THE LEAD: The Daemen College women's soccer team travels across town to face Medaille College in a non-league match Tuesday (Oct. 7)…game time is 11 a.m. at Johnnie B. Wiley Stadium in Buffalo.
Tuesday, Oct. 7
Daemen at Medaille - 11 a.m.
Johnnie B. Wiley Stadium - Buffalo, N.Y.
LIVE STATS
THE COACHES: Dan Dolan enters his sixth season as head coach at Daemen. The 2011 American Mideast Conference (AMC) Coach of the Year, Dolan has led the Wildcats to four consecutive non-losing seasons and owns a career record of 56-44-3 (.539). He guided Daemen to the 2012 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national championship and a runner-up showing at the USCAA Championship Tournament last year. Daniel Krzyzanowicz is in his first season as head coach at Medaille.
MOVE TO II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Three of the NCAA Division II membership process. Daemen has been accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and began playing full regular-season conference schedules last 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 Three.
THE HISTORY: Daemen and Medaille have met just three times in the past nine seasons and Daemen has prevailed in each of the previous three meetings…the teams last met during the 2011 season and the Wildcats posted a 3-1 victory at All High Stadium in Buffalo…Samantha Engel led the way with two goals.
THE WILDCATS (2-7-1; 0-3-1 ECC): Daemen returns 14 players (8 starters) from last year's team that finished 10-10-0 overall and 1-8-0 in the competitive East Coast Conference…the Wildcats advanced to the championship game of the USCAA Tournament for the second-straight year, but a 3-2 OT loss to top-seeded Maine-Fort Kent denied Daemen its second-straight USCAA national championship…Daemen was voted ninth in the ECC preseason poll…graduation took its toll up front, with the loss of forwards Kacey Bougard (13 gls, 7 asts) and Samantha Engel (11 gls, 8 asts) who both collected first team USCAA All-America honors…USCAA All-American defenders Meghan Diehl and Meghan Lipinoga return, as does three-year starter Rachael Banasik…goaltender Kathryn Haessner, who started 13 games and posted a 1.56 GAA with two shutouts last year, also returns to the fold…newcomers Rose Carboni (back), Alex Juliano (forward), Alexis Ruggiero (midfield) and Stephanie Zurales (forward) have all made an immediate impact…click HERE for a complete season preview…the Wildcats opened the 2014 season with wins over Rio Grande (2-1 OT) and Maine-Fort Kent (2-0), before suffering through a seven-game losing streak…Daemen suffered a 2-0 loss to nationally-ranked Mercy College this past Friday, before snapping the losing skid following a 1-1 (2 OT) tie with St. Thomas Aquinas on Sunday…Lindsay Stoddard and Emily Ward scored their first career goals in the win over Rio Grande, while Carboni and Juliano did the same in the win over UMFK…Stoddard and Banasik scored in 3-2 loss to Mercyhurst, while sophomore Cassidy Kozub netted DC's lone goal in the tie with STAC…Haessner has gone the distance in goal in all 10 games (1.53 GAA)…she established a season-high for saves (9) in the loss to Mercy and equaled the mark in the tie with STAC.
THE MAVERICKS (4-5-0; 3-0-0 AMCC): Medaille is a member of the Allegheny Mountain Athletic Conference, a 10-member NCAA Division III conference…the Mavericks were ranked seventh the AMCC preseason poll…MC posted a 4-13-1 overall record and a 3-5-1 mark in the AMCC last fall…all-conference selections Candis Kapuscinski and Alyssa Unterborn top the list of returning players…Kapuscinski totaled a team-high 20 points (8 gls, 4 asts) last year…the Mavericks lost their first five games this fall, but enter Tuesday's game riding a four-game winning streak…the winning streak includes triumphs over Thiel (4-1), Pitt-Greensburg (1-0), Pitt-Bradford (2-1) and Penn State Altoona (2-1)…Kapuscinski scored both goals in the win over Penn State Altoona and has totaled a team-high 13 points (6 gls, 1 ast)…additional offense has come from freshmen Kalyn Compeau (3 gls, 2 asts) and Jaime Michalewski (1 gl, 2 asts)…junior Morgan Howe has started six games in net and owns a 1.56 GAA and one shutout…she made 15 saves in the 2-1 win over Pitt-Bradford and stopped 12 shots in the 2-1 win over Penn State Altoona.
DID YOU KNOW?: DC's recent 3-2 loss at Mercyhurst marked just the fourth time since the start of the 2010 season that the Wildcats have lost a game when scoring two or more goals…Daemen is 41-4-1 since the start of the 2010 season when it scores two or more goals…the Wildcats had won 15-straight games in which they scored two or more goals before suffering a 3-2 OT loss to Maine-Fort Kent in last year's USCAA Tournament championship game.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Wildcats return to East Coast Conference play this weekend when they host rival Roberts Wesleyan College Saturday (Oct. 11). Game time is 12:30 p.m. at Dimp Wagner Stadium. Click HERE to view Daemen's complete 2014 schedule.
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College women's soccer on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics or www.facebook.com/daemencollegewomenssoccer) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.
