ITHACA, N.Y. -- The final two home weekends of the 2024 season begin for Cornell women's lacrosse when it hosts the No. 12 Penn Quakers on Saturday.

GAME INFO:
SITE: Schoellkopf Field - Ithaca, N.Y.
DATE and TIME: Saturday, April 13 at noon
RECORDS: Cornell (7-5, 2-2 Ivy League), Penn (8-3, 2-2 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 32-18
BROADCAST: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: cornellbigred.com

MATCHUP HISTORY
- Saturday's contest will be the 51st all-time meeting between the Big Red and the Quakers.
- Penn has had Cornell's number in recent history, taking seven out of the last ten, including a 15-12 win in Philly last season.
- The turnover battle has favored Penn over the last ten by four (131-127). But Cornell has committed fewer turnovers in three of the last five, including its two most recent wins in 2022 (16-19) and 2017 (16-18). Shifting to the draw circle, the head-to-head winner has lost the last three when the final horn sounded. Cornell's last win when securing more draw controls was a 10-4 victory over Penn in Philadelphia on March 4, 2017. 
- Cornell has struggled in games decided by three goals or less in the series, going 8-21. The Big Red's last victory in a game decided by that margin on home soil was a 9-8 win during the 2002 season in which it went 16-2 and made the final four of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.    

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD:
- Give Cornell an 8-5 record through 13 contests for the first time since 2019 and match its 3-2 mark in conference action over five games from last season.
- Secure the first home winning streak over Penn since winning three straight from 1998-02.
- Hand Jenny Graap her 256th career win and 235th as head coach of the Big Red.
- Be the 377th win in program history (376-330-4 in 52 seasons, .532).

SIDELINE MILESTONE FOR GRAAP
Jenny Graap, The Karin Bain Kukral '82 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse, will coach her 400th career game on Saturday. With her accomplishment, Graap will become the 12th active coach in DI to hit that milestone and join Penn's Karin Corbett as the only two active head coaches in Ivy League women's lacrosse to hit the 400 mark. 

MORGAN'S MESSAGE INITIATIVE
Saturday will be Cornell's annual Morgan's Message game. Founded in 2021 after the passing of former Duke women's lacrosse player Morgan Rodgers, the non-profit has focused on breaking the stigma surrounding student-athlete mental health and allowing them to share their stories. The Big Red will wear special warm-up shirts and have a moment of silence pregame. 

LAST TIME OUT: CORNELL STRUGGLES IN IVY CLASH AGAINST HARVARD
Cornell fell into an early 4-0 hole it could not dig itself out of in a 13-5 loss to #24 Harvard last Saturday from Jordan Field in Cambridge. The Big Red, who had won three straight games in Cambridge, was held to its lowest shots-on-goal (9) in four seasons and had a season-worst 22 turnovers.

Caitlin Slaminko was the lone multi-goal scorer with two, while Alexa Donahoe, Kylie Gelabert, and Josie Vogel chipped in a goal each. Vogel and Sophie Ward each also secured an assist in the defeat. Other notables included 11 saves in net for junior Ellie Horner and team-highs in draw controls (8) and caused turnovers (2) from Annie Thomas.

Cornell and Harvard started stagnant over the first seven minutes before Harvard found its rhythm, as a man-up goal by Callie Hem bloomed into a 4-0 run that ran almost two minutes to jump ahead after the opening quarter. Donahoe got the Big Red on the board to begin the second quarter on a backward shovel for her sixth of the year, hoping to provide a spark. The Crimson had other plans, ripping off a 3-0 run from Riley Campbell alone to go up 7-1. Gelabert responded with her lone goal of the day with 2:21 left to put the Big Red within five at half.

Harvard continued to lay the hammer down with two more to open the third before Vogel and Slaminko countered with two late goals that spanned 29 seconds apart to stay within five heading into the final 15. But the Crimson away again with a 4-0 run to begin the fourth to secure the win and hand the Big Red its second-straight loss. 

INSIDE THE IVY: PENN
- The Quakers come into Saturday's battle in Ithaca at 8-3 and 2-2 in conference action. Penn, who started the season winning its first six contests, is looking to snap a two-game road losing streak after falling to Princeton (14-9) on Wednesday and Yale (16-8) on Sunday. 
- Penn's offense was paced by five goals combined from junior midfielder Anna Brandt and four from freshman attacker Catherine Berkery. The Quakers struggled in its Sunday evening contest against the Bulldogs, recording season-lows in shots (19), shots on goal (12), ground balls (7), and draw controls (12). On the reverse, Penn let 23 shots fly in the second half of its game against the Tigers but was outscored 7-2 over the final 30 minutes and held to its lowest shots-on-goal percentage of the season (.488).
- Senior attacker Niki Miles has led the Quakers attack with 35 goals and 45 points this season. The reigning Ivy League Attacker of the Year, Miles sits eighth in program history with 113 career goals and has held down the fort in the draw circle with 56 victories in 2024. The California product did have her 10-game multi-point streak snapped with her single goal against the Bulldogs. Brandt (28) and Berkery (20) are the other top scorers for Penn. Junior Erika Chung has also impressed in dishing out assists with the third-most in the conference (24) and comes off a game against the Bulldogs that saw her tie her career high in assists with five.
- Penn had been a scrappy bunch in the caused turnover game with a conference-leading 116 heading into Saturday and the ninth-most per game in the country (10.55). Four Quakers are also in the top six individually in caused turnovers per contest with Sophie Davis, Aly Feeley, and Izzy Rohr having 1.50 and Grace Fujnaa with 1.42. 
- The Quaker scoring defense has been the talk of the town with the tenth-least goals per game given up in the country (8.45). Through 11 games, Penn has also held nine opponents to 10 goals or fewer, including the fifth-most potent offense in the country in Ivy League rival Harvard.
- Penn's offense has struggled at times, sitting sixth in the Ivy League (12.18) and near the bottom of the country with a .371 shot percentage. Its free position percentage is also 77th in the country (.426). 
- Ranked opponents have also been a staple for the Quakers with six this season. Penn is 3-3 in those contests, including an upset of No. 1 Maryland in College Park on March 27. 
- Head coach Karin Corbet has been at the helm of the Quakers for 24 seasons. Since taking over a program that only won one game in the 1999 season, Corbett has made Penn an Ivy League and national powerhouse with 12 conference championships and three consecutive trips to the NCAA Semifinals from 2007-09. Her 2008 squad won a program-record 17 games and advanced to the NCAA DI Women's Lacrosse Championship game before falling to Northwestern.

UP NEXT
Cornell closes out its 2024 home slate with a battle against No. 10 Yale as part of a Big Red lacrosse doubleheader on Saturday, April 20. First draw is set for 3:30 p.m. from Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red will also celebrate its seven seniors (Bridget Babcock, Grace Faircloth, Hilary Hoover, Alexis Reinhardt, Annie Thomas, Olivia Wall, Sophie Ward) and their contributions to the program postgame.