ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team welcomes No. 15-ranked Brown for the Big Red's final home match of the 2023 season. Saturday's contest will also serve as the program's annual Senior Day match, with Mia Gonzalez, Ava Laden, Jackie Lasseter, Kendall Patten, Reagan Pauwels, and Sophie Weeter honored in a pre-game ceremony.

MATCH INFORMATION
#15 Brown at Cornell
SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: #15 Brown (9-1-2, 5-0-0 Ivy League), Cornell (4-3-6, 0-3-2 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Brown leads, 28-7-5
BROADCAST: ESPN+
Stats: CornellBigRed.com

LAST TIME OUT
Cornell scored the most goals in a match since 2016 and recorded its largest margin of victory in a clean sheet since 2014, as the Big Red defeated Empire State rival UAlbany, 4-0, at Berman Field on Tuesday evening.

Freshman forward Alanna Colbert scored the game-winning goal in the 15th minute, heading in a cross by Sophie Weeter that was deflected off the hands of UAlbany's goalkeeper.

Senior midfielder Reagan Pauwels posted her first goal of the season, and senior forward Laken Gallman scored twice in 86 seconds to tack on a pair of insurance markers for the Big Red.

Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Medugno stopped three Great Danes shots to record her third full clean sheet and increase her season total to 3.5.

WELCOMING RANKED OPPONENTS
Since the introduction of the United Soccer Coaches poll before the 1996 season, Cornell has hosted 14 ranked opponents to Berman Field, with the most recent meeting coming on Oct. 9, 2021, when it played No. 18-ranked Harvard (4-0 loss).

Brown, currently ranked No. 15 in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll, will be the highest-ranked opponent to face the Big Red on its home turf since No. 3 Maryland on Sept. 4, 2011 (4-0 loss).

KNACK FOR SCORING
With its four-goal output on Tuesday, Cornell has scored 19 goals this season, which is the most by the program since 2014 (22).

Cornell's 19 goals over its 13 matches compute to 1.46 goals per match, ranking as the program's highest per-match average since 2005 (23 goals in 15 matches — 1.53).

Thanks to Laken Gallman's first of her two goals on Tuesday evening, Cornell has six players with at least two goals this season. It is the first season since 1999 in which the Big Red has had at least six multi-goal scorers.

It is the ninth time in program history in which at least six players have posted at least two goals in a single season: 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2023.

No Cornell team has had seven players with multiple goals in the same season since 1995 (7).

THANKS FOR THE HELP!
Thanks to her assist in a 1-1 draw on Oct. 4 against Columbia, senior midfielder Reagan Pauwels registered her team-leading fifth assist.

With her helper against the Lions, Pauwels became the 18th player (20th occurrence) in Cornell program history to have at least five assists in a single season.

Pauwels also became the sixth Cornell player this century to log five-plus assists in a season. She became the first Big Red player to do so since Caroline Growney also had five helpers in 2015.

Should Pauwels log another helper this season, she would officially enter the Big Red's top 10 for the most assists in a season, matching Donna Eberhardt (1988), Amy Snow (1991, 1992), Rebecca D'Aleo (1993), Lori Penny (1993), and Dempsey Banks (2013) for the fifth-most assists in a season.

Two more assists would enable Pauwels to share Cornell's single-season assist record, accomplished previously by Laurie Collier in 1986, Jennifer Smith in 1987, and Jennifer Daly and Amy Finkelstein in 1994.

FACING TOURNAMENT TEAMS
Today's match will mark the third and final time that Cornell will play an opponent who appeared in last year's NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship.

Brown and Harvard both made second-round appearances in last year's tournament. The Bears tied with UC Irvine, 1-1, and lost in penalty kicks, and the Crimson were edged by No. 3-seeded South Carolina by a 3-2 score.

Earlier this year, the Big Red played to a 1-1 draw with Buffalo at UB Stadium on Sept. 10 before dropping a 3-1 decision to Harvard at Berman Field on Oct. 7, which snapped Cornell's program record 11-match home unbeaten streak.

Entering Wednesday's matches, Buffalo, Brown, and Harvard have a combined record of 23-7-10 this season (.700), featuring an 11-3-4 mark (.722) in conference action.

WHAT DOES FOX SAY?
Junior goalkeeper Erica Fox has been stellar in goal for Cornell this season, posting a 1-2-3 record with a 1.18 goals-against average and a .806 save percentage during her six appearances.

In each of Fox's last four matches — all of which have been Ivy League contests — the native of San Marcos, Calif., has made at least four saves.

Over Fox's last five matches, dating back to her shared clean sheet with sophomore Natalie Medugno against Colgate on Sept. 26, Fox has a 1.21 goals-against average and a .806 save percentage.

Despite not meeting the criteria to rank among the Ivy League's statistical leaders, Fox's 29 saves rank as the sixth-most by an Ivy League keeper.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE
After setting the single-season record for ties last season (4-7-5), Cornell established a brand-new program record on Saturday evening following its 1-1 draw with Yale.

The Big Red's six draws are the most by any Ivy League program this season and are currently tied for the 28th-most among Division I programs following Sunday's contests.

Cornell's six ties this season are tied with Columbia (2014) and Penn (2015) for the second-most by an Ancient Eight program in a single season.

Should the Big Red record another tie this season, it would match Penn's squad from last year for the most ties by an Ivy League program, dating back to the first official Ancient Eight season in 1982.

ANCIENT EIGHT'S SUCCESS
Through matches completed on Tuesday, the Ivy League has excelled on the pitch, registering a combined 53-24-29 record, leading to a cumulative .637 win percentage, pacing all 31 Division I conferences sponsoring women's soccer.

The Ivy League boasts a 17-point advantage over the SEC (103-54-47 — .620) and a 27-point lead over the Big Ten (110-62-46 — .610).

Entering this weekend's Ivy League slate, seven Ancient Eight members have at least a .500 win percentage, while five programs boast win percentages of at least .650.

IVY LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL
Cornell was picked to finish sixth in the 2023 Ivy League women's soccer preseason poll, the conference office announced on Aug. 24.

Brown received 12 of 16 possible first-place votes, finishing with an Ivy League-best 123 points. Harvard earned three first-place votes, placing second with 113 points. Yale registered the final last-place vote, garnering 88 points to assume third place.

Princeton (78 points) and Columbia (74 points) were picked fourth and fifth, respectively, while Cornell (35 points), Dartmouth (33 points), and Penn (32 points) rounded out the poll.

SCOUTING BROWN
Brown, who is ranked No. 15 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll, enters this afternoon's match with a 9-1-2 overall record and a perfect 5-0-0 mark in Ancient Eight play.

The Bears have won its last six matches and are unbeaten over its last nine contests (7-0-2). Brown's lone blemish on its record came in a 1-0 loss to crosstown rival Providence on Aug. 31.

During its current six-match win streak, Brown has outscored its opponents by a 12-3 margin, which includes netting multiple goals on four occasions.

Brown has won its last seven Ivy League matches, dating back to last season, and has a 24-0-2 record (.962 win percentage) over its last 26 Ancient Eight contests, which dates back to the Bears' final conference match in 2018.

Senior forward Brittany Raphino, the two-time reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, paces Brown's offense with her team-leading 10 goals and 24 points. Five of Raphino's 10 goals have been game-winners. Raphino was named the Ivy League Player of the Week this past Monday after netting her the game-winning goal in Brown's 1-0 triumph over Columbia last weekend. 

Freshman midfielder Joy Okonye has a team-leading eight assists, including a trio of two-assist performances.

Senior goalkeeper Clare Gagne is coming off a three-save clean sheet last weekend against Columbia, which earned her Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors. Over her 11 appearances, 10 of which were starts, Gagne has logged a 7-1-2 record with a 0.48 goals-against average and a .833 save percentage.

BROWN'S LAST TIME OUT
It only took 35 seconds for Brittany Raphino to net her 10th goal of the season, as the senior forward made a long run into the 18-yard box and deposited a shot inside the right post.

Raphino's goal and Brown's strong play defensively enabled the Bears to clinch one of the four spots in this year's Ivy League Tournament.

Clare Gagne stopped all three shots she faced to guide Brown to its sixth clean sheet of the season.

41 YEARS, 325 MILES, 40 MEETINGS
Cornell and Brown will be meeting for the 41st time this afternoon. The Bears own the advantage in the series, 28-7-5, while owning a 13-match unbeaten streak (11-0-2) over the Big Red since Cornell's last victory over its Ivy League rival in 2008.

Brown has held Cornell scoreless in the last three meetings and 10 times during its 13-match unbeaten streak over the Big Red.

Last year, Cornell fell to Brown, 2-0, at Stevenson-Pincince Field in Providence, R.I., after the Bears received goals from Ava Seelenfreund (24th minute) and Lucinda Anderson (76th minute). Bella Schopp earned the clean sheet for the Bears as she stopped Cornell's lone shot on target for the game.