ITHACA, N.Y. – After a week down south in Florida, the No. 18 Big Red women's lacrosse team returns home for a pivotal Ivy League contest against No. 8 Penn on Saturday. Cornell and the Quakers will play at 1 p.m. in the weekend's only league game between ranked teams.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #8: No. 18 Cornell vs. No. 8 Penn
GAME TIME: Saturday, March 24, 1 p.m.
GAME SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads 22-15-0
LAST MEETING: Penn won 10-6 on March 27, 2011
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (6-1, 2-0 Ivy League); Penn (4-2, 2-0 Ivy League)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO:  CornellBigRed.com/showcase

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is on a scoring frenzy early this season, reaching the 100-goal mark before any other Ivy League school. The Big Red, at 6-1, is on its best start to a season since 2006 and currently sits atop the Ivy League standings. Cornell has twice eclipsed the 20-goal mark this season after only breaking that barrier two times total in its previous 40 years. Cornell has also already equaled its win total from last season. The 2012 edition of the Big Red is one year removed from a 6-8 campaign, but with a large group of nine experienced seniors and 10 returning starters, Cornell is expecting to compete in the challenging Ivy League.

HEAD COACH JENNY GRAAP
Jenny Graap returned to her alma mater in 1997 with one goal in mind: to build the Cornell women's lacrosse team into a championship contender. Now entering her 15th year at the helm, the 2002 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Coach of the Year and 2006 Inside Lacrosse Magazine and IWLCA Northeast Coach of the Year has developed the Big Red women's lacrosse program into one of the most successful in the nation. She has posted a 129-88 record at Cornell and earned her 150th career win against Florida to close the 2011 campaign.

ABOUT PENN
The No. 8 Quakers, based in Philadelphia, are 4-2 on the season and just had its four-game winning streak snapped by No. 13 Georgetown on Wednesday night. The Quakers topped Ivy League rivals Harvard and Yale during their four-game winning run and are tied atop the Ivy standings with Cornell and Princeton. Erin Brennan is currently leading the way for her team with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points. Four other players have reached double digits in points, including leading goal scorer Meredith Cain. Goalkeeper Emily Leitner has been in net for Penn in every minute of every game and has a goals against average of 9.84.
Karin Brower Corbett, a 1992 graduate of William & Mary, is in her 13th year in charge of the Quakers.

THE SERIES WITH PENN
The Big Red and Quakers' rivalry dates all the way back to 1972, Cornell's fourth year of playing women's lacrosse. Since then, they have played every year since, and the Quakers hold a 22-15 advantage in the lifetime series. When the teams met in 2011, then-No. 4 Penn came away a 10-6 victory after starting the contest on a 5-0 run. Jessi Steinberg had three goals to lead the Big Red.

A WIN AGAINST PENN WOULD…
…improve the Big Red's record to 7-1 for the first time since 2003…move Cornell to 3-0 in Ivy League play for the first time since 1993…keep Cornell undefeated at home (3-0)…even the Big Red's record this season against ranked teams (1-1).

GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
The Big Red's 22-goal outburst at Jacksonville tied the team's all-time record, set on May 1, 1994 against Rutgers. Cornell had scored 20 goals in a game just twice in its history before this season, but after the Jacksonville contest the Big Red had scored 20 goals twice in eight days. Cornell also recorded a 21-goal effort against Canisius on March 13. Before the week began, Cornell was averaging 14.67 goals per game, good for 12th in the country. Now, Cornell has 15.71 goals per game which would put it seventh in the nation.
Cornell is just 21 goals shy of its 131 total goals from all of 2011 and nine shy of its 119 total goals from 2010.

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN
Besides all the usual suspects getting in on the scoring against Jacksonville on Tuesday, Cornell senior defenseman Cacki Helmer also scored. The goal, just the second of her four-year career, came on her first shot of the season. With time winding down in the first half, Helmer sprinted across the restraining line, headed right for the net, and fired past the Dolphins keeper to give Cornell a 12-7 lead at halftime.

CENTURY MARK
Senior attack Jessi Steinberg scored four goals against Columbia on March 10, going over the 100-goal mark for her career with her second score of the contest. If she keeps up her current pace of 3.14 goals per game, she would finish the regular season with 139 goals, good for second all-time in team history.

NATIONALLY RANKED
Thanks to a 5-1 start, the Big Red is ranked nationally in this week's deBeer Media Poll at No. 18. Cornell slipped two spots from last week, but the team's loss to No. 7 Notre Dame did not hurt it too much in the polls. Cornell actually gained five points, going up from 35 to 40 total points. The Big Red is also ranked nationally in the IWLCA Coaches' Poll for the first time this year, coming in at No. 18.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Senior captain Jessi Steinberg earned Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for a 12-point week featuring nine goals and three assists. The award was the second of her career and the team's second weekly award of the season.
Senior captain Cacki Helmer earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week last Monday for a terrific week where she had four caused turnovers and eight ground balls to go along with two Big Red victories. Heading into last week, Helmer led the nation in ground balls and caused turnovers per game.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Big Red has played 39 home openers in its history after last Saturday's game against Columbia and holds a 25-14 record in those contests. Last season's home opener was an 11-7 loss to Rutgers, and Cornell lost two consecutive home openers before the Columbia win. Cornell is currently 2-0 in Schoellkopf Field this season.

BALANCED SCORING
Last season, Jessi Steinberg led the team with 38 goals, nearly doubling Katie Kirk's second-best mark on the team of 22. So far this year, eight different players have contributed at least six goals: Steinberg (22), Olivia Knotts (20), Caroline Salisbury (15), Amanda D'Amico (nine), Shannon McHugh (eight), Katie Kirk (seven), Lindsay Toppe (seven) and Lauren Halpern (six) are making sure the Big Red attack is dangerous all over. Last season, only six players all year reached the five-goal mark.

HATS OFF
Cornell has had a player record a hat trick in all four of its games this year. In the season opener at Rutgers, Olivia Knotts scored the game-winning goal with 52 seconds left to complete her hat trick. Amanda D'Amico got her third goal late against Harvard. Against Colgate on March 7, Caroline Salisbury and Sarah Hefner each earned a hat trick, and Salisbury had four goals to her name. In the home opener against Columbia, Jessi Steinberg scored four times, Katie Kirk has three goals and Knotts had her second hat trick of the season. Against Canisius last Tuesday, Steinberg scored five goals while Salisbury had three. In the Notre Dame contest on Saturday, both Knots (five) and Steinberg (four) eclipsed the three-goal mark. At Jacksonville, Steinberg (three), Knotts (four) and D'Amico (three) continued the impressive streak that has now lasted nearly half of the 15-game season.

CLEARLY PERFECT
The Big Red went a flawless 19 of 19 on clear attempts against Colgate on March 7, marking the first time the team did not have a failed clear since April 23, 2011 against Yale. Cornell has a .889 clear percentage so far this season and had two perfect clear games (at Yale, vs. Princeton) last season.

FIRST TIME'S THE CHARM
Goalkeeper Courtney Gallagher had played in seven games for Cornell over the course of her career, but she had never started until March 7 at Colgate. The junior from Yardley, Pa., made seven saves in her first ever complete game and earned her first career victory. It took her just four more days to earn her second career victory when she started against Columbia on March 10.

NATIONAL NUMBERS
Through the first four weeks of the season, Cornell finds itself near the top of the nation in multiple categories. The Big Red's 14.67 goals per game ranks it 12th in the nation, and the team's 9.00 goals allowed per game places it 16th. Cornell is also tied for 19th with 14.33 draw controls per contest.
Individually, Caroline Salisbury's 1.50 assists per game ties her for 39th in the country. Cacki Helmer sits at ninth in the nation with 2.17 caused turnovers per game, and second in the country with 3.83 ground balls per game. Jessi Steinberg's 3.17 goals per game ties her for 20th in the country,

IVY STATISTICS
The Big Red currently leads the Ivy League in goals per game with 15.71 and is second in assists per game with 6.86. The Big Red's 16.14 ground balls per game put it third in the Ivy League, and its 22.57 points per game ranks the team first in the league. Cornell also takes more shots per game (32.29) and wins more draws (15.43) than any other team in the league.
Individually, Jessi Steinberg is second among the Ancient Eight with 3.14 goals per game, and teammate Olivia Knotts is third at 2.86. Steinberg, Knotts and Caroline Salisbury are 5-6-7 in the league in assists per game. Cacki Helmer is second with 3.43 ground balls per game, and Shannon McHugh's 4.17 draw controls per game puts her in third among Ivy competition. Helmer is also second in the conference with 1.86 caused turnovers per game.
Freshman Carly Gniewek, who has played just 40 minutes this season, is second in the league in goals against average (7.54).

TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
Jessi Steinberg has been named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Award Watch list, InsideLacrosse.com announced before the season. Steinberg, who led the team in scoring last season with 42 points, is now in the early pool of players who will be considered for the Tewaaraton, college lacrosse's highest individual honor. Steinberg was one of 53 players named to the list across all three divisions of women's lacrosse.

LAST TIME OUT
Cornell got out to a 6-0 lead and then made history on Tuesday in Jacksonville. The Big Red tied a program record for most goals in a game with 22 tallies, and the team got a 22-13 victory over the Dolphins. Cornell got five assists and three goals from Jessi Steinberg and also got hat tricks from Olivia Knotts and Amanda D'Amico. For the third time this season, all three Big Red goalies got in on the action, and Kyla Dambach picked up her fourth win of the year.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Jacksonville:
• Olivia Knotts recorded her 50th career point.
• Amanda D'Amico scored her 10th career goal.
• Cacki Helmer, Katie Kirk and Shannon McHugh played in their 50th game.
• Lindsay Toppe earned her 10th point.

Approaching career numbers:
• Kyla Dambach's next ground ball would be her 40th.
• Two more caused turnovers would make 50 for Cacki Helmer.
• Beth Halayko is one draw control away from 10.
• Olivia Knotts is three points away from 50.
• Katie Kirk's next point will be her 70th.
• Shannon McHugh is one draw control away from 75.

UP NEXT
Cornell has its first week without a midweek game in nearly a month, but the Big Red get back to action on March 31 when it travels to No. 14/19 Princeton for a 1 p.m. showdown with the Tigers.