ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team hits the road for its penultimate game of the season, taking on Princeton at 1 p.m. Saturday at Sherrerd Field.

Game Information:

Brown at Cornell
SITE: Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium — Princeton, N.J. (artificial surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 3-9-2, 1-4 Ivy League;
                    Princeton 12-2-1, 4-1 Ivy League
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 27-7-4
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: GoPrincetonTigers.com
•  Cornell game notes

How To Watch:

•  As is the case for the rest of the season, the Big Red's game against the Tigers is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+.
•  ESPN+ is available to fans in the U.S. for $4.99/event, $6.99/month or $69.99/year. A similar international platform at the same price point is available for fans outside of the U.S., featuring both live and archived games.

About The Big Red:

•  Cornell was within striking distance at halftime against Ivy League-leading Brown on Saturday, but the Bears scored twice early in the second half to pull away with a 3-0 victory over the Big Red in its most recent game.
•  Senior Miranda Iannone made a career-high seven saves for Cornell, which held a pre-game ceremony to commemorate the final home contest in the collegiate careers of its two fifth years and six seniors.
•  The Big Red's last road appearance came Saturday, Oct. 16, when it largely frustrated Yale's' offensive advances until one lapse led to the game-winning strike in the 80th minute. The Big Red would go on to hit the frame of goal with a header in the 87th minute, but could never find an equalizer and lost, 1-0.
•  The Big Red's last victory came Oct. 5 against visiting Colgate, when it set season highs for shot attempts (17) and shots on target (nine) in a 2-1 win over the Raiders. The barrage was led by freshman Reinna Gabriel, whose seventh shot of the evening found the net to tie the game in the 62nd minute with her first collegiate goal. The winner came about 10 minutes later on an own goal.
•  The Big Red opened conference play with a bang on Sept. 25, snapping the program's 21-game winless skid (0-19-2) in Ivy League play with a 1-0 triumph over Columbia.
•  The win over the Lions was the Big Red's first in Ivy League play since Nov. 5, 2016.

No Sophomore Slump Here:

•  Ava Laden hits the weekend tied for 10th in scoring among Ivy League competitors, entering the contest against Princeton with 14 points on five goals and four assists. Her latest helper came via deep cross to set up Reinna Gabriel's goal against Colgate on Oct. 5.
•  Laden was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Sept. 20 after scoring three goals in the Big Red's games against Binghamton and Stony Brook. Though a sophomore, by rule Laden is eligible to claim league rookie awards since all Ivy intercollegiate
competition for women's soccer was canceled during her freshman season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By The Numbers:

•  While Laden has headlined the team's offense of late, it was freshman Peyton Nichols who started the season with three goals in her first three games. Her six points rank second on the team, with senior Evanthia Spyredes ranking third on the strength of four points via goals in two goals.
•  Nichols and Laden give Cornell multiple players with three goals in the same season for the first time since 2015, when Elizabeth Crowell '17 and Paige DeLoach '18 had four apiece.
•  Senior Miranda Iannone (1-6-2, 1.84, .678, 2 SHO) has been the Big Red's starter in goal for nine of its last 10 games. The lone exception came Oct. 5 against Colgate, when junior Nicole Shulman (1-0, 1.00, .667) returned for the first time since a freshman season in which she emerged as the team's primary goalkeeper.
•  Freshman Erica Fox (1-3, 2.53 goals against average, .636 save percentage, SHO) became the program's first newcomer to record a clean sheet in the team's season opener Katie Thomas '05 did it on Sept. 9, 2001. Fox made two saves to blank Canisius.

Head Coach Rob Ferguson:

•  Rob Ferguson was hired as the Big Red's head coach in February 2020. Entering Saturday's game at 3-9-2 at the helm, Ferguson served as an assistant coach for the Big Red during the 2019 season.
•  With the Sept. 25 win over Columbia, Ferguson became just the second of seven Cornell women's soccer coaches to win his first Ivy League game at the helm. (Berhane Andeberhan was the other in 2000).
•  Ferguson played an integral role get the Big Red's impact then-freshman class acclimated to collegiate competition, leading to the group's strength as juniors this year.
•  Ferguson is flanked by assistant coaches also making their respective debuts behind the Big Red bench. Jackie Firenze is in her second year with the program after four years as an assistant at Binghamton, and Dani Britt comes aboard for her first season at Cornell after most recently coaching at Hartford.

A Call To Armbands:

•  Just as it had when it last competed in 2019, the Big Red is deploying tri-captains in 2021.
•  Fifth year Naomi Jaffe dons the armband once again after serving as one of the program's leadership group in 2019. That marked the first time a non-senior was among the captains for Cornell since Claire MacManus '15 during the 2013 season.
•  Fifth year Maddie Hoitink and senior Miranda Iannone are serving as Big Red captains for the first time.

National Appeal:

•  The Big Red has 14 different states represented on the team roster of 30 women.
•  For a fourth straight season, the most represented state on the Big Red's roster is California – which is called home by six players.
•  The other states with multiple representatives are Florida (four), Connecticut (three), Illinois (three), Colorado (two), New Jersey (two), New York (two) and Virginia (two), plus there is one each from Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
•  Though there are no British among the players, head coach Rob Ferguson is native to Manchester, England.

Quick Starters:

•  Cornell continued its trend of fast starts to seasons after a 2-0 victory over Canisius on Aug. 27 and a 2-2 draw with UAlbany on Aug. 29. It marked the first Cornell has tallied multiple goals in each of its season's first two games since 2005.
•  By topping the Golden Griffins, the Big Red improved to 6-1-1 in its last eight season openers and 23-11-5 in the first game of its season over the program's 40-year history at the varsity level.
•  For the first time since the early stages of the 2015 season, the Big Red scored multiple goals in three straight games.

About Princeton:

•  The Tigers took sole possession of second place in the Ivy League with a 1-0 victory over Harvard last Saturday, remaining three points behind front-running Brown. Tatum Gee took advantage of a poor back pass from the Crimson's back line to score the game's lone goal in the 78th minute, and Grace Barbara made seven saves in goal.
•  The victory was the Tigers' 12th of the season and third straight after its lone Ivy setback to date — a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Brown on Oct. 9.
•  Gabi Juarez leads the team in scoring with 21 points on eight goals and five assists. Gee is next on the scoring list with six goals and five assists for 17 points. Lily Bryant joins them in the top 10 of Ivy League offensive producers with 14 points on five goals and four assists.
•  Barbara (8-2-1, 0.97, .784, 4 SHO) serves as the team's primary goalkeeper.
•  Sean Driscoll is in his seventh year as the head coach of the Tigers.

The Series vs. Princeton:

•  The Tigers own a 27-7-4 advantage in the all-time series, having won the last three meetings by identical 2-0 scores.
•  Princeton is currently riding a 24-game winning streak in the series, including overtime victories in 2009 and 2010.
• The Big Red's last victory against the Tigers came Sept. 23, 1995, when Cornell earned a triumph en route to an undefeated season in Ivy League play.

Up Next:

•  Cornell closes out the season with a trip to take on Dartmouth at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6.