ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's soccer team returns to Western New York for a match against Niagara on Thursday evening.

Game Information

Cornell at Niagara
SITE: Niagara Field – Lewiston, N.Y. (artificial surface)
TIME: Thursday, Sept. 1 - 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Cornell (0-2-0, 0-0 Ivy League), Niagara (1-2-0, 0-0 MAAC)
SERIES RECORD: Niagara leads, 4-2
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: PurpleEagles.com

About the Big Red

• Seniors Sara DeGraw and Ashley Durik have recorded both of the Big Red's goals to open the season.
 
• Durik has a team-leading seven shots on goal, ranking third in Division I in shots on goal per game (3.50). Harvard's Josefine Hasbo and BYU's Rachel McCarthy pace the nation with a 4.00 average.
 
• Additionally, Durik ranks in the top-10 among Division I players in shot accuracy, registering an .875 clip. Harvard's Hasbo, Stetson's Arianna Lombardi and Alcorn State's Samara Nunn have perfect shooting percentages so far.

Week Rewind

• Cornell lost a pair of 2-1 contests to Canisius and Marist last week to open up the 2022 season.
 
• Ashley Durik netted her first goal since Aug. 2019 in the Big Red's season opener to Canisius. Aidan Julia Reineman logged her first career assist and her first point since Sept. 2018.
 
• Sara DeGraw scored her first collegiate goal in last Sunday's home-opening loss to Marist. Lily Ellingson recorded the first point of her collegiate career on DeGraw's tally.
 
• Goalkeeper Nicole Shulman started both games for Cornell, while Erica Fox replaced Shulman to start the second half in both contests.

Ready for MAACtion

• Thursday's match against Niagara will be the conclusion of Cornell's three-game stretch against MAAC opponents. This is the second consecutive year that the Big Red are playing a trio of MAAC schools in the same season.
 
• Last year, the trio of MAAC schools Cornell played were Canisius, Iona and Niagara – two of whom they are playing in 2022. In each of the last three seasons of competition, Cornell has played multiple MAAC schools in non-conference play (2019 — 2, 2021 — 3, 2022 — 3).

Not Throwing Away Our Shots

• Cornell currently leads the Ivy League in multiple offensive categories after the first week of action for all Ivy League schools.

• The Big Red has the highest shot accuracy (.528) and shots on goal per game (9.50) after its pair of games against Canisius and Marist.
 
• In Sunday's loss to Marist, 13 of the Big Red's 26 shot attempts were on goal. Both figures were the most since a meeting with UAlbany on Sept. 15, 2013, when Cornell had 17 shots on goal in 32 shot attempts.
 
• Cornell's 26 shot attempts are the most by an Ivy League school this season. Princeton is the only other program to register 20-plus shot attempts (21 last Sunday against Fairfield).

About Niagara

• Niagara won its first game of the season on Sunday with a 1-0 road victory over Navy. Amanda Cripps' 65th-minute goal and a five-save clean sheet by Felicia Grufman aided the Purple Eagles to the victory.
 
• Cripps and Bough have both of the Purple Eagles' goals this season. Bough scored in Niagara's season-opening loss to Buffalo on Aug. 21.
 
• Grufman has an .800 save percentage over her three starts. Agnes Stenlund has made two appearances off the bench for the Purple Eagles, stopping four of the seven shots she has faced.

Series vs. Niagara

• Thursday's match will be the seventh all-time meeting between Cornell and Niagara. The Purple Eagles have a 4-2 advantage in the series and have won each of the last two contests.
 
• Niagara defeated Cornell, 5-2, at Berman Field last year on Sept. 2, behind a hat trick by the Purple Eagles' Annie Ibey. Peyton Nichols and Ava Laden scored both of the Big Red's goals in the setback.
 
• Cornell will be playing on Niagara's home turf for the first time since Sept. 6, 2009. The Big Red fell 3-1 in the contest.

Up Next

Cornell returns home for a match against Villanova on Sunday at Berman Field. Kickoff between the Big Red and Wildcats is scheduled for 1 p.m., with game action broadcast on ESPN+.