ITHACA, N.Y. — After three straight games on the road, the Cornell women's soccer team returns to Berman Field for its final home game before the start of Ivy League play when it takes on Binghamton at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Game Information:
Binghamton at Cornell
SITE: Berman Field — Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 1-3-2, 0-0 Ivy League;
Binghamton 3-4-1, 0-0 America East
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 6-4-3
BROADCAST:
ESPN+
STATS:
CornellBigRed.com
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Cornell game notes (PDF)
How To Watch:
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As is the case for the rest of the season, the Big Red's game against the Bearcats 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. (https://plus.espn.com/). A similar international platform at the same price point is available for fans outside of the U.S., featuring both live and archived games..
The Long Road Behind:
• Cornell arrives back on its home pitch after three straight games on the road with no goals or victories to show for it. The Big Red will be looking to snap a five-game winless skid, dating back to a season-opening 2-0 victory over Canisius.
• In its last time out, the Big Red suffered a 1-0 setback Sunday at Iona. The Gaels scored the winner on service from a free kick in the 31st minute, then packed it in defensively for the second half. Cornell attempted 11 shots, with only two find their way on target.
• Senior tri-captain
Miranda Iannone made five saves, making her second straight start in goal. The effort came on the heels of her first collegiate shutout on Thursday in a scoreless draw at Syracuse. She made four saves in the Big Red's third tie against nine losses in 12 all-time meetings against the ACC's lone Empire State school.
• The first of the Big Red's road games came Sept. 5 at Villanova, resulting in a 2-0 loss against a squad that improved to 5-0. Both goals against Villanova came off set pieces, meaning Cornell's tactical defense has not been broken down to the point of concession in open play over its last 313 minutes, 3 seconds.
The Big Red Rewind:
• Win, lose and draw — that's how the Big Red returned to intercollegiate competition for the first time in 657 days and kicked off the NCAA head-coaching career of
Rob Ferguson.
• A home stand-ending 5-2 loss to Niagara on Sept. 2 was Cornell's first negative result of the season. The Big Red conceded five goals inside of 67 minutes before freshman
Peyton Nichols and sophomore
Ava Laden both scored for a second straight game.
• Cornell's return to competition from the COVID-19 pandemic — which also marked the athletic department's first on-campus intercollegiate competition since March 8, 2020 — was celebrated in style with a 2-0 victory over Canisius on Friday, Aug. 27.
• Less than 48 hours later, it took fewer than 30 minutes for Cornell to score twice more against UAlbany. Nichols struck again to negate an early Great Danes goal, then Laden gave the Big Red the lead before UAlbany ultimately found an equalizer in the 71st minute.
Jump Right In:
• For the first time since 2005, Cornell scored multiple goals in each of its first three games — and it was largely newcomers providing the new infusion of offense. Fourteen of the team's 17 points to date have come from underclassmen with no previous intercollegiate experience, since the Big Red's 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic.
• Sophomore
Ava Laden leads Cornell in scoring with seven points. With two goals and three assists, Laden has directly factored into five of the team's six goals to date.
• All of Laden's assists have come on goals from freshman
Peyton Nichols, whose three goals have been evenly distributed over her first three collegiate games. Already with more goals than anyone on the team in 2019, Nichols' six points to date rank second on the squad.
Welcome Aboard:
• For a second straight season, a freshman is proving to play a major role in the Big Red's goalkeeping equation. Junior
Nicole Shulman played the part in 2019, but injuries have kept her sidelined so far this year. That's led to a window of opportunity for freshman
Erica Fox (1-2, 1.89 goals against average, .737 save percentage, SHO), who has split time between the pipes with senior
Miranda Iannone (0-1-2, 1.32, .737, SHO).
• On Aug. 27 against Canisius, Fox made a pair of saves to become the first freshman to record a shutout in a Cornell season debut since Katie Thomas '05 did it on Sept. 9, 2001.
• Perhaps more notably, Cornell's new-look defense has hit the ground running with even less experience among its headliners. Four different players started among the team's three central defenders over the first two games, and between them they had zero starts in intercollegiate competition entering the season.
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Rob Ferguson was hired as the Big Red's head coach in February 2020. Entering Wednesday's game at 1-3-2 at the helm, Ferguson served as an assistant coach for the Big Red during the 2019 season.
• 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.
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.
A Call To Armbands:
• Just as it had when it last competed, the Big Red will deploy tri-captains this season.
• 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 will be 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.
About Binghamton:
• The Bearcats improved to 3-4-1 on Sunday, thanks to a 2-0 victory over visiting St. Francis Brooklyn. Maya Anand set up Peyton Gilmore's goal, then scored her own at the 20-minute mark to power the Binghamton offense, and Haylee Poltorak made five saves to keep a clean sheet. The win ended a three-game losing streak.
• Anand leads the team in scoring with four goals and an assist for nine points. Olivia McKnight has two goals and an assist for five points, and Stefania Piantadosi has a team-high three assists.
• Poltorak (3-4-1, 0.97, .846, 3 SHO) has been the team's exclusive goalkeeper to date.
• Binghamton was 6-2 in its 2020-21 season over the spring. Both losses came against Stony Brook — the latter of which came via 1-0 decision in the America East championship game.
• Neel Bhattacharjee is in his sixth season at the helm of the Bearcats.
The Series vs. Binghamton:
• The Big Red holds a 6-4-3 advantage in the all-time series between the programs after it recorded its lone tie in 2019 against the Bearcats, 1-1. Senior
Evanthia Spyredes scored Cornell's goal in the third minute.
• Cornell's last victory in the series came on Sept. 18, 2016 when forward Kennedy Yearby '20 scored her first collegiate goal in the 76th minute. Cornell went on to win, 1-0.
• The Big Red is 20-13-5 all-time against teams currently competing in America East, after earning a 2-2 draw against UAlbany on Aug. 29.
Up Next:
• The Big Red's final test before Ivy League play takes place on Friday, when it travels to two-time America East defending champion Stony Brook for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
• Cornell's league opener then comes Saturday, Sept. 25 at home against Columbia.
