ITHACA, N.Y. — Coming off its first Ivy League victory in more than four years, the Cornell women's soccer team hits the road for the first time in Ivy League play when it travels to Philadelphia to take on Penn at 2 p.m. Saturday on the pitch at Rhodes Field.

Game Information:

Cornell at Penn
SITE: Rhodes Field — Philadelphia (natural surface)
RECORDS: Cornell 2-5-2, 1-0 Ivy League;
                    Penn 5-2-2, 0-1 Ivy League
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 19-7-3
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: PennAthletics.com
•  Cornell game notes

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:

•  With a 1-0 victory over Columbia on Saturday at Berman Field, Cornell snapped a 21-game winless skid (0-19-2) in Ivy League play dating back to Nov. 5, 2016.
•  Senior Evanthia Spyredes scored the deciding goal on a header off free-kick service from junior Kendall Patten in the 83rd minute, and senior goalkeeper Miranda Iannone made four saves for her second collegiate shutout.
•  The breakthrough victory's stage was set at least in part by the Big Red's most recent prior result — a 4-3 setback on the road against two-time defending America East champion Stony Brook on Sept. 17.
•  Cornell scored a season-high three goals and carried a lead into 87th minute against the Seawolves, but the hosts rallied to force overtime and eventually scored a golden goal 1:23 into overtime — a result Cornell would learn from and apply to holding a late lead against Columbia.
•  The game at Stony Brook wrapped up a busy stretch of three games in six days to conclude the eight-game buildup to Ivy League play. 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.

No Sophomore Slump Here:

•  Ava Laden ranks second in scoring among Ivy League competitors after the first five weeks of the season, entering Saturday's game with 13 points on five goals and three assists (trailing just the 14 points belonging to Harvard's Angela Caloia).
•  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.
•  Laden's brace against the Seawolves was the Big Red's first since junior Ashley Durik opened the 2019 season with a pair of goals against Iona. With at least seven games remaining on the schedule, Laden's 13 points are already the most for the Big Red since Elizabeth Crowell '17 (14) and Caroline Growney '16 (13) in the 2014 season.

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 with four points on goals in each of the Big Red's last two 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 is the Big Red's other goal-scorer this season, having netted the final strike of the team's 2-0 victory over Canisius on Aug. 27.
•  After playing in a part-time role early in the season, senior Miranda Iannone (1-2-2, 1.43, .727, 2 SHO) has been the starting goalkeeper for the Big Red in each of the last five games. The win over Columbia was the first of her collegiate career.
•  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 2-5-2 at the helm, Ferguson served as an assistant coach for the Big Red during the 2019 season.
•  With last Saturday's 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 Penn:

•  The Quakers had a three-game win streak halted on Saturday when they dropped their Ivy League debut against 23rd-ranked Harvard, 3-0, on the road. The result leaves Penn winless on the road (0-2-2) against a perfect record at home (5-0).
•  Sophomore Lauren Teuschl leads the team in scoring with 11 points on three goals and five assists. Mia Shenk leads the team and ranks second in the Ivy League with five goals, which translates to 10 points. Three of her goals came in a 4-0 victory over George Washington on Sept. 12.
•  Sophomore Laurence Gladu has played every second of the Quakers' season in goal with a 5-2-2 record, 1.05 goals against average, .821 save percentage and three shutouts.
•  Casey Brown is in her first season as the head coach at Penn after four seasons at Holy Cross' helm, where she was named the 2019 Patriot League Coach of the Year.

The Series vs. Penn:

•  The Quakers hold a 19-7-3 advantage in the all-time series after scoring scoring three unanswered goals for a 4-2 victory on Oct. 5, 2019 at Rhodes Field.
•  Junior Ashley Durik created turnovers that led to both Cornell goals — the first ultimately being scored as an own goal and the second converted from the penalty spot by senior Evanthia Spyredes.
•  The six goals in the 2019 game were in stark contrast to the previous three meetings in Philadelphia, when there was just a total of one. That was back on Oct. 4, 2013, with Penn and Cornell playing scoreless draws in both 2015 and 2017.
•  Cornell's last victory against Penn came on Oct. 3, 2014, when it struck three times before the half on a windy evening and hung on for a 3-2 victory at Berman Field.

Up Next:

•  Cornell returns home to complete the non-league portion of its schedule with a game against Colgate at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
•  The Big Red then remains at Berman Field for its next Ivy League match, playing host to Harvard at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9.