THE LEAD: The Daemen College men's soccer team hosts the University of the District of Columbia in East Coast Conference action Saturday.
Saturday, Oct. 17 (at Dimp Wagner Stadium - Amherst, N.Y.)
District of Columbia at Daemen, 1 p.m.
DC ROSTER / UDC ROSTER / LIVE STATS / GAME PROGRAM
DIVISION II DEBUT: Daemen successfully completed a three-year membership process and was approved for active membership status at the NCAA Division II level by the NCAA Membership Committee his past summer…Daemen was accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) in July of 2012 and began playing full regular-season conference schedules in the fall of 2013…the 2015-16 academic year will mark the first year Daemen will be eligible for ECC and NCAA post-season play.
THE COACH: Dan Dolan enters his first season as head men's soccer coach at Daemen…a familiar face to Daemen athletics, Dolan has served as head women's soccer coach at Daemen for the past six seasons…he will continue as head coach of the women's soccer program…the 2011 American Mideast Conference (AMC) Coach of the Year, Dolan guided the Daemen women to the 2012 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national championship and a runner-up showing at the USCAA Championship Tournament in 2013 and 2014.
THE WILDCATS (2-8-1; 0-4-1 ECC): Daemen returns 14 players from last year's team that finished 5-10-0 overall and 2-8-0 in the East Coast Conference…Daemen was voted 11th in the 2015 ECC preseason poll…first-year head coach Dan Dolan returns the top two scorers from last year, but has a huge hole to fill at goaltender following the graduation of four-year starter Matt Daddario…junior Cole Beale is back after notching a team-high five goals and 11 points last year…the Wildcats are looking to snap a five-game winless streak (0-4-1) and are coming off losses to Queens (3-0) and Molloy (3-0) this past weekend…the Wildcats opened ECC play with losses to Mercy (3-1) and St. Thomas Aquinas (3-2) three weeks ago and battled rival Roberts Wesleyan to a 3-3 (2OT) on Oct. 2…eight different players have scored a goal so far this season…freshman Kyle Tracy scored his first two career goals in a 3-2 loss to Stonehill and also scored twice in the OT tie with RWC…he has totaled a team-high 10 points (5 gls, 0 asts)…senior Frank Poppolo scored the game-winner in a recent 1-0 win over D'Youville, while junior Michael Gandt scored the "golden goal" off a feed from red-shirt freshman Jeremy Nand in a 3-2 (2OT) win over Pitt.-Johnstown…Nand has totaled a team-high four assists…junior Alex Reid scored his 10th career goal during a 3-2 loss to Gannon and has totaled seven points (3 gls, 1 ast)…freshman Justin Figler (2.37 GAA, 1 SHO) has gone the distance in net in all 11 games and made a season-high nine saves in the loss to Queens last weekend…he stopped seven shots in the OT tie with RWC.
THE FIREBIRDS (4-8-1; 2-4-0 ECC): UDC was picked fourth (tie) in the 2015 ECC preseason poll...the Firebirds finished 9-7-1 overall and 5-5-0 in the ECC last fall…head coach Matt Thompson must overcome the loss of first-team All-ECC forward Felix Angerer and second-team All ECC midfielder Nenad Smiljanic…Angerer transferred to Division I West Virginia, while Smiljanic transferred to Division I Georgia State…senior goalkeeper Louis Connor returns after earning honorable mention All-ECC honors last year…UDC had a three-game winning streak snapped following a 4-0 loss to NYIT last weekend and is coming off a 2-1 non-league loss to Gannon on Tuesday…senior midfielder Elio Hernandez had a goal and an assist in a recent 4-1 win over St. Thomas Aquinas and has totaled a team-high 12 points (3 gls, 6 asts)…additional offense has come from junior back Victor Furio (4gls, 2 asts), junior forward Mehdl Badache (3 gls, 1 ast) and sophomore forward Maurice Schwab (3 gls, 1 ast)…Connor (2.17 GAA, 1 SHO) has started all 13 games in net...he made seven saves in the loss to NYIT last weekend.
THE HISTORY: Saturday's game will mark the third all-time meeting between Daemen and UDC…the teams battled to a 2-2 (2OT) tie in the first-ever meeting during the 2013 season at Dimp Wagner Stadium…the Firebirds posted a 3-0 victory last year at UDC…Elio Hernandez, Liam Haycock and Nenad Smiljanic scored for UDC.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Wildcats are idle until next weekend when they travel to Long Island, N.Y. for ECC games against New York Institute of Technology (Oct. 23) and LIU Post (Oct. 25).
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College athletics on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics / @DaemenMSOC) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.
