ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's lacrosse team will close its 2024 season by heading to Rhode Island to battle the Brown Bears on Saturday from Stevenson-Pincince Field.

GAME INFO:
SITE: Stevenson-Pincince Field - Providence, R.I.
DATE and TIME: Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m.
RECORDS: Cornell (7-7, 2-4 Ivy League), Brown (9-5, 2-4 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 25-17
BROADCAST: ESPN+
LISTEN LIVE: Varsity Network
LIVE STATS: brownbears.com

MATCHUP HISTORY
- Saturday's contest with the 43rd all-time meeting between the Big Red and the Bears. 
- Brown has been on the right side of the coin, taking three out of the last four matchups. Before Brown's 14-13 win in 2018, Cornell had won 18 straight meetings dating back to the 2000 season.
- Scoring first has been a pillar of success. Whoever has scored the first goal has won six out of the last ten games in the series. Cornell has not won a battle with the Bears it has scored first since an 11-8 victory in 2017.
- The Bears have struggled in the turnover department, committing 15 or more in seven of the last ten. Cornell is 6-1 in those contests, with its lone loss coming last season when the Bears committed 19 turnovers in Ithaca.

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD
- Close Cornell's 2024 season at 8-7 and secure the team's first winning season since going 13-6 in 2017.
- Snap Cornell's four-game losing streak and two-game skid to the Bears. 
- Be Jenny Graap's 256th career win and her 235th win as head coach of the Big Red.
- Push Cornell to its 377th win in program history (376-332-4 in 52 seasons, .531).

LAST TIME OUT: BIG RED FALLS TO BULLDOGS ON SENIOR DAY
The Big Red celebrated its seven seniors last Saturday but could not send them off in their final home game with a victory, as it fell into an early 5-0 hole that it could not dig itself out of in a 21-8 loss to Yale last Saturday from Schoellkopf Field. Cornell's loss to the Bulldogs also eliminated Cornell from keeping its chances alive for a berth in the Ivy Postseason Tournament. Senior captain Bridget Babcock led the offense in her final home game in a Big Red uniform with two goals alongside a ground ball and caused turnover. Ella Wilmot also scored two goals on the afternoon, and Caitlin Slaminko recorded her seventh straight game with a goal and had a team-high five draw controls.

Yale came out firing, opening the contest with a 5-0 run over the first five minutes of action and held the Big Red to one shot attempt. Cornell finally found the net on its first shot on goal via the free position from Dillyn Patten to get on the board. Yale countered with another 3-0 run before a connection between Lucy Dwyer and Sophie Ward before the buzzer sounded to put the deficit at six after one.

Despite three goals in the second from Babcock, Slaminko, and Wilmot, Yale extended its lead to nine heading into halftime and had more than double the shots on goal than the Big Red (19-8). The stoppage did nothing to slow down the potent Bulldogs offense, racking up a 4-0 run to begin the third and put the game in a running clock situation. Josie Vogel stopped the 4-0 run with 2:38 left in the quarter with her 30th goal of the season and 100th career point, hoping to provide a spark for the Big Red. But the mountain was too steep to climb, as tallies by Babcock and Wilmot in the fourth got Cornell within 12 but not any closer. Its eight-goal output also extended its streak of ten goals or less to four, its longest since closing the 2014 season on a four-game skid and finishing 7-9 overall.

 INSIDE THE IVY: BROWN
- Brown comes into Saturday 9-5 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League. The Bears have lost consecutive Ivy League games against Princeton (23-10) and Penn (19-13).
- Mia Mascone led Brown last Saturday against the Quakers with five goals and six assists to shatter the previous program record in points in a season by Lauren Becker in 1986. The senior has a conference-best 88 total points and the most points per game in the nation at 6.29. She was also named IWLCA Division I Player of the Week for her performance against the Quakers and has won Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week a season-best four times.
- Brown's offense has been a problem for many defenses to stop, scoring 15 or more goals in ten contests this season, including a season-high 24 against Stetson. The Bears also rank inside the top 20 in the nation in on goal per game (24.57 - 15th) and shot percentage (.470 - 20th). 
- Junior Annie Burton has spread the wealth with a team-high 35 assists. As a squad, the Bears average the eighth-most points per game (24.00) and tenth-best helpers per contest in the nation (8.21) heading into Saturday. 
- Emmie Lau leads Brown with 89 draw control wins, which sits second in the Ivy League. Paige Gillen (55), Julia Ford (28), and Beth Anderson (21) close out a draw control unit that averages the 11th-most per game in the country (17.14).
- One area Brown has struggled in is in between the pipes. Coming into Saturday, the Bears have the lowest number of saves (76) and saves per game (5.43) in the conference. The Bears have also let in the third-most goals this season with 171. 
- Katrina Dowd is in her first season at the helm of the Bears. A three-time national champion as a player at Northwestern (2007-09), Dowd has made numerous stops at different programs as a coach, including Syracuse (2012), North Carolina (2013-16), and Oregon (2017-18). 
- Dowd and head coach Jenny Graap have been on opposing sidelines twice as coaches. Dowd has won both battles during her time as an assistant at Syracuse (2012: 16-9) and North Carolina (2013: 11-10).