THE MATCHUPS: The Daemen College men's soccer team returns to conference play this weekend when it plays host to Dowling College and the University of Bridgeport...the Wildcats will face Dowling Friday at 1 p.m...Daemen caps the weekend by hosting Bridgeport Sunday at 1:30 p.m...live stats for both games can be accessed HERE.

THINK PINK: Sunday's game vs. Bridgeport will be part of the ECC "Pink Week" festivities that will be hosted by each men's and women's soccer team in the conference...at the selected contests, $2 donations will be taken in lieu of admission and ECC Pink Week t-shirts will also be sold for $10...all proceeds from each Pink Week game will be donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation...in addition to gate donations and t-shirt sales, ECC member schools will also sell prize packs, ribbons, and host 50/50 raffles to collect for the respective charitable organizations associated with Pink Week.

THE COACHES: Mark Spacone is in his third season as head coach at Daemen...he brings a wealth of knowledge to the position with 16 prior years of experience at nearly every level of the game, including collegiate, high school, club and Olympic Development...John DiRico is in his 22nd year as head coach at Dowling and entered the 2013 season with a 258-104-46 (.689) career record...he entered the season ranked 10th in career winning percentage and 13th in career victories among active Division II coaches...the 2006 NSCAA Division II National Coach of the Year, he has guided the Golden Lions to 12 NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and six NCAA Tournament regional championships (2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)...the Golden Lions claimed the 2006 NCAA national championship and finished as national runner-up in 2008...Brian Quinn is in his 14th year as head coach at Bridgeport and entered the 2013 season with a career record of 128-91-21 (.577)...he led the Purple Knights to a NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in 2007.

THE SERIES vs. DOWLING: Friday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Daemen and Dowling.

THE SERIES vs. BRIDGEPORT: Sunday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Daemen and Bridgeport.

NCAA DIVISION II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Two of the NCAA Division II membership process...Daemen has been accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and will play full regular-season conference schedules beginning this fall...the College will also maintain its affiliation with the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) for postseason opportunities, as it will not be eligible for the ECC or NCAA postseason during Candidacy Year Two.

THE WILDCATS (4-9-0; 0-5-0 ECC): Daemen returns 15 players and five starters from last year's team that posted a 4-9-0 record...the Wildcats were picked 11th in the ECC preseason poll...the Wildcats opened the 2013 season with a 3-2 (2 OT) win at conference rival Roberts Wesleyan on Sept. 5 and went 2-2 over the first four games...Daemen is 2-7-0 over its last nine games and snapped a three-game losing streak following a 3-1 win at Cleary University last weekend...Daemen's five ECC losses have come against Queens (5-2), Molloy (4-1), Roberts Wesleyan (2-1 OT), New York Tech (7-0) and top-ranked LIU Post (9-1)...senior Kyle Clifford (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Francis) and freshman Alex Reid (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) have paced the offense...Clifford scored twice in the season-opening win over Roberts Wesleyan and netted both goals in a 2-1 OT win over Buffalo State...he scored all three goals in the 3-1 win over Cleary and has totaled a team-high 20 points (9 gls, 2 ast)...Reid (5 gls, 3 asts) scored the OT "golden goal" in the season-opening win over Roberts Wesleyan and assisted on the OT game-winner against Buffalo State...he also netted both goals in a 2-0 win over Pitt-Johnstown on Sept. 29...senior defender Jared Contreras (Arcadia, Calf./Arcadia) is the only player to start all 13 games and has started 57 of a possible 58 games during his career...junior Matt Daddario (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) has started 12 games between the pipes...he made two saves against Pitt-Johnstown en route to his first career shutout...he recorded a season-high 11 saves in a 3-0 loss to nationally-ranked Brockport...he owns a 3.37 GAA with one shutout.

THE GOLDEN LIONS (7-3-1; 3-2-1 ECC): Dowling was picked fifth in the ECC preseason poll...the Golden Lions return 11 players from last year's squad that finished 2-15-1 overall (0-9-0 ECC)...a closer look at last year's results shows that eight of Dowling's 15 losses were by one goal...the Golden Lions split their first four games this fall, including a 2-1 loss at 14th-ranked Southern New Hampshire and a 2-1 OT setback to top-ranked LIU Post...Dowling has won four-straight games and is 5-1-1 over its last seven games...Dowling's four-game winning streak includes triumphs over Mercy (4-0), District of Columbia (3-1), Chestnut Hill (3-0) and Bloomfield (3-1)...Dowling's balanced attack features nine players with at least one goal...grad student Karlym Balthazar (5 gls, 1 ast), junior Chris Posillico (4 gls, 1 ast), sophomore Mike Gronenthal (3 gls, 1 ast) and newcomer Jose Herrera (3 gls) have led the way...sophomore Chris Friedl  (0.90 GAA, 2 SO) has started all 11 games in net...he made a season-high five saves in the 2-1 OT loss to top-ranked LIU Post...he ranks third among the ECC leaders in GAA.

THE PURPLE KNIGHTS (5-5-0; 3-2-0 ECC): Bridgeport was picked second in the ECC preseason poll...the Purple Knights return 15 players from last year's team that posted a 10-8-0 overall record (8-1-0 ECC)...senior defender Clayton Ulmer has been voted ECC Defensive Player of the Year the past two seasons, while senior midfielder Andreas Blanke also returns after totaling a team-high 16 points (7 gls, 2 asts) and earning second-team All-ECC honors last year...the Purple Knights opened the year with four-straight losses to Franklin Pierce (1-0), Wilmington (1-0), Nyack (2-0) and Dowling (1-0), before stringing together four-straight wins over Mercy (2-0), St. Thomas Aquinas (1-0), Molloy (2-0) and Bloomfield (1-0)...UB saw its winning streak come to an end following a 3-0 loss to top-ranked LIU Post last weekend, and posted a 3-2 win over Southern Connecticut on Tuesday...UB plays at Roberts Wesleyan Friday night...junior Lee Martins scored both goals in the win over Molloy and has accounted for three of UB's nine goals thus far...sophomore Luis Fajardo (5 asts) and senior Christoffer Olesen (2 gls) have also produced...newcomer Aqustin Prados (1.02 GAA, 4 SO) has started all 10 games  in goal and made a season-high seven saves in the 3-2 win over SCSU Tuesday night...he is tied for the league lead in shutouts (4) and ranks fourth in save percentage (.787).

HONOR ROLL: Kyle Clifford was named to the weekly ECC honor roll after netting all three goals in the win over Cleary on Sunday...it marked his third multi-goal game of the season (ninth of his career) and his first "hat trick" since the 2011 season.

DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen has two players with at least five goals for just the second time in the past seven seasons...Kyle Clifford ranks second among the ECC leaders in goals (9), points (20) and shots (46)...he scored his 25th career goal during the loss to Queens on Sept. 21 and has totaled 66 points (29 gls, 8 asts) in 54 career games...Alex Reid ranks seventh among all ECC players and second among ECC freshmen in goals scored (5)...Matt Daddario leads the ECC in total saves (60).

WHAT'S NEXT: The Wildcats return to action Oct. 26 when they host the University of the District of Columbia in their 2013 home finale...game time is 1 p.m at Dimp Wagner Stadium.

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College men's soccer on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics or @DaemenSoccer) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics or www.facebook.com/daemenmenssoccer) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.