Meaghan O'Leary and the Daemen women's soccer team will open the 2016 season on Sept. 1 at Lake Erie College

Women's Soccer 7/22/2016 11:40:00 AM

Dolan Announces 2016 Women's Soccer Schedule

Daemen Home Games To Be Played At The Park School This Season

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's soccer team will open the 2016 season with four straight road games as Dan Dolan, back for his eighth season as the team's head coach, announced the Wildcats' upcoming schedule today.

In addition to the full slate of 17 regular season games, Dolan also announced that the Wildcats' home venue this season will the The Park School Field located just a short drive from campus at 4625 Harlem Road. Daemen, which had used Amherst High School's Dimp Wagner Stadium as its home site for the last several years, has made a commitment in partnership with The Park School of Buffalo to develop the field into a first-rate natural-grass playing surface and competition venue.

Oh his team's 2016 slate, Dolan said: "We've had the pleasure to play a few of our non-conference opponents during the last few seasons. To keep those relationships going has been great for us. We're really looking forward to getting the season underway in a few short weeks."

Three of the Wildcats' opening four games come against affiliates of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, beginning with the season opener on September 1 at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. It'll mark the third straight year that the Wildcats and Storm have hooked up with Daemen searching for its first win in the series. LEC pulled out a 3-1 win here in Amherst last season despite a goal from Alexis Koral (Williamsville, N.Y./William Smith College) which put Daemen ahead 1-0.

Daemen will also meet Le Moyne College for the third straight year on September 5 in Syracuse, N.Y. The Northeast-10 Conference affiliate went 4-12-1 last season, including a 2-1 win over the Wildcats in Amherst.

The Wildcats head west to face GLIAC foes University of Findlay (September 10) and Tiffin University (September 11) on back-to-back days before making their 2016 home debut on September 14 versus Mansfield University of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. The meeting between Daemen and Findlay will be the first between the two teams, while the Wildcats take on Tiffin for the first time since 2006. Mansfield is back on the docket for a third straight year, although the Wildcats will be looking for the first win in that series since 2002. The September 14 home opener is Daemen's latest since the 2009 season, and it kicks off a string of four consecutive home contests.

East Coast Conference play gets underway when Daemen hosts Mercy College (September 16) and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (September 18) in the typical Friday-Sunday fashion of conference play. Mercy edged Daemen for the fourth and final ECC Tournament bid last season, finishing with an overall record of 8-7-3 and and ECC mark of 6-3. Daemen downed STAC 2-0 last season, and the Wildcats lead the all-time series 2-1-1.

DAEMEN WOMEN'S SOCCER 2016 SCHEDULE BY THE NUMBERS
Total Games	17
Home Games	7
Road Games	10
East Coast Conference Games	8
Games vs. East Region Opponents	10
Games vs. Atlantic Region Opponents	3
Games vs. Midwest Region Opponents	4
Game vs. NCAA Division I Independents	1
Games vs. Northeast-10 Conference Opponents	2
Games vs. Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Opponents	3
Games vs. Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Opponents	3
Games vs. 2015 NCAA Tournament Qualifiers	3
Games vs. 2015 Conference Tournament Qualifiers	4
Games vs. 2015 10-Game Winners	3

The Wildcats take a one-game hiatus from conference play to end the homestand against Division II independent Salem International University. The Tigers had previously been part of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, and are coming off an 0-14 season in 2015.

Dolan's squad hits the road for the first time in conference play on September 30, heading to The Big Apple to face Queens College. The Knights squeaked out a 1-0 shutout win here last season, but finished one point behind Daemen in the final league standings.

A rematch of a classic game from last season occurs on October 2 when Daemen visits Molloy College. The Wildcats picked up their first-ever win in the series when now-graduated Meghan Lipinoga (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Canisius College) scored on a header in overtime for the game's only tally. The win snapped a four-game winless streak in overtime games for the Wildcats.

On October 5, the Thruway Rivalry between Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan College resumes. The Redhawks are coming off a 2015 season in which they achieved a No. 5 ranking in the final East Region poll, an appearance in the ECC Tournament championship game and the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. But, the Redhawks will be without head coach Bobby McColl who left to become the men's coach here at Daemen. He's been succeeded at RWC by former Binghamton University head coach Sarah McClellan.

Daemen vists Saint Michael's College on October 8 and University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown on October 11 for back-to-back non-league road tilts. The Purple Knights of the Northeast-10 Conference, and the Mountain Cats of the PSAC, combined to go just 1-32-2 last season.

The Wildcats jump back into the ECC slate on October 14 by hosting N.Y. Institute of Technology. Daemen evened the all-time series against the Bears with a 2-0 win on Long Island last season. Koral netted both Daemen goals in the win.

The ECC campaign closes with the Wildcats taking on the league's two powerhouses. First up is a home contest with Long Island University Post on October 16. The Pioneers, ranked No. 3 in the final East Region poll, went 14-4-3 overall and 6-1-2 in league play last season, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. That's followed by a road trip to University of Bridgeport on October 23. UB, ranked No. 1 in the region and No. 5 in the nation last season, is the defending ECC champ. The Purple Knights went 21-2-1 overall, ending their year in the semifinal round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats' 2016 regular season concludes with a non-league clash against Mercyhurst University on October 26. The Lakers went 8-8-2 overall and 6-8-2 in PSAC play in 2015. The meeting will be the third all-time between Daemen and Mercyhurst and the second since 2014.

Daemen is coming off a 2015 season in which they came on late in the season, winning four of their final six games to finish at 7-10-1 overall and 4-5 in ECC games. The four league wins were the most for the Wildcats since joining the ECC in 2013, but it left Dolan's squad sitting in fifth place in the final league standings as the four teams ahead of them advanced to the conference tournament. The Wildcats return six of their top seven point producers from last season, including Stephanie Zurales (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) and Koral who combined for 11 goals, seven assists and 29 points. Also back is starting goalkeeper Meaghan O'Leary (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) who made 87 saves in her rookie campaign and defensive stalwart Rose Carboni (Endicott, N.Y./Union Endicott) who earned third-team All-ECC honors last season.

Pre-season training camp for the Wildcats gets underway on August 15.

For continuing coverage and breaking news surrounding the Daemen women's soccer team follow@DaemenAthletics and @DaemenWSOC on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

#17 Meghan Lipinoga: D; 5' 4"; Senior

#10 Rose Carboni: D; 5' 5"; Junior

#18 Alexis Koral: M; 5' 5"; Redshirt Senior

#1 Meaghan O'Leary: GK; 5' 6"; Sophomore

#3 Stephanie Zurales: F; 5' 4"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#17 Meghan Lipinoga
: 5' 4"; Senior
: D

#10 Rose Carboni
: 5' 5"; Junior
: D

#18 Alexis Koral
: 5' 5"; Redshirt Senior
: M

#1 Meaghan O'Leary
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: GK

#3 Stephanie Zurales
: 5' 4"; Junior
: F