience competing with the U17 and U19 Israeli national teams. Shulman is currently away from Cornell to compete with Israel at the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. 

A Call To Armbands

•  Seniors Karli Berry and Chrissy Mayer, and junior Naomi Jaffe are serving as the Big Red's tri-captains this season. It is the first time any of the trio has donned an armband in their collegiate careers. 
•  Jaffe is the first non-senior to serve as a captain for Cornell since Claire MacManus '15 during the 2013 season.
•  Cornell, which has six seniors, has more underclassmen on its roster than upperclassmen for a third straight year.

National Appeal

•  The Big Red has 14 different states and the District of Columbia represented on the team roster of 28. 
•  For a third straight year, the most represented state on the Big Red is California – which is called home by five players. The other states with multiple representatives are New Jersey (four), Florida (four), New York (two), Connecticut (two) and Virginia (two), plus there is one each from Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. 

About Harvard

•  The Crimson have a pair of 1-0 victories to start Ivy League play, first against visiting Penn on Sept. 28 and then at Yale on Saturday night to push the team's winning streak to five games. 
•  Freshman Gabby DelPico scored the lone goals in the second half of both games, now owning the team lead with five goals. Freshman Angela Caloia and sophomore Sophie Hirst both follow with four, and junior Murphy Agnew — who was credited with an assist on DelPico's goal against Yale — has three.
•  Senior goalkeeper Kat Hess has clean sheets in both Ivy starts to date, plus a third earlier in the season against LIU. She has a 6-1 record, 0.57 goals against average and .852 save percentage on the season.
•  Chris Hamblin is in his fourth season as the head coach at Harvard after spending the five seasons prior with the program as an assistant coach.

The Series vs. Harvard

•  Harvard holds a commanding 25-3-9 lead in the all-time series with Cornell, including a 2-0 victory on the strength of two early goals in the second half last season in Massachusetts. 
•  The Crimson won the last meeting at Berman Field, 3-1, on Oct. 7, 2017. 
•  Cornell's last victory against the Crimson came in 1993.

Up Next

•  Cornell returns home to take on Colgate for its non-league finale at 7 p.m. Tuesday.