Wildcats Set For Saturday Matinee With Mercy

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

Men's Soccer | 10/6/2017 9:20:00 AM

GAME INFORMATION
Daemen Wildcats (4-7, 1-3 ECC) vs. Mercy Mavericks (7-3, 3-1 ECC)
Saturday, Oct. 7 | 1:00 p.m.
Amherst, N.Y. | Karrer Field

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

BACK IN THE SADDLE
Head coach Bobby McColl returns for his second season on the Daemen sidelines in 2017, and his sixth overall as a collegiate head coach. McColl heads into the 2017 season with a career coaching record of 47-41-8 with previous stops as the head men's coach at Greenville College (2012) and the head women's coach at Roberts Wesleyan College (2013-15). McCoy recently sat down for a video interview to preview his team's 2017 season.

WILDCATS PICKED 10TH IN ECC PRESEASON POLL
Following a vote of the league's head coaches, Daemen has been picked to finish 10th in the East Coast Conference this season. The Wildcats went 2-15 overall and 0-9 in league play last season. LIU Post, which has won four of the last five ECC titles, was voted as the unanimous favorite this season, and the Pioneers open the year ranked No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches Division II preseason poll.

INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
Daemen's roster features 11 international players - the most in team history.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Daemen boasts one of the youngest rosters in the country in 2017 with 22 freshmen. That hasn't stopped head coach Bobby McColl from leaning on his first-year college players. The Daemen coach has put at least nine freshmen in his starting lineup in every game this season. Freshmen Niklas Ringdahl Bohlin and Brage Wiik have started all 11 contests thus far, and 14 total freshmen have made at least one start. Of the team's 22 goals this season, 20 have been scored by freshmen. That's more goals than four ECC teams have scored overall this season.

ONE-TWO PUNCH
Freshmen forwards Kristian Aadnoy and Finn Krueger have made an immediate impact in their initial collegiate season. The pair has combined for eight goals, five assists and 21 points thus far. Aadnoy's five goals leads the team; four of his tallies came while helping the Wildcats to a 2-1 record in games between Sept. 4-10. He registered the first multi-goal game of his career with a pair of markers in Daemen's 3-2 road win at Stonehill, and added single tallies against Walsh and Bloomsburg. For his efforts, Aadnoy was named the East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week. He became just the third Daemen player since 2013 to earn any of league's three weekly awards. Krueger netted the game-winning goal in spectacular fashion (a diving header in the 88th minute) to lift Daemen to a 3-2 victory over Stonehill on Sept. 4. He went on to post back-to-back three-point games in losses to Bloomsburg and St. Thomas Aquinas to establish a four-game point streak.

STREAK STOPPERS
Daemen's 3-2 victory over Stonehill on Sept. 4 snapped a seven-game slide dating back to the last season, and a 31-game winless streak (0-30-1) against NCAA Division II opponents which dated back to the 2015 season. Daemen's 2-1 victory over Walsh on Sept. 9 snapped a 13-game slide in the all-time series with the Cavaliers. Daemen had been winless against their former NAIA and American Mideast Conference rivals in a series that dates back to Daemen's innaugural season of competition (2000).

REID RETURNS
The Daemen lineup got a boost at the start of the season with the return of redshirt senior forward Alex Reid who missed all of the 2016 season due to injury. Reid, who appeared in the 50th game of his career on Sept. 4 vs. Stonehill, has come off the bench in each game this season. He recorded a goal in a 3-2 loss at St. Thomas Aquinas on Sept. 16, his first since Oct. 30, 2015, and he scored again in last Tuesday's 3-1 loss at Gannon. It marked the third time in Reid's career that he's scored in back-to-back games, and the first time he's done so since Oct. 26 and Nov. 1 of 2013. For his career, Reid has totaled 15 goals, seven assists and 37 points in 58 games. Three of Reid's tallies have been of the game-winning variety, including two in wins over rival Roberts Wesleyan.

OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION
Daemen put together a string of five consecutive multi-goal games in September, marking the first time in team history that the team has recorded at least five-straight games with two or more goals. The previous long of four-straight multi-goal games had only been accomplished twice since the inception of the program in 2000, and not since 2005. Daemen has recorded two games with four goals this season, the first time that's been done since 2011. The Wildcats rank third among all ECC teams in total goals (22) and fourth in goals per game (2.00).

HEY ROOK-KEEM
Freshman forward/defender Noah Keem was named the ECC Rookie of the Week for games played Sept. 25 through Oct. 1. Keem registered two goals and an assist while helping Daemen to a 1-1 record for the week. The Sweet Home High School product notched his first career goal in the Wildcats' 4-0 shutout of Shepherd. He added an assist on a Kristian Aadnoy tally in that game. Keem went on to score Daemen's lone goal in a 5-1 loss at NYIT. In Wednesday's overtime win at Roberts Wesleyan, he tied the game at 1-1 with a goal in the 80th minute, and became the second Daemen player (Kristian Aadnoy) to register goals in three consecutive games this season.

THRUWAY RIVALRY WIN
Daemen is coming off a dramatic 2-1 win in overtime against longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan on Oct. 4. Noah Keem knotted the game at 1-1 with his goal in the 80th minute, and fellow freshman Sander Johannessen scored the game-winner in the 100th minute. Johannessen got free inside the box and scored with a low shot inside the right post after taking a feed from classmate Niklas Ringdahl Bohlin. It was the first goal of Johannessen's career as he became the first Daemen freshman to score an overtime game-winner since teammate Alex Reid did so in his collegiate debut which also delivered a win over Roberts Wesleyan (3-2, 2OT on Sept. 5, 2013). Freshman goalkeeper Mike D'Amato went the distance and made six saves to preserve the victory. The win snapped a 27-game winless drought (0-26-1) in East Coast Conference games that dated back to the 2014 season. It was also Daemen's first overtime win since defeating Pitt-Johnstown 3-2 (2OT) on Sept. 7, 2015, and it snapped a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) in games that went to overtime. Daemen is now 3-3 this season in games that are decided by one goal.

MERCY SCOUTING REPORT
Mercy is led by alumnus Pedro Velazquez who is in his second season as the team's head coach. Since taking the reins of the program, Velazquez has led the Mavericks to a 16-7-3 record. With 18 returning players from their 2016 team which went 9-4-3 overall and 3-4-2 in league play, the Mavericks were picked fifth in the ECC preseason poll this year. The team's returners are headlined by a pair of all-conference honorees; senior forward Ericson Penate led the team in scoring last season (8 gls, 2 asts, 18 pts) and was a third-team All-ECC selection; and junior midfielder Lucca Lacerda ranked fifth in the league in assists (7) en route to second-team All-ECC honors. The Mavericks will ride a four-game winning streak into Saturday's contest at Daemen, outscoring their opponents 9-3 in that span. The Mavericks last defeat was a 5-0 rout at District of Columbia on Sept. 16. League victories over NYIT (1-0), Queens (3-2) and Bridgeport (1-0), as well as a non-league win at Felician (4-1) have followed. The Mavericks have excelled defensively this season, ranking second in the ECC in goals-against average (1.10), behind only nationally-ranked LIU Post (0.98). Senior goalkeeper Kwantarian Van der Lara has played every minute of every game this season, and has tallied five shutouts with a .780 save percentage thus far. Sophomore midfielder/forward Maximiliano Rebolledo-Camus (5 gls, 1 ast, 11 pts) and Penate (5 gls, 10 pts) have paced the Maverick offense thus far, while Lacerda is tied for the league lead in assists with 6. Penate netted the lone goal in Mercy's 1-0 victory over Bridgeport earlier this week.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Mercy: 0-4
Streak: Lost 4
Last Meeting: Mercy 6, Daemen 0 | Sept. 16, 2016 | Amherst, N.Y.

UP NEXT
Daemen's three-game homestand continues Tuesday, Oct. 7 with a non-conference contest vs. Pitt-Johnstown.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Alex Reid: M/F; 5' 7"; Redshirt Senior

#9 Kristian Aadnoy: F; 5' 11"; Freshman

#16 Anthony Cupello: M; 5' 8"; Freshman

#7 Noah Keem: F/D; 6' 0"; Freshman

#11 Finn Krueger: M; 6' 1"; Freshman

#15 Samuel Lockman: F; 5' 11"; Freshman

#23 Niklas Ringdahl Bohlin: M; 6' 0"; Freshman

#4 Brage Wiik: D; 5' 9"; Freshman

#35 Mike D'Amato: GK; 5' 11"; Freshman

#5 Sander Johannessen: D/M; 6' 1"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#22 Alex Reid
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Senior
: M/F

#9 Kristian Aadnoy
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: F

#16 Anthony Cupello
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: M

#7 Noah Keem
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: F/D

#11 Finn Krueger
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: M

#15 Samuel Lockman
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: F

#23 Niklas Ringdahl Bohlin
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: M

#4 Brage Wiik
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: D

#35 Mike D'Amato
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: GK

#5 Sander Johannessen
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: D/M