ITHACA, N.Y. – The early-season streak has continued for the Big Red, and it will look to reach 4-0 on the season when Columbia comes to town on Saturday. The game will be Cornell's first home game of the season after spending the first two and a half weeks on the road.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #4: Cornell vs. Columbia
GAME TIME: Saturday, March 10, 1 p.m.
GAME SITE: Schoellkopf Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 15-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 9-7 on March 13, 2011
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (3-0, 1-0 Ivy League); Columbia (1-2, 0-1 Ivy League)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wlax/scoreboard.aspx
LIVE VIDEO:  http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is off to its best start since in four seasons with a 3-0 record and an unblemished Ivy League record so far. 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 COLUMBIA
The Lions, based in New York City, are 1-2 so far this season and lost their only Ivy League contest last weekend to Brown by a 14-10 margin. Columbia's lone victory came in a 14-5 defeat of Mount St. Mary's, and the Lions' other loss was to American in Washington, D.C. The Lions, only in existence since 1997, have had just one winning season (2009) in their history. So far this season, the Lions are led by Kacie Johnson's nine goals and eight assists for 17 points. Goalkeeper Skylar Dabbar is allowing an average of 11 goals per game and holds a .294 save percentage.
Columbia is coached by Liz Kittleman, a graduate of Union College in 1998 who is in her second year leading the Lions.

THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA
Cornell's lifetime record against Columbia the most lopsided in school history. In 15 meetings dating back to the 1997 season, the Big Red has never lost to the Lions. Cornell's largest margin of victory in the series is 14 (2003, 2008), and its smallest is two (2004, 2010, 2011). Last year's matchup in New York City saw the Big Red come away 9-7 winners largely thanks to a four-goal run in late in the first half. Katie Kirk scored three times and Libby Johnson had two goals for the Big Red.

A WIN AGAINST COLUMBIA WOULD…
…give Cornell a 4-0 start to a season for the first time since 2009…extend Cornell's winning streak to five games (dating back to last year)…be the Big Red's 16th straight victory against Columbia…keep Cornell undefeated lifetime against the Lions…bring Cornell to 25-14 in home openers…be Cornell's first home opener victory since 2009 (vs. Colgate).

RECEIVING VOTES
Thanks to a 2-0 start, the Big Red is receiving votes in this week's IWLCA Coaches' Poll and is the top team to not be ranked. Defeating Harvard, which was ranked in multiple polls last week but not in the IWLCA poll, helped increase the Big Red's profile.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Big Red has played 38 home openers in its history and holds a 24-14 record in those contests. Last season's home opener was an 11-7 loss to Rutgers, and Cornell has lost two consecutive home openers. Cornell's last victory in its first game of the season in Ithaca came in 2009 against Colgate.

LONG TIME (HOME)COMING
Cornell will be playing its first home game of the season on Saturday. The last time the Big Red played three games on the road before its first contest in Ithaca was the 1998 season when it played Virginia Tech on a neutral field, traveled to Vanderbilt and then played at Lafayette before hosting Penn in its fourth game.

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, five different players have contributed at least four goals: Olivia Knotts (seven), Caroline Salisbury (six), Steinberg (six), Amanda D'Amico (five) and Shannon McHugh (four) are making sure the Big Red offensive attack is dangerous all over.

CLEARLY PERFECT
The Big Red went a flawless 19 of 19 on clear attempts against Colgate, marking the first time the team did not have a failed clear since April 23, 2011 against Yale. Cornell has a .957 clear percentage so far this season and had two perfect clear games (at Yale, vs. Princeton) last season.

HATS OFF
Cornell has had a player record a hat trick in all three 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 Wednesday, Caroline Salisbury and Sarah Hefner each earned a hat trick, and Salisbury had four goals to her name.

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 Wednesday night. The junior from Yardley, Pa., made seven saves in her first ever complete game and earned her first career victory.

TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
Jessi Steinberg has been named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Award Watch list, InsideLacrosse.com announced last week. 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.

AMONG THE UNDEFEATED
Though the season is just a few weeks deep, but already the nation's list of undefeated teams is rapidly shrinking. Cornell, at 3-0, finds itself as one of just nine teams still undefeated on the year. The other teams are Vermont (4-0), Northwestern (5-0), Massachusetts (5-0), St. Bonaventure (1-0), North Carolina (7-0), Notre Dame (3-0) and Dartmouth (3-0).

IVY LEAGUE NUMBERS
Cornell has several players ranking among the Ivy League best overall so far this season.

• Olivia Knotts is tied for seventh in the league with 2.33 goals per game.
• Caroline Salisbury is tied for fourth with 1.33 assists per game.
• Knotts and Salisbury are tied for fifth with 3.33 points per game.
• Cacki Helmer's 5.00 ground balls per game makes her the league leader in that category.
• Jessi Steinberg's 5.33 shots per game is good enough to tie her for fifth among the Ancient Eight.
• Shannon McHugh stands alone in third place with 4.33 draw controls per game.
• Helmer is second in the Ivy League with 2.67 caused turnovers per game.
• Kyla Dambach's 6.50 goals against average puts in her second place among Ancient Eight competition. Her .519 save percentage also puts her second in the league in that category, and her 7.00 saves per game ties her for second in the league with teammate Courtney Gallagher.

NATIONAL NUMBERS
Multiple Cornell players find themselves ranking with the best in the country in multiple categories statistical categories entering this week. Cacki Helmer is first in the country with 3.50 caused turnovers per game and 5.50 ground balls per game. Caroline Salisbury is tied for 19th in the country with 2.00 assists per game. Kyla Dambach's 6.50 goals against average has her placing eighth in the nation and her .519 save percentage puts her all alone in 11th in that category nationally. Shannon McHugh's 4.00 draw controls per game has her tied for 25th.
As a team, the Big Red's 6.50 goals allowed per game has it tied for third in the country with No. 15 Georgetown.

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN
Four Big Red players have been named captains for the 2012 season. Senior defender Cacki Helmer, senior midfielders Katie Kirk and Shannon McHugh, and senior attack Jessi Steinberg will be leading Cornell all season.

SENIOR CLASS
The Big Red will have a strong senior class of nine players. In addition to the four players listed above as captains, goalie Kyla Dambach, midfield/attack Shannon Tierney, midfield/defense Ali O'Neil, midfield/defense Beth Halayko and attack Olivia Knotts make up an experience core at the heart of the Big Red this season.

NEW KIDS ON THE HILL
Cornell's freshman class is eight deep this year. In goal, Carly Gneiwek will see her first college season. On defense, Gabby Weintraub, Christine Ferguson and Kristen Carr are new to the roster. In the midfield, Skylar Fidel, Sarah Hefner and Claire MacManus will be gracing the roster. Lindsay Toppe is the lone freshman attack this season.

CORNELL BY STATE
The Big Red's 29 players hail from eight different states. Eight players apiece come from New York and Maryland. The lone west-coaster is Kelly Lang from Mill Valley, Calif.

LAST TIME OUT
Cornell jumped out to a 4-0 lead at Colgate on Wednesday thanks to excellent play on the draw control. With a 9-3 lead at halftime, the Big Red looked to have the game securely in hand. The Raiders attempted a late comeback, but the Big Red held on for a 15-10 win.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Colgate:
• Katie Kirk recorded the 60th point of her career.
• Olivia knots broke the 30-point mark.
• Kelly Lang reached 20 ground balls in her career.
• Shannon McHugh notched her 60th career point.

Approaching career numbers:
• Shannon McHugh needs one more ground ball to reach 60.
• Kyla Dambach's next ground ball would be her 40th.
• Ali O'Neil needs one more ground ball for her 30th.
• Caroline Salisbury will hit the 30-point mark with her next score.
• Lauren Halpern's next point will be her 10th.
• Jessi Steinberg is two goals shy of 100.

UP NEXT
Cornell hosts Canisius next Tuesday at 4 p.m. for a midweek game before taking off to Florida for two contests in the Sunshine State. Cornell will play against Notre Dame on March 17 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. Three days later, the Big Red travels to Jacksonville for a contest against the Jacksonville University Dolphins.