ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team wraps up the holiday weekend with its second straight game against a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent when it hosts Siena on Labor Day under lights at Berman Field.

Game Information

Siena at Cornell
SITE: Berman Field — Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 1-0, 0-0 Ivy League;
                    Siena 0-3, 0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 2-1-1
STREAMING: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com

•   Cornell game notes
 

What's on Tap:

•   Cornell wraps up the holiday weekend with its second straight game against a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent when it hosts Siena on Labor Day under lights at Berman Field.
•   The game is one of 13 games on the Big Red's 15-game schedule to be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. Twelve of those games, including Monday's affair against the Saints, are available on ESPN+.
•   ESPN+ is currently only available to fans in the U.S. for $4.99/month or $49.99/year. A similar international platform is the home for fans outside of the U.S., and will feature both live and archived games.

Quick Starters:

•  Freshman midfielder Ashley Durik scored two second-half goals in her collegiate debut to power the Big Red to a 3-1 win over Iona on Friday night in its season opener.
•  Durik became the first Cornell freshman to score twice in the first game of a season in 22 years. The last to accomplish the feat was Miki Agrawal on Sept. 13, 1997 in a 6-2 victory over Columbia.
•  Sophomore forward Jadyn Matthews opened the scored for Cornell in the sixth 
minute after taking a pass from junior defender Noami Jaffe. It was the first collegiate goal for Matthews, who spent most of her debut season in the defensive midfield.
•  Cornell continued its success in season openers, improving to 22-11-5 in its first games of the program's first 38 seasons. The Big Red is now 5-1-1 in its last seven debuts.

About the Big Red:

•  Cornell has already matched its win total and is nearly halfway to its goal total from last year. The Big Red was 1-13-1 in 2018 and mustered just eight goals, including just two over the final eight games.
•  After recording an assist on Cornell's final goal Friday, senior forward Kennedy Yearby remains Cornell's active scoring leader with four goals and four assists for 12 points.
•  Senior defender Kaili Gregory led the team in scoring last year with five points on two goals and an assist.
•  The Big Red lost just three to graduation after last season, including All-Ivy League goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy '19 (who is rostered as a graduate transfer at Wake Forest this year). Freshman Nicole Shulman started Friday against Iona and made two saves to earn the victory.
•  Senior central defender Abby Adams is the squad's lone returning All-Ivy League winner from 2018. Adams was voted onto the All-Ivy second team by opposing coaches, who frequently saw Adams matched up against their most potent attackers.

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 34 games over the last eight years and now has an overall record as a head coach of 186-137-34. 
•  Hornibrook is flanked by a new staff of assistant coaches this season. Rob Ferguson and Kelsey Ferguson join the Big Red as assistant coaches after successful stints building WNY Flash Academy, and Vanessa Romero has come on board as a volunteer assistant coach after a decorated playing career at SUNY Cortland.

A Call To Armbands:

•  Seniors Karli Berry and Chrissy Mayer, and junior Naomi Jaffe will serve 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. 
•  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 are wrapping up a four-game stretch of road games to open their season and looking for their first win. A trip to The Centennial State yielded two-goal losses to Air Force and Colorado College, then Siena suffered a 3-0 setback Thursday at Syracuse.
•  Redshirt junior forward Amber Alfonzo scored the Saints' only goal to date, after their had already fallen behind by three goals in the first half against CC. 
•  Sophomore midfielder Emily McNelis led the team in scoring in her collegiate debut last season with 11 points on five goals and one assist. She assisted on Alfonzo's goal earlier this season.
•  Senior Taylor Dorado (0-3, 2.67 goals against average, .680 save percentage) has been the team's exclusive goalkeeper to date. She's the reigning MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year.
•  Siena was 11-8-3 in 2018 and advanced as far as the MAAC championship game, which it lost to perennial power Monmouth. The Saints were selected third in the league's preseason coaches' poll in August.
•  Steve Karbowksi is in his 21st season as the head coach of his alma mater.

The Series vs. Siena:

•  The Big Red has a 2-1-1 lead in the series with the Saints, which started in 2007. 
•  Cornell will be looking to avenge a 2-1 loss to Siena last year at Siena Field – also on Labor Day. Now a sophomore, midfielder Aidan Julia Reineman scored her first collegiate goal on a 25-yard blast that was assisted by classmate Evanthia Spyredes.
•  In Siena's last visit to Berman Field, 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 hits the road for the first time with a visit to Bucknell at 4 p.m. Friday, taking on the Bison for the first time since 2011. The Big Red returns home two days later for 1 p.m. Sunday clash against St. Bonaventure.