ITHACA, N.Y. — The Ivy League season descends upon the conference's eight women's soccer teams on Saturday, with one of the four games on the docket featuring Cornell against visiting Columbia at 1 p.m. at Berman Field.
Game Information:
Columbia at Cornell
SITE: Berman Field — Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 1-5-2, 0-0 Ivy League;
Columbia 5-2-1, 0-0 Ivy League
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 19-15
BROADCAST:
ESPN+
STATS:
CornellBigRed.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 Lions 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..
About The Big Red:
• Cornell scored a season-high three goals and carried a lead into 87th minute of last Friday's game at Stony Brook, but the two-time defending America East champions rallied to force overtime and eventually scored a golden goal 1:23 into overtime for a 4-3 victory.
• The game against the Seawolves wrapped up a busy stretch of three games in just six days. The first two contests in that span were a 1-0 setback at Iona on Sept. 12 and a 3-1 loss against Binghamton on Sept. 15.
• Cornell has scored multiple goals four times in its first eight games of the season for the first time since 2013. Before the offensive outburst against Stony Brook, the Big Red produced two-goal efforts against Canisius (Aug. 27), UAlbany (Aug. 29) and Niagara (Sept. 2).
• The Big Red enters league play at the halfway point of its regular-season schedule, with just the seven Ivy League contests and a game against regional rival Colgate remaining on the docket. Cornell will be looking to snap a seven-game winless skid.
• The Ivy League's only two Empire State schools are opening league play against each other for a 14th straight season.
No Sophomore Slump Here:
•
Ava Laden is the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week 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 of the league's intercollegiate competition for women's soccer was canceled during her freshman season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The offensive surge has vaulted Laden's goal total for the season from two to five, which is tied with Harvard's Angela Caloia for the most among Ivy League competitors as the Ancient Eight heads into conference play.
• With the program's first brace since junior
Ashley Durik opened the 2019 season with a pair of goals against Iona, Laden has also run her point total for the season to 13 – which is one clear of Caloia and Princeton's Heather McNab for the Ivy League lead.
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.
• 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 and senior
Evanthia Spyredes are the Big Red's only other goal-scorers this season. Spyredes struck in Cornell's last time out, converting in the 71st minute to tie the score at 2 against Stony Brook last Friday. Jaffe netted the final strike of the team's 2-0 victory over Canisius on Aug. 27 — 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 (1-3, 2.53 goals against average, .636 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.
•
Rob Ferguson was hired as the Big Red's head coach in February 2020. Entering Saturday's game at 1-5-2 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 Columbia:
• The Lions are on a five-game winning streak after starting the season winless in their first three. Four of the five victories have been shutouts — mostly recently a 1-0 decision against previously undefeated Quinnipiac on Sunday in New York.
• Sophomore Nata Ramirez scored Columbia's lone goal against Quinnipiac in the 25th minute. She holds the team lead with nine points on three goals and three assists.
• Freshman Sophia Cavaliere is even with Ramirez for the team lead in goals, and with one assist her total of seven points is tied for second in team scoring with sophomore Madi Pilla (two goals, three assists). Junior Ally Clark has two goals and an assist for five points, leading the squad with 13 shots.
• The Lions have deployed three goalkeepers already this season — all underclasswomen. Sophomore Paige Nurkin (4-0-1, 0.77, .862, 2 SHO) leads the group with five starts, and freshman Audrey Byrne (0-2-1, 1.95, .714, SHO) has started the other three games.
• Tracy Bartholomew is in her eighth year as the Lions' head coach. She was previously at the helm at LIU Brooklyn.
The Series vs. Stony Brook:
• The Big Red holds a 19-15 advantage in the all-time series between the Ivy League rivals, who have met in every season since the Lions added the sport in 1986.
• Cornell has enjoyed decidedly more success at home in the all-time series, boasting an 11-6 mark against the Lions in Ithaca.
• The Lions have won the last four meetings between the squads, including a 2-0 victory on Sept. 28, 2019. Both Columbia goals came in the second half.
Up Next:
• Cornell continues Ivy League play at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2 at Penn before concluding the non-league portion of its schedule with a game at home against Colgate at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
