THE DETAILS: The Daemen College women's soccer team will look to defend its 2012 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Tournament championship this weekend in Charleston, W. Va…West Virginia University Institute of Technology is serving as the tournament host…quarterfinal games will take place Thursday (Oct. 31) and the semifinals are set for Friday (Nov. 1)…the national championship game is set for Saturday (Nov. 2) at 1 p.m…to view the full tournament bracket click HERE…the full tournament website can be accessed HERE...the USCAA is again partnering with Tourbeau Sports to provide live streaming broadcasts of select tournament games.

TITLE DEFENSE: The Wildcats made their first-ever appearance in the USCAA Tournament last fall…Daemen was seeded sixth and claimed the championship following wins over third-seeded Pennsylvania College of Technology (2-0), second-seeded Carlow University (2-1) and top-seeded Maine-Fort Kent (1-0 OT)…UMFK was the two-time defending champion.

TOURNAMENT FIELD: Daemen (8-9-0) is seeded second in the 10-team field and will face the winner of the pre-quarterfinal matchup between No. 7 Paul Smith's College (9-3-1) and No. 10 West Virginia Tech (4-13-0) Thursday at 5:15 p.m…eighth-seeded Penn College (9-6-2) and ninth-seeded Maine-Machias (15-3-1) will meet in the other pre-quarterfinal game and the winner will face top-seeded Maine-Fort Kent (14-1-1) in the quarterfinals…the two other quarterfinal match-ups will pit No. 3 Florida College (8-5-0) vs. No. 6 Albany College of Pharmacy (11-2-1) and No. 4 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (10-1-1) vs. No. 5 Alfred State College (11-4-1)…UMFK has advanced to the championship game each of the past three seasons and claimed the title in 2010 and 2011…Alfred State is in its first year as a member of the USCAA.

THE COACH: Dan Dolan is in his fifth season as head coach at Daemen...the 2011 American Mideast Conference (AMC) Coach of the Year, Dolan has led the Wildcats to three consecutive winning seasons and owns a career record of 52-36-2 (.589)...he guided Daemen to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national championship last fall and recorded his 50th career victory following a 5-0 win over Rochester College on Oct. 12.

THE HISTORY: Daemen has a limited history with both of its possible quarterfinal opponents…Daemen and Paul Smith's have just one prior meeting, with the Wildcats posting a 5-0 victory during the 2010 season…Daemen and WVU Tech have never met on the soccer pitch.

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: Daemen lost six starters from last year's team that won eight of its final nine contests en route to the USCAA championship...Daemen is ranked second in the USCAA national poll released Oct. 18...Daemen won three of its first four games, including a 2-0 win over Maine-Fort Kent in a rematch of last year's USCAA championship game...the Wildcats are 5-5-0 over their last 10 games...eight of Daemen's nine losses have come against East Coast Conference opponents…the Wildcats are 4-0-0 against USCAA opponents this fall having posted wins over UMFK (2-0), SUNY Canton (5-0), Rochester (5-0) and Cleary (4-1)…Daemen is 7-0-0 against its last seven USCAA opponents dating back to last season…the Wildcats are 9-3-0 against USCAA opponents over the past two seasons, with all three losses coming against UMFK…Daemen's backline--led by juniors Hannah Fraser (Milton, Vt./Milton) and Meghan Diehl (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) and redshirt-sophomore Meghan Lipinoga (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Canisius College)--has limited 10 of DC's 17 opponents to one goal or less...redshirt senior Kacey Bougard (East Aurora, N.Y./Sacred Heart) and senior Samantha Engel (Dryden, N.Y./Dryden) have paced the offense...Bougard made the most of her first game action since 2010 with a "hat trick" and an assist in a 4-1 season-opening win over Alderson-Broaddus...she was named ECC Offensive Player of the Week and USCAA Player of the Week after totaling 10 points (4 gls, 2 asts) in a  recent 2-2-0 week...she registered her second "hat trick" of the season in a 5-0 win over SUNY Canton and has totaled a team-best 12 goals and 30 points on the year...Engel was named ECC Offensive Player of the Week and USCAA Player of the Week after totaling a goal and an assist in each of the season-opening wins over A-B and UMFK…a second-team USCAA All-America selection last year, she has totaled 18 points (7 gls, 4 asts) overall…additional offense has come from juniors Rachael Banasik (Depew, N.Y./Depew) and Jill Prentice (Dryden, N.Y./Dryden)…Banasik has totaled three goals and two assists, while Prentice has added three goals and one assist…senior Alexa Amato (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island), who totaled a team-best 10 goals and 22 points and earned first-team USCAA All-America honors last year, has played in just four games this season due to injury…redshirt freshman Kathryn Haessner (Moravia, N.Y./Moravia) has started 13 games in net and made a career-high 13 saves in a 3-0 loss to LIU Post...she made nine saves in the win over UMFK...that effort earned her ECC Co-Rookie of the Week honors...she owns a 1.56 GAA with two shutouts...redshirt senior Rachel Reichart (Marilla, N.Y./Iroquois Central) has appeared in nine games (four starts) and recorded her first career shutout following the 3-0 win over Alfred.

DID YOU KNOW?: Top-seeded Maine-Fort Kent is 46-2-2 over the past three seasons and both of the losses have come against Daemen…the Wildcats defeated the Lady Tigers (1-0 OT) in last year's USCAA Tournament championship game and Daemen handed UMFK its only loss of the 2013 season (2-0) back on Sept. 7 in Amherst…Daemen snapped UMFK's 33-game (32-0-1) unbeaten streak in last year's USCAA title game…Daemen is 38-2-1 since the start of the 2010 season when it scores two or more goals...the Wildcats are 13-0-0 in the last 13 games in which they have scored two or more goals...Kacey Bougard ranks 15th in goals (12), 17th in assists (6) and 19th in points (30) among the USCAA leaders…Kathryn Haessner ranks 14th in saves (89) and seventh in save percentage (.832) among the USCAA leaders…senior Samantha Engel did not play in the win over Alfred last week…she had played in every game (72 games, 69 starts) since the start of the 2010 season…Engel has totaled 93 career points (32 gls, 29 asts)…senior GK Rachel Reichart went the distance in the 3-0 win over Alfred last week and made three saves en route to her first career shutout…freshmen Kelly DuVall (Addison, N.Y./Addison), Caitlyn Grover (Canandaigua, N.Y./Marcus Whitman) and Cassidy Kozub (West Seneca, N.Y./Orchard Park) netted their first career goals in recent games...DuVall scored in the 4-1 win over St. Thomas Aquinas, Grover scored in the 5-0 win over SUNY Canton and Kozub scored in the 3-0 win over Alfred.

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