Women's Soccer Continues Postseason Push At Queens

By: Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Women's Soccer | 10/17/2017 12:00:00 PM

GAME INFORMATION
Daemen Wildcats (7-5-1, 3-3-0 ECC) vs. Queens Knights (2-9-2, 0-5-1 ECC)
Wednesday, Oct. 18 | 1:00 p.m.
Flushing, N.Y. | QC Soccer Field

GAME LINKS
Live Stats
Live Video on the ECC Network
Game Day

OH DANNY BOY
Head coach Dan Dolan returns for his ninth season on the Daemen sidelines in 2017. Since taking the reins of the program in 2009, Dolan has guided the Wildcats to a 78-76-7 record, and is the program's all-time leader in wins. The high water mark of Dolan's tenure came in 2011 when the Wildcats went 15-4 overall and 11-1 in their final season as an affiliate of the now-defunct American Mideast Conference (AMC), with Dolan earning AMC Coach of the Year honors. He went on to lead the program to three-straight appearances in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national championship game during the team's transition to NCAA Division II, winning the title in 2012.

WILDCATS PICKED 8TH IN ECC PRESEASON POLL
Following a vote of the league's head coaches, Daemen has been picked to finish eighth in the East Coast Conference this season. The Wildcats went 4-10-2 overall and 1-6-1 in league play last season. Bridgeport, which has won the last two ECC and East Region championships, was picked as the favorite to win the league again this year, and the Purple Knights open the season ranked No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches Division II preseason poll.

BEND IT LIKE BOYAR
Daemen returns its top five point producers from last season, headlined by sophomore striker Jamie Boyar who totaled six goals, four assists and 16 points as a true freshman in 2016. In doing so, she became the first Daemen freshman to lead the team in goals and points since Alicia Vasiloff in 2008, and her point total was the most for a Daemen freshman since Kim Obermeier posted 21 points in 2012. She also led the team in shots (38) and shots on goal (19), and was one of only three players to start all 16 games. The Wildcats posted a 2-2-1 record in games that she scored in last season.

VETERAN PRESENCE
Daemen's roster features five players who have played in more than 30 games in their respective careers. On defense, junior Alex Valenti has started 46 of the 47 games she's appeared in during her career. She's joined by classmate Monique Green who has been a constant in the Wildcats' starting lineup after doubling her starts, from seven as a freshman to 14 last season. In the midfield, redshirt junior Sarah Britton is coming off her finest season as she tallied three goals and seven points in 2016. Britton has made 21 starts and 46 appearances in her career. And up front, the Wildcats retain the services of seniors Alex Juliano and Kalyn Compeau. Juliano has seven goals and 18 points in 59 career games, while Compeau has totaled 14 goals and 33 points over 49 career games, including the two seasons she played for Medaille.

FRESH FACES
The Wildcats welcome 21 newcomers to the roster in 2017, including 17 freshmen. Ten freshman have made at least one start through the Wildcats' first 13 games this season. Midfielders Sam Hanes and Celia de Pablo Esteban, and defenders Kayla Goeddertz and Sam D'Agostino have started all 13 games thus far. Hanes ranks third on the team with two goals this season. Spanish native de Pablo Esteban ranks second on the team in both goals (4) and points (10). Goeddertz earned her first career assist in Daemen's 2-1 (OT) win at St. Thomas Aquinas on Sept. 16. Freshmen goalkeepers Katelin White and Maddie Flores have also contributed, helping Daemen lead the league in total saves (90) while also ranking fifth in goals-against average (1.33).

MAKING A MOVE
One of the new additions to the roster should be a familiar name for Daemen fans as Leah McDonell transitions to soccer from the women's basketball team. McDonell completed her four years of basketball eligibility last winter, finishing her career with 1,005 points, 511 rebounds, 258 assists and 150 steals. She was a second-team All-ECC performer last winter, and she joins a list that includes former hoopers Lindsay Stoddard and Joanna Daugenti as players who have competed in both soccer and basketball for the Wildcats. McDonell has appeared in seveb games off the bench this season. She tallied her first career goal in a 2-1 win over Goldey-Beacom on Sept. 19.

LIGHTNING GROUNDED
Daemen registered a 2-1 non-league win Sept. 19 over Goldey-Beacom. The Lightning, out of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, entered the game with an unblemished 6-0-1 record this season, and as winners of 18 contests since the start of the 2016 season. Maddie Flores made her second start of the season and registered 11 saves to help Daemen offset a 27-9 disparity in total shot attempts. Less than 30 seconds after entering the game as a sub, Leah McDonell scored off a feed from Celia de Pablo Esteban to put the Wildcats ahead in the 36th minute. GBC would get the equalizer with less than two minutes remaining in the opening half. The game remained tied until Sarah Britton found a streaking Jamie Boyar who sent a high, line drive shot from the far right wing to the back of the net in the 60th minute which proved to be the game-winner. It was Daemen's fifth win of the season, surpassing the team's total from all of 2016 with nine games left on the docket this season.

THRUWAY RIVALRY WIN
Daemen picked up a 1-0 victory over longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan on Oct. 4. Jamie Boyar snapped a scoreless tie in the 73rd minute and the Wildcat defense played stout in holding the Redhawks off the board for the full 90 minutes. Katelin White recorded her second shutout of the season, needing to make just one save to do so. The win evened Daemen's league record (2-2), surpassing their ECC win total from all of last season in the process. It also snapped a four-game slide in the all-time series with the Redhawks, giving the Wildcats their first win in the series since 2012. Now 7-11-3 all-time against the Redhawks, head coach Dan Dolan has presided over four of the team's wins in the series since taking the reins of the program in 2009.

DRAMA QUEENS
Daemen is a cool 3-0-1 in overtime games this season, and have posted three consecutive victories in such contests. Sophomore forward Jamie Boyar cashed in a penalty kick opportunity that was generated by freshman forward Kayla Neumann in the first overtime period of Daemen's 2-1 victory over Lake Erie on Sept. 8. Just eight days later, in the Wildcats' East Coast Conference opener, freshman forward Kaylyn Phillips entered the game at the 96:59 mark, and less than a minute later she delivered the "golden goal" in Daemen's 2-1 defeat of St. Thomas Aquinas. On Sept. 19, Boyar struck again with a header goal in the 104th minute to beat Clarion, becoming the first Daemen player with two overtime game-winners in the same season since Samantha Engel in 2011. Daemen holds a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) in overtime games dating back to the 2015 season. The Wildcats are also 5-2 this season in games decided by one goal.

I CAN BE YOUR HERO
Sophomore forward Jamie Boyar was voted the Herosports.com Division II Hero of the Week after scoring three of the Wildcats' four goals in non-league wins over Lake Erie (2-1, OT, Sept. 8) and Tiffin (2-0, Sept. 10). She scored her first career "golden goal" against Lake Erie, burying a penalty kick opportunity in the first overtime period. She went on to register the second multi-goal game of her career in the win over Tiffin. Hero of the Week nominations were announced on Tuesday, Sept. 12 with an online voting platform which ran through Friday, Sept. 15. Boyar gathered 755 total votes, accounting for 54.99 percent of the total vote. It was the second weekly accolade for Boyar who also earned ECC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

DYNAMIC DUO
Freshman goalkeepers Katelin White and Maddie Flores have both been impressive thus far in their rookie seasons. White earned ECC Defensive Player of the Week honors for Sept. 4-10 after totaling 16 saves in wins over Lake Erie (2-1, OT, Sept. 8) and Tiffin (2-0, Sept. 10). White turned aside 11 Tiffin shot attempts en route to her first career shutout, the most saves by a Daemen goalkeeper in a shutout since Kathryn Haessner made nine in a 2-0 defeat of Maine-Fort Kent on Sept. 7, 2013. She went on to add ECC Rookie of the Week honors for Sept. 11-17 after making nine saves in Daemen's 2-1 (OT) victory at St. Thomas Aquinas on Sept. 16, helping Daemen to a 1-0 start in conference play for the first time since joining the ECC in 2013. Not the be outdone, Flores earned ECC Rookie of the Week honors for Sept. 18-24. In her first career start, Flores went the distance, playing over 103 minutes and making six saves in Daemen's 1-0 shutout of Clarion on Sept. 19. And, Flores was named the ECC Defensive Player of the Week and nominated for the Herosports.com Division II Hero of the Week for Sept. 25-Oct. 1 after making 11 saves in Daemen's 2-1 defeat of Goldey-Beacom on Sept. 26. White came back to earn ECC Rookie of the Week honors for Oct. 9-15 after making nine saves and recording her third shutout in Daemen's 2-0 victory over Bridgeport on Oct. 14. Together, White and Flores have a collective save percentage of .832 this season as they've combined to make a league-best 90 total saves. Daemen's 1.33 goals-against average presently ranks fifth in the ECC.

A SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER
Going 5-3-1 in the month of September, Daemen got off to its best start since 2011 when the team posted six September victories en route to a 15-4 campaign. The Wildcats secured the outright regular season championship in their final year as a member of the American Mideast Conference with an 11-1 league record that season, but it was Roberts Wesleyan who bounced Daemen from the conference tournament with a 2-1 road win in the semifinal round.

BOYAR FOR THE WIN
Sophomore forward Jamie Boyar leads Daemen in goals (9) and points (20) this season, ranking among the ECC leaders in both categories at present (second in goals, third in points). Among Boyar's goal total is six game-winning goals, best in the ECC this season, and the most for a Daemen player since Samantha Engel notched the same amount in 2011. She's the first Daemen player to reach the 20-point plateau since Engel (30) and Kacey Bougard (33) both did so in 2013. Over the last two seasons, Boyar has started all 29 contests that Daemen has played while racking up 15 goals, six assists and 36 points. Daemen is 6-1 this season and 8-3-1 in her career when she scores.

SIGNATURE WIN
Daemen is coming off a 2-0 win over perennial powerhouse Bridgeport this past Saturday, Oct. 14. It was Daemen's first win the all-time series with the Purple Knights, a team that started the season ranked No. 7 in the country, and the preseason favorite to win a third-straight ECC title. Jamie Boyar scored both Daemen goals over a six-minute span in the second half, and Katelin White made nine saves to record her third shutout of the season. The Wildcats overcame a 21-13 disparity in total shot attempts to defeat a Bridgeport team that advanced to the "Final Four" of the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2015, and the "Elite 8" last year.

QUEENS SCOUTING REPORT
Queens is led by second-year head coach Nicole Pacapelli who guided the Knights to a 4-12-1 record in her first season on job. Queens returns 10 players from their 2016 team, including a pair of third-team All-ECC honorees in senior goalkeeper Nicole Cranny and senior forward Erin Vernillo. Cranny finished second in the league last season with a .860 save percentage, and ranked fourth in goals-against average (1.06), Vernillo paced the QC offense with six goals and 13 points last season. The Knights will enter Wednesday's contest with a 2-9-2 overall record, and they are still searching for their first league win of the season (0-5-1). QC is just 1-6-1 since mid-September; their lone win recently was a 4-1 defeat of Post in non-conference play Oct. 4. The Knights are coming off a 1-0 loss at Roberts Wesleyan this past Saturday. With 14 goals this season, only Roberts Wesleyan has scored fewer times (6) among ECC teams. The Knights also rank ninth in the league in goals-against average (2.01). Sophomore midfielder Guro Eriksen, one of Queens' 18 newcomers, has paced the offense with five goals and 11 points so far this season. Vernillo (3 goals, 3 assists, 9 points) has also produced. Cranny has again seen the bulk of the action between the pipes; she has made 53 saves (fifth in the league) and posted a .679 save percentage.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Queens: 0-3-1
Streak: Tied 1
Last Meeting: Daemen 1, Queens 1 (2OT) | Sept. 30, 2016 | Flushing, N.Y.

UP NEXT
Daemen's regular-season ending stretch of four consecutive road games continues Saturday, Oct. 21 with the Wildcats visiting Bloomfield for a non-conference contest.

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Players Mentioned

#23 Jamie Boyar: F; 5' 2"; Sophomore

#9 Sarah Britton: M; 5' 6"; Redshirt Junior

#5 Kalyn Compeau: F/M; 5' 6"; Senior

#22 Monique Green: D; 5' 8"; Junior

#32 Alex Juliano: F; 5' 2"; Senior

#7 Alex Valenti: D; 5' 4"; Junior

#17 Celia de Pablo Esteban: M; 5' 6"; Freshman

#35 Maddie Flores: GK; 5' 8"; Freshman

#20 Sam Hanes: M/F; 5' 2"; Freshman

#16 Kayla Neumann: M/F; 5' 6"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#23 Jamie Boyar
: 5' 2"; Sophomore
: F

#9 Sarah Britton
: 5' 6"; Redshirt Junior
: M

#5 Kalyn Compeau
: 5' 6"; Senior
: F/M

#22 Monique Green
: 5' 8"; Junior
: D

#32 Alex Juliano
: 5' 2"; Senior
: F

#7 Alex Valenti
: 5' 4"; Junior
: D

#17 Celia de Pablo Esteban
: 5' 6"; Freshman
: M

#35 Maddie Flores
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: GK

#20 Sam Hanes
: 5' 2"; Freshman
: M/F

#16 Kayla Neumann
: 5' 6"; Freshman
: M/F