ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's soccer team concludes its 2024 regular-season slate this afternoon when it welcomes Penn to Berman Field on Senior Day. First touch between the Big Red and Quakers is scheduled for 1 p.m.

MATCH NO. 16
Penn at Cornell
SITE: Berman Field – Ithaca, N.Y. (natural surface)
RECORDS: Penn (1-8-6, 0-3-3 Ivy League), Cornell (3-8-4, 2-4-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 21-7-4
SERIES STREAK: Penn won 1
WEATHER FORECAST: 48°, partly cloudy, 0 percent chance of rain; Winds: NW 5-10 mph
BROADCASTS: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

WHAT'S AT STAKE
Cornell can clinch the No. 4 seed in next weekend's Ivy League Women's Soccer Tournament with a victory over Penn this afternoon coupled with a tie between Yale and Harvard in their match today.

Next weekend's Ivy League Women's Soccer Tournament will be hosted at the site of the No. 1 seed, which will be either at Columbia or Princeton, dependent upon the result of their match today. Columbia will host the tournament if it registers at least one point against the Tigers while Princeton must win to earn the right to host the four-team tournament.

LAST TIME OUT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (OCT. 24, 2024) — Naya Cardoza's goal in the 78th minute helped break open a scoreless tie to lead Brown to a 1-0 victory over Cornell at Stevenson-Pincince Field last Saturday afternoon.

Lexi Quinn assisted on Cardoza's tally to aid Bella Schopp in earning a four-save clean sheet, her fifth blanking on the season for the Bears.

Senior goalkeeper Erica Fox made five saves in the setback for the Big Red. Junior midfielder Abigail Bishara recorded two shots on goal for the Big Red, while senior forward Ava Laden and junior midfielder Tanum Nelson had the other two shots on goal.

Brown owned a 17-6 advantage in shot attempts and a slight 6-4 edge in shots on target. Corner kicks favored the Bears, 7-5, which included a 6-0 total during second-half action.

THE MATCH IS ON HER FOOT
Sophomore forward Sydney Allen has recorded all three of Cornell's game-winning goals this season, which have all come on Berman Field against Syracuse (Sept. 1), Dartmouth (Oct. 5), and Yale (Oct. 19).

With her game-winning goal against Yale, Allen became the 12th Cornell player in program history (14th overall instance) to record three game-winning goals in a season. It marked the first time a Cornell player netted three game-winners in a season since Maneesha Chitanvis (three) in 2010.

Allen's three game-winning goals is tied with Princeton freshman midfielder Brooke Dawahare for the Ivy League lead in game-winning goals this season.

Should Allen register another game-winning goal this afternoon, the sophomore midfielder would become Cornell's sixth player (seventh instance) in program history to pot at least four game-winning goals in a season, and the first since Amy Duesing in 1993.

Allen would also tie Meagan McMahan (1983 and 1984), Amy Finkelstein (1990), Jen Tidsbury (1992) and Duesing for the second-most game-winning goals in a single season. Laurie Collier (five in 1987) currently assumes the Cornell single-season record for game-winning goals.

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, 14 times by 12 players, Last: Sydney Allen (2024)

KNACK FOR THE NET
Cornell has scored at least one goal in 42 of its 62 matches played under head coach Rob Ferguson, dating back to the first season played under Ferguson in 2021.

The 67.74 percent of contests with a goal ranks as the highest clip in Cornell program history, surpassing Randy May, the program's first head coach, by 11-thousandths of a point. May saw his teams score in 67.73 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) — 67.74 percent (42-of-62)
2. Randy May (1982-99) — 67.73 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 20 contests, 24 of its previous 31 matches, and 27 of its latest 36 fixtures, dating back to 2022.

SEEKING HISTORY
With a victory over Penn this afternoon, Cornell will have won at least three Ivy League matches in a season for the first time since posting a 5-0-2 conference record during the 1995 campaign.

Since the Cornell women's soccer program was elevated to varsity status prior to the 1982 campaign, the Big Red has registered at least three conference wins in a season on nine occasions — all of which came during a 10-year stretch between 1986 and 1995 (1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995).

Since 1996, the Big Red has won two Ivy League matches in a campaign eight times, five of which have come over the last 10 seasons (1996, 1999, 2002, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2022, 2024).

HOME, SWEET, GOALS
Despite Cornell having its program-record 14-match goal-scoring streak halted against Princeton on Sept. 28, the Big Red has scored in 16 of its last 17 home matches on Berman Field.

Across its last 17 matches, dating back to the 2022 season, Cornell has averaged 1.47 goals per match. The Big Red has scored multiple goals seven times, highlighted by its four-goal output in a 4-0 victory over UAlbany on Oct. 17, 2023.

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 program history.

Should Medugno record a full clean sheet this afternoon, she would surpass 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. The Big Red's next draw would match the 2022 squad for the second-most ties 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 Columbia (7-3-4) for the fourth-most draws by an Ivy League program, trailing Penn (1-8-6), Brown (6-3-5), and Harvard (6-3-5).

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 — 3-8-4 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 PENN
Penn enters this afternoon's match with a 1-8-6 overall record and a 0-3-3 mark in Ivy League play, and is winless over its last six matches (0-3-3).

Abbey Cook and Isabella Zulli pace Penn's offense with five points apiece on the power of two goals and one assist. Mila Maltby and Lily White are right behind with four points (one goal, two assists).

Annabel Austen has played all 1350 minutes in goal for the Quakers, registering a 1.33 goals-against average and a .770 save percentage. Austen has recorded two of her three clean sheets on the season in her last three outings, coming against Brown (Oct. 13) and Dartmouth (Oct. 19).

PENN'S LAST TIME OUT
PHILADELPHIA (OCT. 26, 2024) — A converted penalty kick by Harvard's Áslaug Gunnlaugsdóttir in the 84th minute aided the Crimson to a 1-0 victory over Penn at Penn Park in the Quakers' final home match of the 2024 season last Saturday.

Penn and Harvard concluded the match tied in shots, 6-6, despite the Quakers holding a 3-2 edge in shot attempts in the second half.

Annabel Austen registered one save in the setback for the Quakers, which came on a shot in the 77th minute by Audrey Francois. Penn also logged a team save in the 39th minute, robbing Nicola Golen of a goal.

32 YEARS, 229 MILES, 32 MEETINGS
Cornell and Penn will be meeting for the 33rd time this afternoon. The Quakers own the series lead, 21-7-4, and are unbeaten in 25 of the last 26 meetings against the Big Red (21-1-4).

Despite the lopsided results of late against Penn, matches between the two programs have been relatively close with 11 of the last 17 contests being decided by one goal or less.

The Big Red's last victory over Penn came on Oct. 3, 2014, in a 3-2 triumph on Berman Field, which was Cornell's first win over the Quakers since 1996, snapping a 15-match losing streak. Caroline Growney had a three-point night and Meera Dheer scored her first collegiate goal for the Big Red. Elizabeth Crowell opened the scoring with a strike just 1:47 into the contest, as all three of Cornell goals came in the first 32 minutes of action, as the Big Red took advantage of a gusty southern wind at its back.

Last season, the Quakers registered a 2-1 victory behind a pair of second-half goals by Mia Fuss  (57th minute) and Abbey Cook (80th minute). Sydney Malaga tallied the lone marker for Cornell in the setback, which came in the 38th minute. Penn increased its unbeaten streak over Cornell on its home pitch to 15 matches (13-0-2), dating back to 1997.