ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team returns to the pitch this evening when it takes on Marist in the first road match of the 2023 campaign.

Match Information
Cornell at Marist
SITE: Tenney Stadium – Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (artificial surface)
RECORDS: Cornell (0-0-1, 0-0-0 Ivy League), Marist (0-1-1, 0-0-0 MAAC)
SERIES RECORD: Series tied, 2-2-1
BROADCAST: ESPN+
Stats: GoRedFoxes.com

Last Time Out
Cornell and Lehigh played to a 2-2 draw at Berman Field on Sunday in the Big Red's season and home opener.

Senior forward Laken Gallman assisted on both Cornell goals scored by junior forward Maddie Leroy and sophomore midfielder Abigail Bishara. Leroy and Bishara's tallies were the first of their respective collegiate careers.

Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Medugno made one save for the Big Red in the draw.

Thanks for the Help!
In Sunday's draw with Lehigh, senior forward Laken Gallman recorded Cornell's first multi-assist performance in nearly nine years.

The last time Cornell had a multi-assist game was when Claire MacManus had two assists in a 5-0 victory over VMI on Sept. 12, 2014.

Gallman's two-assist night was the first time in her collegiate career that she assisted on multiple goals in a single match.

Empire State of Mind
Wednesday's match will be the first of four consecutive contests against programs based in New York State and the second of five straight games played in the Empire State.

Cornell has a 4-2-6 record (.583) over its last 12 matches played in New York or against schools based in the state. Also during the span, the Big Red is unbeaten over its previous six, posting a 3-0-3 record (.750).

Starting Strong
Through the first weekend of play in which Ivy League programs were permitted to compete in regular-season matches, the Ancient Eight excelled on the pitch, posting a combined 12-0-3 record.

The Ivy League's combined .900 win percentage ranks as the best of any Division I conference that sponsors women's soccer, currently situated 124 points higher than the conference in second place (SEC — .776).

The win percentage is leading the nation and 175 points better than the second-highest non-Power Five conference (Sun Belt — .725). After the Sun Belt, the next best non-Power Five conference is the Big East (.618).

Return of the MAAC
Cornell will be playing a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for a fifth consecutive season of competition (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).

The Big Red is seeking to snap a five-match losing streak to MAAC opponents, including a pair of losses to Niagara and being defeated by Canisius, Iona, and Marist.

A win tonight would be Cornell's first against a MAAC opponent since defeating Canisius, 2-0, in the 2021 season opener. The last time Cornell drew against a team playing in the MAAC was in 2015, when it played Siena to a scoreless draw in that year's season opener.

Pick Up Where She Left Off
Junior goalkeeper Erica Fox enters tonight's match riding a career-long shutout streak. Fox has not allowed a goal in over 170 minutes after posting a clean sheet in last season's finale against Dartmouth at Berman Field. The last time Fox conceded a goal was a 10th-minute tally against Princeton on Oct. 29.

Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Medugno, who started Sunday's match against Lehigh, opened her collegiate career with a shutout streak spanning over 141 minutes before conceding the first goal of her collegiate career in the 51st minute on Sunday.

Ivy League Preseason Poll
Cornell was picked to finish sixth in the 2023 Ivy League women's soccer preseason poll, the conference office announced Thursday afternoon.

Brown received 12 of 16 possible first-place votes, finishing with an Ivy League-best 123 points. Harvard recorded three first-place votes, placing second with 113 points. Yale was the only other school to receive a first-place vote, garnering 88 points and the last first-place vote.

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

2023 Leadership Team
Cornell has six student-athletes on its leadership team for the 2023 campaign, rotating captains each game.

Two sophomore, junior, and senior members were named to this year's leadership team. Those named to the team were seniors Jackie Lasseter and Ava Laden, juniors Maddie Leroy and Sydney Malaga, and sophomores Abigail Bishara and Izzy Scott.

Across the Nation
Cornell has no geographical recruiting base, as the Big Red has 16 states on this year's roster.

California has the most representatives on this year's roster, as five student-athletes reside in the Golden State. New York has the second-highest total with four. Colorado and Texas are right behind with three apiece. Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey each have two representatives.

Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington are represented once on this year's roster.

Scouting Marist
Having two matches under its belt already on the 2023 season, Marist enters tonight's matchup with a 0-1-1 overall record.

Marist dropped its season-opening match on the road against Villanova, 3-0, conceding a pair of first-half goals in just over two minutes (2:09).

The Red Foxes mustered 14 shot attempts over its first two matches, with seven players having one shot on goal apiece.

Marist's Last Time Out
Marist and St. Bonaventure played to a scoreless draw at Tenney Stadium last Thursday in Poughkeepsie.

The Red Foxes outshot the Bonnies 11-6, including a 6-3 mark in shots on goal. Marist also had a slight advantage in corner kicks, 6-5.

Sophomore goalkeeper Maddy Catalanotti made a pivotal save in the 71st minute to prevent the Bonnies from scoring a go-ahead goal.

20 Years, 140 Miles, 5 Meetings
Tonight will be the sixth all-time meeting between the two Empire State institutions. The previous five matches have been split evenly as Cornell and Marist have won two contests and played to one tie.

Marist claimed a 2-1 victory over Cornell last year at Berman Field on Aug. 28. Grace DiVincenzo scored a second-half goal to break a 1-1 tie to aid the Red Foxes to victory over the Big Red in Cornell's home opener last season. Natalie Kelchner made 12 saves for Marist in the win.

Sara DeGraw scored her first collegiate goal in the setback for the Big Red, who outshot Marist 26-6 in the contest, including a 13-3 ledger in shots on goal.

Cornell won the last contest at Tenney Stadium in 2014, 1-0, behind a 59th-minute goal by  Paige DeLoach. Kelsey Tierney posted a one-save clean sheet in the victory.

Up Next
Following tonight's contest, the Big Red will play its third match in seven days when it returns to Berman Field to entertain Central New York rival Syracuse. First touch between the Big Red and Orange is slated for 1 p.m. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Syracuse has dominated the series, which dates back to the first meeting on Oct. 7, 1997. The Orange hold a 10-0-3 advantage over Cornell, which includes posting wins in three of the last four meetings.

Cornell will welcome Syracuse to Berman Field for the first time since Sept. 4, 2016, when it fell to the Orange in overtime, 2-1.