THE LEAD: The Daemen College men's soccer team opens East Coast Conference play this weekend with road games at Mercy College (Sept. 25) and St. Thomas Aquinas College (Sept. 27).
Friday, Sept. 25 (at Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.)
Daemen at Mercy, 4 p.m.
DC ROSTER / MC ROSTER / LIVE STATS / VIDEO
Sunday, Sept. 27 (at Sparkill, N.Y.)
Daemen at St. Thomas Aquinas, 3 p.m.
DC ROSTER / STAC ROSTER / LIVE STATS
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 (2-4-0; 0-0-0 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 opened the 2015 season with a 2-0 loss at Slippery Rock, before posting a 3-2 (2OT) win over Pitt.-Johnstown…Daemen snapped a three-game losing streak following a 1-0 win at D'Youville College this past Tuesday…seven different players have scored a goal so far this season…senior Frank Poppolo scored the game-winner against D'Youville, while junior Michael Gandt scored the "golden goal" off a feed from red-shirt freshman Jeremy Nand in the win over UPJ…Nand has totaled a team-high four assists…freshmen Kyle Tracy scored his first two career goals in a 3-2 loss to Stonehill…junior Alex Reid scored his 10th career goal during a 3-2 loss to Gannon…freshman Justin Figler (1.93 GAA) has gone the distance in net in all six games and made a season-high six saves in the season-opening loss to Slippery Rock…he stopped two shots against D'Youville en route to his first career shutout.
THE MAVERICKS (2-4-0; 0-1-0 ECC): Mercy was picked ninth in the 2015 ECC preseason poll...the Mavericks posted a 3-14-0 record (2-8-0 ECC) last fall…veteran head coach Chris Smith lost his leading goal scorer to graduation, but welcomes back midfielder Juan Gatti who led the team in assists (6) and ranked second in points (10)…MC suffered a 2-0 loss at Philadelphia University last week and opened ECC play with a 1-0 loss at Bridgeport last weekend…MC's two wins have come over Saint Rose (1-0) and Caldwell (4-1)…freshman Lucca Lacerda scored twice in the win over Caldwell and has totaled a team-high five points (2 gls, 1 ast)…sophomore Julio Sanchez (1.36 GAA) has started five games in net and made a season-high seven saves in the win over Caldwell.
THE SPARTANS (2-4-0; 0-1-0 ECC): St. Thomas Aquinas was picked 10th in the 2015 ECC preseason poll...the Spartans posted a 7-8-1 overall record and a 4-6-0 mark in the ECC last year…veteran head coach Graham Brown welcomes back All-ECC forward Michael Corbi who totaled a team-high 10 goals and 22 points last year…senior midfielder Jack Legg is also back after registering a team-high 13 assists last year…STAC opened the year with three-straight losses to Bloomsbury (5-1), Lock Haven (2-0) and East Stroudsburg (4-0), before posting back-to-back wins over New Haven (1-0) and Holy Family (2-1)…the Spartans opened ECC play with a 2-1 loss at Dowling last weekend…Corbi scored the game-winner against New Haven and also scored in the win over Holy Family…sophomore Alejandro Coyt-Orozco netted the game-winner against Holy Family…rookies Sean Connolly (1.65 GAA) and Jack Nicholson (2.50 GAA) have shared the goaltending duties…Connolly made five saves against New Haven en route to his first career shutout…Nicholson went the distance against Dowling and made three saves.
THE HISTORY: Friday's match will mark the third meeting between Daemen and the Mercy…Mercy has prevailed in the two previous meetings…the Mavericks posted 3-0 victory last year at Dimp Wagner Stadium…first-half goals by Roberto Dashi, Jonathan Garcia and Danny Leon, Jr. secured the win for the Mavericks…Mercy also prevailed in the first-ever meeting (2-1) during the 2013 season…Sunday's game will also mark the third all-time meeting between Daemen and STAC…the teams have split their first two meetings…the Wildcats prevailed (2-1 2OT) in a wild game last year at Dimp Wagner Stadium…DC opened the scoring following a goal by Sam Rugg in the 60th minute, but STAC forced OT when Michael Corbi scored with just 3:36 left in regulation time…Cole Beale netted the "golden goal" 2:56 into the second OT period…the Spartans posted a 3-0 victory during the 2013 season at STAC.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Wildcats are idle until Friday, Oct. 2 when they travel to rival Roberts Wesleyan College for an ECC match…click HERE for the complete 2015 schedule.
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.
