AMHERST, N.Y. – The women’s soccer team and junior Mike Swiniarski (Akron, N.Y.) of the men’s cross country team have been named the Daemen College Student-Athletes of the Month presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC for September, 2019.
It marks just the fourth time that an entire team has collected the honor. The men’s and women’s basketball team collected the honor last February, while the women’s volleyball team was chosen in November of 2016.
The women’s soccer team opened the 2019 season season by going undefeated (6-0-2) during the month of September. The Wildcats outscored their opponents 28-5, and closed out the month ranked second among East Coast Conference (ECC) teams in total goals and goals per game (3.50). Daemen’s goal differential (+23) ranked first among conference teams for the month. The success did not go unnoticed, as the Wildcats earned their first-ever appearance in the United Soccer Coaches Division II East Region poll.
The month included a shutout streak that reached 229 minutes to start the season before Le Moyne College pushed one over the goal line on Sept. 11. It has also included 7-0 wins over Urbana University and Nyack College, marking the first time since 2011 that they've scored at least seven goals twice in the same season. The Wildcats' five-game winning streak to start the season marked just the fourth streak of its length in the 20-year history of the program. The team's current eight-game unbeaten streak is tied for the longest such streak in program history, equaling the standard first set during the 2011 season. In addition to their overall unbeaten streak, Daemen is also unbeaten (8-0-2) over its last 10 home games dating back to last season and is 14-5-3 at home since the start of the 2017 season.
Expectations were high for the Wildcats as they entered the 2019 season, as they returned several key players from last year's team that posted an 8-8-1 overall record and made its first-ever appearance in the ECC Tournament after placing fourth in the final regular-season standings with a 5-4-0 league mark. The five league wins were the most for the Wildcats since joining the ECC in 2013. Daemen was picked third in the 2019 ECC preseason poll.
Senior forward Jamie Boyar (Williamsville, N.Y.) has buoyed the Wildcat offense with 11 goals and 23 points. She currently shares the national lead for goals, and holds the outright national lead for game-winning goals with four. Senior Lindsay Ciaramella (St. George, Ont.) and sophomore Grace Stranahan (Grand Island, N.Y.) have been strong in the midfield. Ciaramella ranks 12th nationally with five assists, and Stranahan has already set career-highs for goals (4) and points (11) in a season. Juniors Sam D'Agostino (Mississauga, Ont.) and Maddie Flores (Seattle, Wash.) have keyed the Daemen defense, D'Agostino from her center-back position and Flores from between the pipes. Flores is 5-0-2 in goal, and has posted an .894 save percentage with 42 total saves and three shutouts this season.
The Daemen women’s soccer team returns to action Saturday (Oct. 5) when it hosts the University of Bridgeport in an ECC game. Bridgeport claimed the NCAA Division II national championship last fall and was the preseason favorite to win the ECC this year.
Swiniarski was the top Daemen runner in each of the team’s three races last month. He collected ECC Runner of the Week honors for the second time in his career after finishing fifth out of 69 competitors at the season-opening Doug Watts Open hosted by Edinboro University. It marked the fourth top-10 finish of his career and his time of 26:45.0 was just 11 seconds off his career-best pace (26:34.9) which he established at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational in 2018. His performance helped Daemen to a sixth-place finish out of eight competing teams at the meet.
After placing 98th out of 219 runners at the University of Rochester Yellow Jacket Invitational on Sept. 14, Swiniarski capped the the month by placing 44th out of 252 runners at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College on Sept. 21. His time of 27:34.7 marked the second time this season and the sixth time in his career that he has finished an 8K race in under 28 minutes.
Swiniarski has now been Daemen's top finisher in 10 consecutive races dating back to the Wildcats' 2018 season opener. He placed first at that meet - the Daniel Walker Invitational - and hasn't looked back since. The Western New York native went on to earn second-team All-ECC honors last year by virtue of his ninth-place finish at the ECC Championships.
Swiniarski has competed in all 17 races over the past three seasons. He narrowly missed earning All-ECC honors as a rookie after placing 15th out of 72 runners at the 2017 ECC Championships with a time of 27:05.7.
The Daemen cross country teams are idle until Oct. 19 when they take part in the Canisius Alumni Classic.
