Men's Soccer Opens ECC Slate Saturday At STAC

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

Men's Soccer | 9/15/2017 9:30:00 AM

GAME INFORMATION
Daemen Wildcats (2-3, 0-0 ECC) vs. St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans (2-2, 0-0 ECC)
Saturday, Sept. 16 | 2:00 p.m.
Sparkill, N.Y. | Spartan Field

GAME LINKS
Live Stats
Live Video on the ECC Network

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.

NEWCOMERS GALORE
The biggest storyline heading into the 2017 season for Daemen is the number of new players on the roster, 24 of them to be exact, including 22 freshmen. Freshman Niklas Ringdahl Bohlin, a 6-foot midfielder, has been impressive enough in preseason training camp to have earned co-captain honors. Graduate student Ross Stewart. who played in 32 of a possible 35 games over two seasons at Davis & Elkins College, brings experience at the Division II level to Daemen's defense. Up front, look for an immediate impact from freshman striker Kristian Aadnoy. And between the pipes, freshmen Jarrett Lecceadone and Mitchell Coll have split time through the Wildcats' first five games.

REID RETURNS
The Daemen lineup got a boost with the return of red-shirt 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 totaled 13 goals, seven assists and 33 points. Three of Reid's tallies have been of the game-winning variety, including two in wins over rival Roberts Wesleyan.

INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
Daemen's roster features 11 international players - the most in team history. All 12 of the team's goals this season been scored by European-born freshmen. The Wildcats did not record their 12th goal last season until early October.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman forward Kristian Aadnoy has made an immediate impact on the Wildcats, leading the team in goals (4) and points (9) so far this season. All four of Aadnoy's tallies came last week when he helped the Wildcats to a 2-1 record. 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 for Sept. 4-10. He became just the third Daemen player since 2013 to earn any of league's three weekly awards (Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week, Rookie of the Week), and the first since Ali Shawish earned Rookie of the Week honors for Oct. 3-10, 2016.

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).

BLOOMSBURG BARN-BURNER
Daemen is coming off a 5-4 loss to visiting Bloomsburg this past Sunday, Sept. 10. The Wildcats held leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 in the contest, but couldn't close out what would have been their third consecutive victory. Wildcat goal-scorers included Victor Lanje, Finn Krueger, Kristian Aadnoy and Samuel Lockman. The four-goal output marked just the fifth time this decade, and the second time since the start of the 2012 season, that the Wildcats had scored that many times in a game.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS SCOUTING REPORT
St. Thomas Aquinas is led by veteran mentor Graham Brown who is nearing 20 years with the program. The Spartans return 22 players, including seven who started at least 10 games, from their 2016 squad which went 8-5-5 overall and 3-2-4 in league play. It was STAC's highest win total since going 11-4-4 in 2011. They also finished fourth in the ECC standings, qualifying for the ECC Tournament for the first time since 2010. Headlining the team's returners is junior midfielder Luis Morales whose 15 goals ranked second in the ECC and 16th nationally in 2016. Morales' 31 total points also ranked third in the ECC, and he grabbed second-team All-ECC, first-team All-East Region, and second-team All-America honors. The Spartans also return junior defender Brad Neal, a first-team All-ECC and second-team All-East Region pick last season, as well as third-team All-ECC midfielder Alejandro Coyt-Orozco. In goal, junior keeper Jack Nicholson returns after posting a 2.05 goals-against average and a .663 save percentage last season. The Spartans, who were picked fourth in the ECC preseason poll, have opened 2017 by splitting their first four games. STAC rebounded from a 4-0 shutout at Holy Family on Sept. 4 by picking up a 3-1 home win over American International last Saturday. Morales and Neal have each notched a pair of goals in the early going to lead the squad. Nicholson is once again handling the lion's share of the work between the pipes, posting a 2.38 goals-against average in four games played.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. St. Thomas Aquinas: 1-3
Streak: Lost 2
Last Meeting: St. Thomas Aquinas 2, Daemen 1 (OT) | Sept. 18, 2016 | Amherst, N.Y.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to non-conference action Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Gannon.

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Players Mentioned

#13 Ali Shawish: F; 5' 7"; Freshman

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

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

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

#3 Victor Lanje: D; 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

#1 Mitchell Coll: GK; 6' 0"; Freshman

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

Players Mentioned

#13 Ali Shawish
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: F

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

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

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

#3 Victor Lanje
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: D

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

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

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

#1 Mitchell Coll
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: GK

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