ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team will look to extend its win streak to three games when it returns to action on Sunday afternoon when it faces Buffalo at UB Stadium. First touch between the Big Red and Bulls is slated for 1 p.m.

MATCH INFORMATION
Cornell at Buffalo
SITE: UB Stadium – Buffalo, N.Y. (artifical surface)
RECORDS: Cornell (2-0-1, 0-0-0 Ivy League), Buffalo (3-1-1, 0-0-0 MAC)
SERIES RECORD: Buffalo leads, 4-3-2
BROADCAST: YouTube
Stats: UBBulls.com
 

A first-half goal by senior forward Mia Gonzalez and a two-save clean sheet by sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Medugno guided the Cornell women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over its Central New York rival Syracuse at a muggy Berman Field last Sunday afternoon.

Gonzalez's game-winning marker was her first collegiate goal, while Medugno registered her third career clean sheet in her fourth collegiate appearance on Sunday.

The victory for Cornell was its first-ever win over its Central New York rival, snapping a 13-match winless streak against the Orange.

Cornell's victory was its first over an ACC opponent since defeating Duke, 4-1, on Oct. 13, 1990, in the first of two games in the Cornell Classic, hosted at the program's first home field, Robison Alumni Fields.

NO 'L' IN UNBEATEN

Dating back to last season, Cornell is unbeaten over its last five matches, posting a 4-0-1 mark during the span.

No Cornell team has recorded six non-losing results together since a 12-match streak over the final match of the 2014 season and the first 11 matches of the 2015 campaign, in which the program went 9-0-3. The 12-match unbeaten streak ranks second in program history, only behind a 13-match stretch that spanned the 1985 and 1986 seasons.

With a win or tie on Sunday afternoon against Buffalo, it would mark the eighth time in Cornell program history in which it has recorded an unbeaten streak of at least six matches.

STARTING OFF STRONG

Cornell's 2-0-1 record is the program's best three-match since coming out victorious in its first three contests in 2019. This year is the 11th time in program history in which the Big Red has gone unbeaten over its first three contests.

With a non-losing result to Buffalo on Sunday, it would be Cornell's best four-match start to a season since 2019, when it won its first four contests.

Cornell has had eight previous seasons in which it went unbeaten over its first four matches to begin a season (1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2019).

POKIGO TABBED DEFENDER OF THE WEEK

Junior defender Cecily Pokigo was named the Ivy League's Defender of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday afternoon.

Pokigo, who played all 180 minutes against Marist and Syracuse, spearheaded Cornell's defense to a pair of clean sheets over the Red Foxes and Orange last weekend. The Big Red's staunch defense conceded 11 shot attempts and three shots on goal in its two shutout victories.

With the honor, Pokigo is Cornell's first non-attacking player to earn a Player of the Week honor since goalkeeper Kelsey Tierney shared the award on Sept. 14, 2015, with Dartmouth's Lucille Kozlov.

STRONG START

Through matches completed on Tuesday, the Ivy League has excelled on the pitch, posting a combined 19-6-6 record and a .710 win percentage, the second-highest in Division I women's soccer behind the SEC (45-12-18 — .720).

The Ivy League and SEC are the lone two conferences with at least a .700 win percentage this season. Conferences currently on the cusp of reaching the .700 win percentage include the Big Ten (.694) and the Pac-12 (.689). The Sun Belt rounds out the top five conferences based on win percentages with its .682 clip.

FACING TOURNAMENT TEAMS

Buffalo is the first of three programs Cornell will face this season that appeared in last year's NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament.

Last season, Buffalo fell to Pittsburgh, 1-0, in the first round of the Florida State bracket of the tournament.

The other two opponents who appeared in last year's NCAA Tournament on the Big Red's schedule this season include Ivy League rivals Harvard (Oct. 7) and Brown (Oct. 21). Both Ancient Eight programs reached the second round in last year's tournament.

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 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.

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 BUFFALO

Buffalo enters Sunday's match with a 3-1-1 overall record, defeating Ohio State, Colgate, and Niagara.

Sunday will be the Bulls' first home match since falling to then No. 14-ranked Pittsburgh, 2-1, in its season and home opener on Aug. 17.

Lexie Thompson and Rebecca Winslow have combined to record three consecutive clean sheets for the Bulls, who have not conceded a goal in 334:42 since allowing a 26th-minute marker to Ohio State on Aug. 20. During that span, Buffalo has outscored its opponents by a 4-0 margin.

Thompson posted clean sheets over Colgate and Niagara, while Winslow — a transfer from Monmouth — made one save in her first start with the Bulls in a scoreless draw with Canisius last Thursday (Aug. 31).

Katie Krohn has a Buffalo-leading seven points (three goals, one assist), while Leah Wengender has also chipped in a pair of goals for the Bulls. Arianna Zumpano has the only other tally for the Bulls this season.

Thompson has played most of the minutes for Buffalo in goal, logging 360 minutes of action over four appearances. She has a 0.75 goals-against average and has made nine saves, good for a .750 save percentage.

BUFFALO'S LAST TIME OUT

Katie Krohn scored a pair of goals off feeds from Mika Marolly over the first 7:10 to guide Buffalo to a 2-0 victory over its Big Four rival Niagara last Sunday at Niagara Field in Lewiston, N.Y. Lexie Thompson stopped a career-high five shots to preserve the clean sheet for the Bulls.

Buffalo dominated in shot attempts, logging a 27-13 advantage over Niagara. The Bulls doubled up the Purple Eagles in shots on goal, 10-5.

19 YEARS, 123 MILES, 9 MEETINGS

Buffalo has a slight 4-3-2 edge on Cornell in the all-time series, despite the Big Red going unbeaten in four of its last five against the Bulls (2-2-1).

The last time the two programs met was at Berman Field on Aug. 31, 2018, when the Bulls came away with a 2-0 victory thanks to second-half goals by Carissima Cutrona and Marcy Barberic. Emily Kelly logged the clean sheet, stopping all nine Big Red shots she faced.

Sunday will be Cornell's first trip to UB Stadium since Sept. 8, 2017, when it defeated the Bulls in overtime, 2-1. Kennedy Yearby scored the game-winning goal on a feed from Jessica Ritchie 2:38 into the extra frame to give Cornell the victory.

RETURN OF THE MAC

Sunday will be Cornell's 12th all-time meeting with a program from the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Aside from the nine meetings with Buffalo, Cornell has played just two other MAC schools in Central Michigan (9/7/08 — L, 0-3) and Akron (9/6/15 — W, 2-0).

Cornell has been successful against MAC schools lately, going 3-1-2 over its last six, dating back to 2008.

UP NEXT

Cornell will face a quick turnaround when it welcomes Central New York rival Binghamton to Berman Field on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The two programs played to a 1-1 tie last season on the Bearcats' home turf. Game action will be broadcast live on ESPN+.