Men's Soccer Visits Shepherd Monday

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

Men's Soccer | 9/24/2017 8:25:00 AM

GAME INFORMATION
Daemen Wildcats (2-6, 0-2 ECC) vs. Shepherd Rams (0-6-1, 0-3-0 MEC)
Monday, Sept. 25 | 2:30 p.m.
Shepherdstown, W.Va. | SU Soccer Complex

GAME LINKS
Live Stats

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. Of the team's 15 goals this season, 13 have been scored by European-born freshmen.

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 Kristian Aadnoy, Samuel Lockman and Brage Wiik have started all eight contests thus far, and 14 total freshmen have made at least one start.

ONE-TWO PUNCH
Freshmen forwards Kristian Aadnoy and Finn Krueger have made an immediate impact in their initial collegiate season. The pair shares the team lead in points with nine apiece. Aadnoy leads the team in goals, and all 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, who shares the team lead in assists with fellow freshman Anthony Cupello, has scored three times. He netted the game-winner 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 which was snapped last week at Gannon.

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).

LAST TIME OUT
Daemen is coming off a 3-0 loss to nationally-ranked LIU Post. The Pioneers, ranked eighth in the latest United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II poll, are the unanimous picks to win a third-straight East Coast Conference Championship this season. They got a pair of goals from Charlie Ledula, the league's reigning Offensive Player of the Year, en route to their fifth-straight win. Daemen got good scoring opportunities from freshmen Victor Lanje and Samuel Lockman, but they went for naught as the Wildcats were held off the scoreboard for the first time this season.. Freshman goalkeeper Mike D'Amato was impressive while making his first home appearance of the season; he went the distance between the pipes and made four saves.

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 55 games. Three of Reid's tallies have been of the game-winning variety, including two in wins over rival Roberts Wesleyan.

OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION
Daemen's string of consecutive multi-goal games was snapped at five with last Tuesday's 3-1 loss at Gannon. The stretch marked the first time in team history that Daemen 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. The Wildcats rank fourth among all ECC teams in total goals (15) and fifth in goals per game (1.88).

SHEPHERD SCOUTING REPORT
Shepherd is a member of the Mountain East Conference, and the Rams are led by first-year head coach Alex Jones. The Shepherd alumnus is still seeking his first coaching victory as the Rams are off to a 0-6-1 start in 2017. Shepherd is currently mired in a 19-game winless drought (0-18-1), and the team has an overall record of 1-22-1 since the start of the 2016 season. After opening this season with a 2-2 tie vs. Pitt-Johnstown, the Rams have dropped six-straight games and have been outscore 31-4 in that stretch. Junior forward Alejandro Oliart has accounted for half of the team's six goals this season, all of which came in a 5-3 loss to Lock Haven on Sept. 4. The Rams have been shutout in back-to-back games, and they enter Monday's contest with a goal-less drought that has reached 249 minutes.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Shepherd: 0-0
Streak: N/A
Last Meeting: N/A

UP NEXT
Daemen returns to East Coast Conference play with a road game Saturday, Sept. 30 at NYIT.

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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