ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell field hockey team will play consecutive top 10 teams on the road, and it doesn't get any more challenging than facing top-ranked and reigning national runner-up Northwestern on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. at Louisville's Trager Stadium.

GAME INFORMATION
Cornell vs. #1 Northwestern
DATE & TIME: Saturday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m.
SITE: Trager Stadium – Louisville, Ky.
RECORDS: Cornell (0-2, 0-0 Ivy League), #1 Northwestern (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
STATS: GoCards.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

STORYLINES
• The Big Red has had a challenging early season schedule and will play its third and fourth team ranked in this week's NFHCA top 20 after facing the Wildcats and No. 9 Louisville.
• After kicking off the season with a loss to UConn, who checks in at No. 16 in this week's poll, Cornell dropped a 3-2 shootout contest at UAlbany after two overtimes and a shootout.
• Cornell entered the 2024 campaign with nine starters and 19 letter winners returning from one of the top teams in program history and has its eyes set on achieving even more.
• The 2023 Big Red set team records for goals (58), assists (62), points (178) and wins (12) a season ago and ranked among the national leaders in scoring defense as well.
• Smith's team was playing its best hockey of the season over the final weeks of 2023, as the Big Red was 7-2 beginning in October with its lone losses coming in one-goal defeats to nationally-ranked Harvard and against perennial Ivy contender Princeton.
• A number of returners will be looking to step up after the graduation loss of two-time All-American Caroline Ramsey, the 2023 Ivy League and ECAC Offensive Player of the Year.
• NFHCA All-Region pick Grace Leahy, who was second in the Ancient Eight in goals behind Ramsey in 2023, while freshman sensation Martha Broderick will spearhead a defense that surrendered a goal or fewer in six of the team's final seven contests last fall.

THE SERIES WITH NORTHWESTERN
Overall: First Meeting
At Neutral Sites: First Meeting
Current Streak: N/A
Last Meeting: N/A
Smith vs. Northwestern: 0-0 (0-0 on the road)
Series Notes: Saturday's matchup is the first between the school's field hockey programs ... the Big Red holds a 3-13 all-time record against current members of the Big Ten Conference: Indiana (0-0), Iowa (0-0), Maryland (0-0), Michigan (0-2), Michigan State (0-1), Ohio State (0-0), Penn State (0-2) and Rutgers (3-8) in addition to Northwestern.

A WIN OVER NORTHWESTERN WOULD
• give the Big Red its first-ever win over the No. 1 team in the NFHCA poll.
• give Cornell a win over Northwestern in the firstmeeting between the programs.
• make Cornell 4-13 all-time against current members of the Big Ten Conference.
• be the third straight season the Big Red has earned a win over a ranked foe (2023 #13 Syracuse; 2022 #4 Louisville).
• snap a four-game losing streak dating back to last season and give the Big Red its first win of 2024.
• give Andy Smith a 41-30 record as head coach of the Big Red.
• make Cornell field hockey 366-384-36 all-time since 1972.

LAST TIME OUT: #20 UAlbany 3, Cornell 2 -- 2OT Shootout (Sept. 8, 2024)  //  Recap  //  Box Score
• For the second straight season, No. 20 UAlbany outscored Cornell in a shootout and escaped with a 3-2 victory at Alumni Turf. 
• Sophomore Martha Broderick made eight saves for the Big Red, which got goals from freshman Uma Käding and sophomore Ashley Plzak. 
• It was the first career goal for Käding and the first of the season for her teammate. 
• Cornell held a narrow 14-13 lead in shots, with the Great Danes gaining a 9-8 edge in penalty corners. 
• A year ago in Ithaca, Cornell and UAlbany played to a 2-2 draw after regulation and two 10-minute overtimes only to capture victory in the shootout 4-3.  
• Lara Behn, who made four saves in goal for the Great Danes and was helped out by three huge defensive saves by her teammates on Big Red penalty corners, stood tall on three of the first four Cornell stroke-off attempts with only Olivia Friedberg scoring. 
• The Great Danes, meanwhile, scored three times in their four opportunities to claim the victory, the last coming from Alison Smisdom who scored in regulation.

LAST TIME VS. THE #1 TEAM: #1 Michigan 3, Cornell 2 (Sept. 19, 2021)  //  Recap  //  Box Score  //  Gallery  //  Highlights
•The Big Red scratched and clawed all afternoon, but in the end Nio. 1 Michigan proved its ranking with a 3-2 triumph over the Big Red on Sept. 19, 2021 at Marsha Dodson Field in Ithaca, N.Y.
• The Wolverines scored just 28 seconds into the match, but Caroline Ramsey's goal nine minutes later knotted the game. 
• Ramsey scored twice on drag flicks on penalty corners.
• The Wolverines led 3-1 at the break, but were held scoreless after halftime.
• Aerin Park had an outstanding day in net, recording a season-high five saves while facing 22 shots and 13 penalty corners. 
• Michigan held a 22-7 edge in shots in the victory to improve to 6-0 on the season - it would advance to the national quarterfinals that season before falling to Cornell's Ivy rival Harvard for a spot in the Final Four. 

RECORD WATCH:
• Junior Grace Leahy's 16 career goals are tied for 16th in school history and is 11 shy of reaching the top 10 all-time at Cornell.
•Leahy's six game-winning goals is tied for 12th all-time and is one shy of joining the top 10.
• Senior Claire Wolfe enters her final season seventh in school history in career assists and is just two shy of the top five, while sophomore Julia Ramsey is eighth with 18 and needs four to also join the top five.
• With her 1.49 goals against average, sophomore Martha Broderick ranks sixth in school history, just behind fifth-place Kelly Clark '88 (1.41).
• Broderick's 12 career wins in goal is 12th all-time and needs five to reach the top 10.
• Head coach Andy Smith has earned 40 victories in five seasons, good for fourth in Cornell history and seven shy of Michelle Tambroni  (1997-2003) with 47. 

NOTES TO KNOW:
• Entering Saturday, the Big Red's first three opponents this season have combined for an 11-1 record. 
• Six different players have scored at least one point for the Big Red through two games this season, with zero coming on penalty corners (through two games last season, Cornell had scored four goals, all coming on corners).
• With 21 saves in her first two contests, Martha Broderick has the most saves in consecutive games for the Big Red since Aerin Park '23 also had 21 stops during contests against Wagner (6 saves) and UAlbany (15 saves) early in 2022.

TWO NAMED TO NFHCA WATCHLIST:
• Two members of the Cornell field hockey team have been named to the 2024 NFHCA Watchlist. 
• Sophomore goalkeeper Martha Broderick and junior midfielder Grace Leahy were among 29 Ivy League and 171 total players on the list.  
• Broderick captured second-team All-Ivy honors as a freshman in 2023. 
• A three-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, she led the conference in goals against average (1.22) and ranked fifth in save percentage (.720), sitting 15th and 38th nationally. 
• Broderick set a school record with 12 wins in the cage.
• A second-team All-Ivy pick as a sophomore, Leahy was also an NFHCA All-Region second team pick in 2023. 
• She ranked third in the conference (and 20th nationally) in goals behind only teammate Caroline Ramsey '24 with her 11 tallies. 
• In 15 contests, all starts, Leahy registered 22 points and tallied three game-winning goals, including in victories over Yale and nationally-ranked Syracuse. 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
• The Big Red entered the 2024 season picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League Preseason poll.
• Hannah Balleza '14 has been elected to the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame for induction on Sept. 28 as part of the Class of 2024. The four-time All-Ivy League pick and a two-time second-team NFHCA Mideast All-Region pick is one of 11 former Big Red greats to be inducted this fall and the 20th to be elected with field hockey connections.
• Caroline Ramsey '24 was among the final players that survived to the final cut for the U.S. national team that competed at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France. 
• Eight members of Cornell's fall 2024 roster to be selected for either a senior national team or a junior selection camp in the past year, with Polly Parsons and Blake Wilks (USA) and Elizabeth and Olivia Friedberg and Grace Leahy (Canada) joining Georgia Kelly (Ireland), Martha Broderick (Scotland) and Annabel Cheveley (England).
• Caroline Ramsey, the program's first two-time All-American, graduated following the 2023 with Cornell single-game records for goals (4), as well as season and career records for goals (55), game-winning goals (14), points (123), and defensive saves (19). 
• The three-year captain was named the 2023 NFHCA Mideast Regional Player of the Year and the Ivy League and ECAC Offensive Player of the Year. 
• As a senior, Ramsey ranked second nationally in goals (24) and points (54), both single-season school records, while leading the Big Red to a second-place finish in the Ancient Eight and a school-record 12 wins. 
• The Big Red coaching staff, led by head coach Andy Smith, was named the 2023 NFHCA Mideast Regional Coaching Staff of the Year after a majority vote of its regional colleagues. Smith, along with assistant coaches Gareth Terrett and Kellie Joyce, helped guide Cornell to a school-record 12 wins and a second-place finish in the Ivy League at 5-2.
• A total of 13 members of the Cornell field hockey team were named to the NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad. It was the fifth consecutive season the Big Red produced at least a dozen members on the team. Given to student-athletes with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or higher through the fall semester of the current academic year, the baker's dozen was among 997 selections to the team. Six members of the Big Red team - Sofia Escalona, Lexie Hausheer, Antonia Packard, Caroline Ramsey, Claire Vaughn and Claire Wolfe - were among 181 players nationally to make the team for the fourth consecutive year. Joining Escalona, Hausheer, Packard, Ramsey, Vaughn and Wolfe are Martha Broderick, Sarah Burns, Annabel Cheveley, Georgia Kelly, Jane McNally, Emma Poplyk and Jenna Villeneuve.
• Three Cornell field hockey players were named to the NFHCA Division I Scholar of Distinction. Martha Broderick, Sarah Burns and Caroline Ramsey were among 260 undergraduate student-athletes nationwide that posted a 3.9 grade point average or better during the fall semester.

UP NEXT:
• Cornell will remain in Louisville to play the seventh-ranked Cardinals on Sunday, Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
• Cornell won the only previous meeting with Louisville when it defeated the fourth-ranked Cardinals 2-0 on Oct. 23, 2022 in Ithaca.