ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's soccer team welcomes Maryland to Berman Field this afternoon as the Big Red and Terrapins battle for a spot in the third round of the 2022 NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship.

Game Information

SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
TIME: Sunday, Nov. 20 – 2 p.m.
RECORDS: Maryland (11-3-5), Cornell (13-3-1)
SERIES RECORD: First meeting
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Last Time Out

• Junior Kisa Kiingi, along with sophomores Danny Lokko and Brennan Mallett, scored for the No. 16-ranked Cornell men's soccer team in the Big Red's 3-1 victory over Columbia in its regular-season finale at a rain-soaked Berman Field last Saturday.
 
• Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg made one save in the match, extending his freshman wins record to 13. The one-save effort was a testament of the strong back line play from Connor Drought, Cam Maquat, Mallett, and Nick Allen, who combined to allow just two shots on goal by the Lions.

Big Red in the Tournament

• Cornell is appearing in its 11th NCAA Tournament this year. It is the program's first time in the tournament since 2012, when it hosted Central New York rival, Syracuse, at Berman Field. The Orange went on to win 1-0.
 
• The Big Red's appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament is the Cornell's first since 1977, when the Big Red fell to Hartwick, 3-1. Cornell is 2-3 all-time in the second round.
 
• With a win this afternoon, Cornell will have its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1977, when it defeated Long Island in first-round action. A victory would also give Cornell its first appearance in the third round or later of the NCAA Tournament since its quarterfinal appearance in 1975.

What's at Stake

• Despite having its four-game win streak snapped on Nov. 5 at Yale, Cornell remains unbeaten in its last six games (5-0-1).
 
• With a win this afternoon, it would mark Cornell's first seven-game unbeaten streak since going 8-0-1 last year between Sept. 7 and Oct. 12.
 
• Along with extending its unbeaten streak, a win would give Cornell its 14th victory of the season, becoming just the third team in the 113 years of competition in which men's soccer logged 14-plus wins in a season. This year's team would join the 1995 and 2012 teams who had 15-win seasons.

Points Galore!

• Senior midfielder Brandon Morales is tied with Penn's Stas Korzeniowski for the Ivy League lead with 24 points (eight goals, eight assists). Morales is one of three Ivy League players with 20-plus points, joining Korzeniowski (24 points — 10 goals, four assists) and Ben Stitz (22 points — eight goals, six assists).
 
• Morales has an Ivy League-leading five multi-point games, logging a pair of multi-goal games and a trio of multi-assist games. Korzeniowski and Stitz are behind with four multi-point games.
 
• Junior Kisa Kiingi, fifth-year Emeka Eneli, and senior Connor Drought also rank in the top 10 in the Ivy League in total points. Kiingi is tied for seventh with his 16 points, while Drought and Eneli are tied for 10th with 14 points apiece.

All-Ivy Honors

• For the second consecutive season, Cornell had a trio of players earn First Team All-Ivy accolades. Fifth-year forward Emeka Eneli, senior defender Connor Drought, and senior midfielder Brandon Morales were the Big Red representatives on the first team.
 
• Ryan Friedberg was honored as the Ivy League's Rookie of the Year, while also being named an All-Ivy Honorable Mention.
 
• Friedberg became the first Cornell goalkeeper and the fourth overall Ivy League keeper to earn Rookie of the Year honors.
 
• Junior midfielder Lalo Serrano was Cornell's lone Second Team All-Ivy selection, while joining Friedberg as an honorable mention was freshman defender Andrew Johnson and senior defender Cam Maquat.

Helping the Team Out

• Senior defender Connor Drought and senior midfielder Brandon Morales each have eight assists this season, becoming the second Cornell tandem to have eight-plus assists in the same season.
 
• Drought and Morales are tied with Adamo Notarantonio (1995), Adam Skumawitz (2000), and Nico Nissl (2012) for the fourth-most by a Cornell player in a season.
 
• Should Drought and or Morales record an assist, they would assume sole possession of fourth place and only trail Chris Agoliati (11 in 1972), Rob Elliott (10 in 1995), and Richard Stimpson (10 in 1998) on the single-season list.
 
• Cornell is one of seven programs to have at least two players with eight-plus assists this season. Joining the Big Red is Washington, who has a nation-leading three players with at least eight assists. Campbell, Creighton, Harvard, Rutgers, and Western Michigan all have two players.
 
• The Big Red tandem are just the second pair of teammates to have eight-plus assists in the same season, joining Rob Elliott (10) and Adamo Notarantonio (8) in 1995.

Balanced Scoring Attack

• Cornell enters this afternoon's match with 114 points as a team, tied with Missouri State for 22nd in the Division I ranks. The 114 points are second in the Ivy League team, only trailing Harvard (125).
 
• Senior midfielder Brandon Morales, junior defender Kisa Kiingi, senior defender Connor Drought, fifth-year forward Emeka Eneli, and sophomore forward Alioune Ka all have at least 10 points this season, marking the first time in Cornell history there has been five players with 10-plus points in a season.

Double-Digit Wins

• Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg has been the Big Red's go-to keeper this year, having started all 17 games this season. Friedberg has logged all but 11:25 of the Big Red's minutes this season, while posting a 13-3-1 record with a 1.01 goals-against average and a .685 save percentage.
 
• Friedberg is just the third Cornell goalkeeper since 1979, when goalkeeper wins were recorded, to register 13-plus wins in a season. Only Rick Pflasterer (15 in 2012) and Quinn O'Sullivan (14 wins in 1995) have more wins in a season.

Berman Field Advantage

• Since 2019, the Big Red is unbeaten in 20 of its last 22 matches at Berman Field, posting a 17-2-3 record. The Big Red's .841 win percentage currently ranks sixth nationally with Georgetown (.902), New Hampshire (.895), Missouri State (.890), Kentucky (.862), and Washington (.857) ahead of Cornell.
 
• Cornell is one of 15 programs with at least a .800 home win percentage over the last four-plus years.
 
• The Big Red have just five home matches (two losses, three draws) since 2019 to not result in a win, which is the fewest at the Division I level.
 
• Cornell's two home losses both have come this year to Vermont (Sept. 12) and Penn (Oct. 15) — are tied with Georgetown and New Hampshire for the fewest in Division I.

Having an Eye for the Goal

• The Big Red has scored 38 goals so far this year, marking the program's sixth time that Cornell has logged at least 38 goals in a season.
 
• It is the second consecutive year and the fourth time over the last 49 seasons Cornell has potted at least 38 goals.
 
• Dating back to 2019, Cornell has scored in 47 of its last 50 matches, having been shutout just once in each of the last three seasons.
 
• During John Smith's tenure as head coach at Cornell, the Big Red has scored in 82 of the 101 games (81.2 percent), which ranks as the fourth-highest total by a Cornell head coach. It is the highest since Dan Wood (1971-75), the coach in which Smith's position is currently endowed for, saw his teams scored in 82.1 percent of his games as head coach.

Scouting the Terrapins

• Maryland enters today's match with a 11-3-5 overall record and having defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 5-2, in first-round action at Ludwig Field in College Park, Md., on Thursday.
 
• Thursday was the Terrapins' 100th match all-time in the NCAA Tournament and Maryland scored the first four goals of the game to post a convincing 5-2 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
• Malcolm Johnston recorded four points (one goal, two assists), while Stefan Copetti added three points (one goal, one assist) for the victors. Niklas Neumann made five saves in goal for Maryland.
 
• The Terrapins, prior to the NCAA Tournament, fell to Indiana in the Big Ten semifinals, 2-1. Maryland was unbeaten in Big Ten play, posting a 4-0-4 mark.
 
• Johnston leads Maryland in scoring, logging six goals and eight assists (20 points). Copetti also has six goals on the year, tied with Johnston for the team lead in goal scoring. As a team, Maryland has had 15 different goal scorers combined for their 38 goals on the season.

Series vs. Maryland

• Cornell and Maryland will be meeting for the first time in program history this afternoon. The Big Red is 1-9-1 all-time against active members of the Big Ten. The last match occurred against Michigan State in 2019, in which Cornell won in overtime, 2-1.