ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team's final test before the start of Ivy League play brings the squad to Long Island, where it will take on two-time defending America East champion Stony Brook.

Game Information:

Cornell at Stony Brook
SITE: LaValle Stadium — Stony Brook, N.Y. (artificial surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 1-4-2, 0-0 Ivy League;
                    Stony Brook 2-4-1, 0-0 America East
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 4-1-3
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: StonyBrookAthletics.com
•  Cornell game notes (PDF)

How To Watch:

•  As is the case for the rest of the season, the Big Red's game against the Seawolves 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 Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell arrives on the turf at LaValle Stadium on the heels of a 3-1 home loss to Binghamton on a soggy Wednesday night at Berman Field. Olivia McKnight bookended the scoring with a pair of goals for the Bearcats.
•  Sophomore Ava Laden scored the Big Red's goal in the 38th minute on two touches after 60-yard service from the left foot of classmate Reagan Pauwels. The strike knotted the game at 1 through halftime, but Binghamton took the lead back in the 49th minute before adding a late insurance tally.
•  The game against Stony Brook marks Cornell's third in a span of just six days. The busy stretch started on Sunday at Iona, where the Big Red conceded a goal on a free kick late in the first half and ultimately lost, 1-0.
•  Cornell's setback against Iona completed a stretch of three straight games on the road, though the results of the first two were more encouraging. Senior tri-captain Miranda Iannone made five saves for her first collegiate shutout in a scoreless draw Sept. 9 at Syracuse — the ACC's lone Empire State school. Even though the 2-0 loss on Sept. 5 at Villanova didn't produce a result, head coach Rob Ferguson was largely content with Cornell's effort against a team that was undefeated at the time.

By The Numbers

•  Sophomore Ava Laden leads the team in scoring with nine points on three goals and three assists. Her scoring total ranks fifth in the Ivy League coming into Thursday's matches, and her goal total is tied for fourth-most around the circuit. Laden has factored into the scoring on six of the Big Red's seven goals to date.
•  Tied with Laden for the team's goal-scoring lead is freshman Peyton Nichols, who scored once in each of her first three collegiate games — all assisted by Laden.
•  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.
•  Fifth year Naomi Jaffe is the Big Red's only other goal-scorer this season, having netted the final strike of the team's 2-0 victory over Canisius on Aug. 27. That game marked Cornell's first competition since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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 (0-2-2, 1.67, .704, 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.

Head Coach Rob Ferguson:

•  Rob Ferguson was hired as the Big Red's head coach in February 2020. Entering Friday's game at 1-4-2 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.

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.

About Stony Brook:

•  The Seawolves improved to 2-4-1 their last time out, getting a golden goal from Catharina von Drigalski in the 100th minute to stave off winless Saint Joseph's for a 2-1 victory on Sunday. Alicia D'Aoust opened the scoring in the 78th minute before the Hawks tied the game about three minutes later. The victory snapped a three-game losing streak.
•  Stony Brook is the two-time defending America East champion, but it's had some difficulty producing offensively this season. The two goals against Saint Joseph's doubled Stony Brook's goal total for the season, with the other two goals on the season coming from Alyssa Francese and Gabby Daniels.
•  Francese also has an assist to lead the team in scoring with three points. Kerry Pearson has a team-high two assists.
•  Junior Emerson Richmond Burke (2-3-1, 1.56, .750, 2 SHO) has started six of the team's seven games in goal.
•  Tobias Bischof is in his third season as the head coach at Stony Brook after spending eight seasons at a different quality Long Island program — Hofstra.

The Series vs. Stony Brook:

•  The Big Red owns a 4-1-3 advantage in its all-time meetings with the Seawolves, rekindling a series that's sat idle since 2004.
•  Cornell will be playing an America East opponent for a third and final time this season, entering Friday's game with a 20-14-5 all-time record against teams currently competing in the conference. The Big Red earned a 2-2 draw with UAlbany on Aug. 29 and suffered a 3-1 loss to Binghamton on Wednesday.

Up Next:

•  Ivy League play starts up next weekend on Saturday, Sept. 25, with all eight teams in action. Cornell opens against Columbia at 1 p.m. that day at Berman Field.