ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer teams wraps up its modest two-match Ivy League road swing on Sunday afternoon when it travels to Cambridge, Mass., for a battle against Harvard at Jordan Field.

MATCH NO. 13
Cornell at Harvard
SITE: Jordan Field – Cambridge, Mass. (artifical surface)
RECORDS: Cornell (2-6-4, 1-2-0 Ivy League), Harvard (4-2-5, 0-2-1 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads, 29-3-9
SERIES STREAK: Harvard won 6
WEATHER FORECAST: 54°, mostly cloudy, 25 percent chance of rain; Winds: ESE 5-10 mph
BROADCASTS: ESPN+ / NESN
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

LAST TIME OUT
NEW YORK (OCT. 9, 2024) — A three-goal first half aided Columbia to a 4-1 victory over Cornell in a rare Wednesday afternoon Ivy League contest at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.

Nata Ramirez paced the Lions offensive attack with a four-point performance (one goal, two assists), upping her season point total to 19 and her Ivy League lead in points to four. Charlyse Berry, Courtney Ruedt, and Sam Cohn logged the other tallies for Columbia, who matched its program record for the most goals in an Ivy League contest.

Lauren Rodriguez and Samantha Mahoney split time in goal for the Lions as Rodriguez made one save across her 74-plus minutes of action. Mahoney made two saves over the final 14 minutes of the contest.

Senior forward Ava Laden potted the lone marker of the contest in the 25th minute for Cornell and senior goalkeeper Erica Fox made two saves in the setback.

KNACK FOR THE NET
Cornell has scored at least one goal in 41 of its 59 matches played under head coach Rob Ferguson, dating back to the first season played under Ferguson in 2021.

The 69.4 percent of contests with a goal ranks as the highest clip in Cornell program history, surpassing Randy May, the program's first head coach. May saw his teams score in 67.7 percent of the 282 matches he coached (191 matches with a goal) during his 18-year tenure as head coach between 1982 and 1999.

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF MATCHES WITH A GOAL
By Coach — Cornell Program History
1. Rob Ferguson (2020-Present) — 69.4 percent (41-of-59)
2. Randy May (1982-99) — 67.7 percent (191-of-282)
3. Berhane Anderberhan (2000-05) — 66.0 percent (64-of-97)
4. Patrick Farmer (2012-16) — 62.2 percent (51-of-82)
5. Gretchen Zigante (2006) — 58.8 percent (10-of-17)
6. Danielle LaRoche (2007-11) — 48.1 percent (37-of-77)
7. Dwight Hornibrook (2017-19) — 38.6 percent (17-of-44)

As of late, the Big Red has displayed its scoring prowess, scoring a goal in 14 of its last 18 contests, 24 of its previous 29 matches, and 27 of its latest 34 fixtures, dating back to 2022.

TOURNAMENT TESTS
Sunday afternoon's match will be the last of two consecutive matches against opponents who played in last year's NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship.

Sunday's contest is the fourth of five opponents Cornell will play this season that participated in last year's NCAA  Division I Women's Soccer Championship. The Big Red previously played then-No. 19-ranked Pepperdine (Sept. 22) and Princeton (Sept. 28), both of which ended in 3-0 setbacks, and this past Wednesday's 4-1 loss to Columbia.

The only other program that Cornell has yet to play this season that played in last year's NCAA Tournament is Brown, who the Big Red will play in its final regular-season road contest on Oct. 26 at Stevenson-Pincince Field in Providence, R.I.

2023 TOURNAMENT TEAMS
On Cornell's Schedule In 2024
Brown — 12-3-2 in 2023; 5-3-3 in 2024
Columbia — 11-5-3 in 2023; 5-3-3 in 2024; L, 1-4
Harvard — 13-4-2 in 2023; 4-2-5 in 2024
Pepperdine — 9-5-5 in 2023; 8-2-3 in 2024; L, 0-3
Princeton — 10-5-4 in 2023; 8-3-0 in 2024; L, 0-3
TOTALS — 55-22-16 in 2023; 30-13-14 in 2024; 0-3-0 record this season

LOOKING TO START IVY PLAY STRONG
With a victory Sunday afternoon, Cornell would not only snap its 29-match winless streak to the Crimson, it would be the fastest the Big Red has won two Ivy League matches in a season since 2015, when it went 2-1-1 over its first four Ancient Eight contests.

The Big Red has won at least two Ivy League matches across its first four conference contests on 12 occasions in program history since the program was elevated to varsity status before the 1982 campaign. Of the 12 instances, only one has come since 1995.

BEST FOUR-MATCH STARTS TO IVY PLAY
Cornell Program History
1991, 1993 — 4-0-0 (1.000)
1987, 1992, 1995 — 3-0-1 (.875)
1988, 1994 — 3-1-0 (.750)
1985, 1986, 2015 — 2-1-1 (.625)
1989, 1990 — 2-2-0 (.500)

THE MATCH IS ON HER FOOT
Sophomore forward Sydney Allen has recorded both of Cornell's game-winning goals this season, which came against Syracuse (Sept. 1) and Dartmouth (Oct. 5).

Allen is Cornell's first player to register multiple game-winning goals in a season since Reagan Pauwels tallied game-winning goals against Princeton (Oct. 29, 2022) and Dartmouth (Nov. 5, 2022), the program's final two matches of the season.

Should Allen register another game-winning goal this season, she would enter a tie for the seventh-most game-winning goals by a Big Red player, and be the first player with three game-winning goals in a season since Maneesha Chitanvis in 2010.

MOST GAME-WINNING GOALS
Cornell Program History
1. 5, Laurie Collier (1987)
T2. 4, Meagan McMahan (1983, 1984)
T2. 4, Amy Finkelstein (1990)
T2. 4, Jen Tidsbury (1992)
T2. 4, Amy Duesing (1993)
T7. 3, 13 times by 11 players, Last: Maneesha Chitanvis (2010)

CLEAN SHEET CLUB
With her clean sheet against Lehigh on Sept. 8, junior goalkeeper Natalie Medugno increased her career total for clean sheets to 5.5.

Medugno is one-half of a clean sheet away from tying Meghan Cauzillo (1997-00) and Meghan Kennedy (2015-18) for the 10th-most shutouts in Big Red program history.

Should Medugno record a full clean sheet on Saturday afternoon, it would be her second clean sheet of the season, surpassing Cauzillo and Kennedy and match Katrina Matlin (2003-06) for the ninth-most clean sheets by a Cornell goalkeeper.

CAREER CLEAN SHEETS
Cornell Program History
1. 22, Melissa Gambrell (1986-89)
2. 21.5, Kelsey Tierney (2013-16)
3. 20, Sue DeLong (1990-91, 93-94)
4. 16, Sherrie Chocola (1984-86)
5. 13, Katie Thomas (2001-04)
6. 10, Marybeth Bell (1995-96)
7. 9, Kate Thompson (1983-84)
8. 7, Kate Alexander (1992-93)
9. 6.5, Katrina Matlin (2003-06)
T10. 6, Meghan Cauzillo (1997-00)
T10. 6, Meghan Kennedy (2015-18)
12. 5.5, Natalie Medugno (2022-Present)

NOBODY WINS
Cornell's four draws are tied for the third-most in a single season, matching the outputs by the squads from 2002 and 2015. Its next draw would match the 2022 squad for the second-most in program history. Only last year's team, which concluded the year with a 4-5-6 mark, had more draws in a single season.

The Big Red's four ties are tied with Penn (1-7-4) for the second most draws by an Ivy League program this season. Only Harvard (4-2-5) has played more matches that have resulted in ties.

MOST DRAWS IN A SINGLE SEASON
Cornell Program History
1. 2023 — 4-5-6 record (.467 win percentage)
2. 2022 — 4-7-5 record (.406 win percentage)
T3. 2002 — 8-5-4 record (.588 win percentage)
T3. 2015 — 9-4-4 record (.647 win percentage)
T3. 2024 — 2-6-4 record (.333 win percentage)

IVY PRESEASON POLL
Cornell was picked to finish eighth in this year's Ivy League women's soccer preseason poll, the conference office announced on Aug. 19.

After claiming last year's inaugural Ivy League Women's Soccer Tournament title, Harvard was tabbed the preseason favorite upon receiving 10 of the 16 first-place votes. The Crimson concluded with a point total of 120, 12 points ahead of Brown (108), which received four first-place votes. Behind Brown was Princeton, which finished with 103 points and the other two first-place votes.

Rounding out the eight-team poll ahead of Cornell's 22 points was Columbia (77 points) in fourth, Dartmouth (57 points) in fifth, Yale (48 points) in sixth, and Penn (41 points) in seventh.

SCOUTING HARVARD
Harvard enters Sunday afternoon's match with a 4-2-5 overall record and a 0-2-1 mark in Ivy League play, tied with Penn and Dartmouth for sixth in the Ancient Eight table.

The Crimson will be seeking to snap its five-match winless streak (0-2-3) as its last victory came in a 4-2 road decision against Milwaukee on Sept. 12. Harvard's lone home victory of the season came against Marshall in its home opener, 1-0, on Aug. 26. The other home results for the Crimson this season was tying then-No. 20-ranked Pepperdine, 1-1, and losing to Columbia, 2-1, on Oct. 5.

Josefine Hasbo leads the Crimson offense in goals (five) and points (11) this season. Áslaug Gunnlaugsdóttir (three), Lauren Muniz and Anna Rayhill (two) are the other Harvard players to score multiple goals. Nicola Golen, Írena Héðinsdóttir Gonzalez, Sarah Lloyd, and Jade Rose are tied for the most assists with two.

Rhiannon Stewart has played all 990 minutes in goal for Harvard, registering a 1.00 goals-against average and .825 save percentage over her 11 outings in goal. Stewart has four clean sheets on the season, all of which came in her first four appearances on the season.

HARVARD'S LAST TIME OUT
HANOVER, N.H. (OCT. 9, 2024) — Audrey Francois' 74th-minute goal aided Harvard to record its first point in the Ivy League table this season as the Crimson played to a 1-1 tie with Dartmouth at Burnham Field on Wednesday night.

Harvard outshot Dartmouth over the final 15 minutes of play, 5-1, which included shots on goal by Jasmine Leshnick (82nd minute) and August Hunter (88th minute) that were saved by Dartmouth goalkeeper Emily Hardy. Áslaug Gunnlaugsdóttir also had a scoring chance in the 84th minute when her try hit crossbar.

Rhiannon Stewart made seven saves in the draw for the Crimson.

42 YEARS, 328 MILES, 41 MEETINGS
Harvard has held the upper hand in the series, posting a 24-0-5 record over Cornell in the last 29 meetings, leading to its 29-3-9 record over the Big Red since the inaugural meeting in 1982. The Crimson offense has recently excelled against Cornell, posting 13 multi-goal efforts over the last 15 matches.

Last year,  Jasmine Leshnick, Ólöf Kristinsdóttir, and Audrey Francois all scored second-half goals to aid visiting Harvard to a 3-1 victory over Cornell, snapping the Big Red's program-record 11-match unbeaten streak at Berman Field. Midfielder Tanum Nelson thwarted Harvard's bid at a clean sheet when she scored her first collegiate goal in the 84th minute off feeds from Mariana Kessinger and Peyton Nichols.

Cornell's last victory over the Crimson was a 1-0 overtime win on Oct. 2, 1993, at Robison Alumni Fields. Amy Duesing logged the game-winning goal for Cornell at the 118:82 mark of the second overtime, registering one of her team-leading four Ivy League goals on the season. Sue DeLong made 11 saves en route to her lone solo clean sheet on the season.

The Big Red has only defeated Harvard once on its home pitch, which came in a 3-0 victory at Ohiri Field on Oct. 8, 1988, when Cornell scored all three of its goals in the second half to down the Crimson. Donna Eberhardt opened the scoring 1:30 into the half before Cindy Spera scored twice over 13 minutes for the Big Red. Melissa Gambrell made five saves for the Big Red to earn the clean sheet.