USCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Nov. 5-8, Charleston, W. Va.
TOURNAMENT WEBSITE / BRACKET / LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD
THE LEAD: The Daemen College women's soccer team will be making its third-straight appearance in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Championship Tournament this weekend in Charleston, W. Va…West Virginia University Institute of Technology is serving as the tournament host…quarterfinal games will take place Thursday (Nov. 6) and the semifinals are set for Friday (Nov. 7)…the national championship game is set for Saturday (Nov. 8) at 1 p.m.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Wildcats are 5-1 in USCAA Tournament games over the past two seasons…Daemen made its first-ever appearance in the USCAA Tournament in 2012, DC's first year as a USCAA member…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…the Wildcats fell one game shy of repeating as national champions last year…Daemen was seeded second and advanced to the title game following wins over 10th-seeded West Virginia Tech (3-2) and sixth-seeded Albany College of Pharmacy (4-1)…the Wildcats suffered a 3-2 (OT) loss to top-seeded Maine-Fort Kent in the championship game.
TOURNAMENT FIELD: Daemen (4-13-1) is seeded third in the 10-team field and will face sixth-seed Carlow University (8-5-0) in the quarterfinal round Thursday (Nov. 6) at 2:30 p.m…two pre-quarterfinal games featuring seeds seven through 10 will take place Wednesday (Nov. 5)…eighth-seeded WVU Tech (3-8-3) and ninth-seeded Bryant & Stratton Syracuse (6-6-0) will play Wednesday at 11 a.m. and the winner will face top-seeded Maine-Fort Kent (12-2-1) in the quarterfinals Thursday at 5 p.m.…seventh-seeded Albany College of Pharmacy (11-5-0) and 10th-seeded Unity College (9-4-0) will play Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and the winner will face second-seeded SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry (12-1-0) in the quarterfinals Thursday at 7:30 p.m…the other quarterfinal match-up on Thursday will pit No. 4 Alfred State College (9-7-1) vs. No. 5 Florida College (6-6-2) at 12 p.m…UMFK has advanced to the championship game each of the past four seasons and claimed the title in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
THE COACH: Dan Dolan is in his sixth season as head coach at Daemen…the 2011 American Mideast Conference (AMC) Coach of the Year, Dolan owns a career record of 58-50-3 (.534)…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.
THE HISTORY vs. CARLOW: Daemen will be facing a familiar foe in the quarterfinals, as both Daemen and Carlow are former members of the now defunct American Mideast Conference (AMC)…Daemen has prevailed in the last 13 meetings between the two schools dating back to 2001, including a 2-1 victory in the semifinals of the 2012 USCAA Tournament in Ashville, N.C…Alexa Amato's goal with 7:14 remaining in regulation snapped a 1-1 tie and sent the Wildcats onto to national title game…current players Meghan Diehl, Juli Prentice and Meghan Lipinoga started for Daemen in that game.
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 WILDCATS: Daemen returns 14 players (8 starters) from last year's team that finished 10-10-0 overall and 1-8-0 in the 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 returned in 2014, as did three-year starter Rachael Banasik…goaltender Kathryn Haessner, who started 13 games and posted a 1.56 GAA with two shutouts last year, also returned to the fold…newcomers Rose Carboni (back), Alex Juliano (forward), Alexis Ruggiero (midfield) and Stephanie Zurales (forward) have all made an immediate impact…14 of Daemen's 18 games have been against NCAA Division II opponents this year…the Wildcats opened the 2014 season with wins over Rio Grande (2-1 OT) and defending USCAA champion Maine-Fort Kent (2-0), before suffering through a seven-game losing streak…Daemen snapped the skid following a 1-1 (OT) tie with St. Thomas Aquinas on Oct. 5…Daemen rallied for a 3-2 non-league win over Medaille College on Oct. 7, but went just 1-6-0 over its final seven games…Banasik (2 gls, 1 ast), sophomore Cassidy Kozub (2 gls, 1 ast), Carboni (2 gls, 1 ast) and senior Lindsay Stoddard (2 gls) have paced the offense…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…Kozub netted DC's lone goal in the tie with STAC and netted the game-winner in the win over Medaille…Haessner has started 14 games between the pipes and owns a 1.73 GAA…she established a season-high for saves (9) in a 2-0 loss to nationally-ranked Mercy and equaled the mark in the tie with STAC…senior midfielder Juli Prentice has started four games in net and made seven saves in a 2-1 loss to Mansfield…Prentice netted the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Alfred University last week.
CLOSE CALLS: 16 of Daemen's 18 games have been decided by two goals or less (and nine by one goal or less)…the Wildcats are 4-11-1 in games decided by two goals or less this season and 3-5-1 in games decided by one goal or less.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: Daemen has limited 14 of its 18 opponents to two goals of less this season, but the Wildcats are just 4-9-1 in those games.
THE CELTICS: Carlow is located in Pittsburgh, Pa…the Celtics joined the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference—a NAIA Division II conference—in 2012 after previously being affiliated with the American Mideast Conference (AMC)…the Celtics posted a 10-5-2 overall record last year and claimed the KIAC regular-season title (5-0-1)…Carlow was ranked fourth in the 2014 KIAC preseason poll…head coach Marcus Pollidore is in his ninth season with the Celtics and was named KIAC Coach of the Year in 2012 after leading the Celtics to the KIAC Tournament title and an appearance in the NAIA Tournament…senior back Nicolette Blake tops the list of returning players…she was named KIAC Defensive Player of the Year and first team All-KIAC last year…the Celtics have won five of their last six games…they had a four-game wining streak snapped following a 4-0 loss to Point Park on Oct. 23 and posted a 2-1 victory over Midway College last week…the Celtics suffered a 2-0 loss to Rio Grande earlier this year…Daemen defeated Rio Grande (2-1 OT) in its season-opener…senior midfielder Janelle McIntyre (4 gls, 1 ast) and freshman forward Breanne Wood (5 gls, 2 asts) have paced the offense…McIntyre scored twice in a recent 7-0 win over Penn State Beaver, while Wood netted a "hat trick" in the win over Penn State Beaver.
DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen is 12-4-0 against USCAA opponents over the past three seasons, with all four losses coming against top-seeded Maine Fort-Kent…UMFK is 60-4-3 over the past four seasons and three of the four losses have come against Daemen…the Wildcats defeated the Lady Bengals (1-0 OT) in the 2012 USCAA Tournament championship game, which also snapped UMFK's 33-game (32-0-1) unbeaten streak…Daemen handed UMFK its only loss of the 2013 season (2-0), and also downed the Lady Bengals earlier this season (2-0) at Daemen… DC's 3-2 loss at Mercyhurst earlier this year 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 42-4-1 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.
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.
