Daemen Sweeps Weekly ECC Women's Soccer Awards

Diaz, Eichel, Miranto All Collect Weekly Honors

10/31/2022 3:13:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Tom McDermott, Director of Athletics Communications | tmcdermo@daemen.edu

AMHERST, N.Y. – Daemen University women's soccer players Alyssa Diaz (Rochester, N.Y.), Julia Eichel (Grand Island, N.Y.) and Kylie Miranto (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) have all been honored by the East Coast Conference for their play last week. Diaz was selected the ECC Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week for the first time this season. Eichel was named the ECC Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week, while Miranto was named ECC Women's Soccer Rookie of the Week. It marks the second time this season Eichel and Miranto have collected the honors. The announcement of award winners was made via the league's weekly sport report which was released this afternoon.

It marks the first time since September of 2018 that one school has swept all three major weekly awards.

It also marks the third straight week that a Daemen women's soccer player has garnered a major weekly award from the conference. Miranto was selected Rookie of the Week for the first time three weeks ago after scoring her first two collegiate goals in a 3-0 win over D'Youville University. Junior Brooke Amato Grand Island, N.Y.) collected Offensive Player of the Week honors last week after scoring twice in Daemen's 4-0 upset of regionally ranked Roberts Wesleyan. Eichel was named Defensive Player of the Week last week after heading up a defense that limited Roberts Wesleyan to just two shots on goal.

Daemen scored 10 goals during wins over Staten Island (4-1) and Lincoln (6-0) last week and Diaz netted five of those goals. She opened the week with two goals and an assist in the win over Staten Island and capped the week with her first career hat trick in just 41 minutes of action in the win over Lincoln. Diaz, who was named the 2021 ECC Rookie of the Year last year, has totaled a team-high seven goals and 16 points this year. All of her seven goals and 16 points have come over the last seven games, a stretch that has seen the Wildcats go 5-1-1.

Diaz has played in all 32 games (31 starts) over her two year career and has totaled 13 goals, six points and 32 points.

Eichel, a senior defender, headed up a defense that limited Staten Island and Lincoln to just one goal and five shots on goal. Eichel has started all 16 games this year and leads the team in minutes played. She has played all 90 minutes in 10 of the team's 16 games and has headed up a defense that has limited 12 of its 16 opponents to two goals or less. She has played in 51 of a possible 54 games over her four-year career and was a part of Daemen's first-ever NCAA Division II tournament team in 2019.

Miranto totaled two goals and an assist last week. She assisted on Daemen's third goal and scored the fourth goal against Staten Island to secure the win that earned Daemen a bid to the ECC Tournament. Miranto has scored a goal in each of the last four games and ranks second on the team to Diaz in goals (5) and points (11).

Daemen begin its quest for a first ever ECC Tournament championship when it travels to top-seeded Mercy for a semifinal round game Wednesday (Nov. 2) afternoon. Daemen is making its second straight and third overall appearance in the ECC Tournament. The other semifinal game will feature third-seeded Roberts Wesleyan and second-seeded Molloy. The tournament championship match is set for Saturday (Nov. 5) and will be hosted by the highest remaining seed. The ECC Tournament champion receives and automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Daemen will enter the post season riding a conference-best four match winning streak. The Wildcats went 5-1-1 over their final seven regular season games and outscored their last seven opponents 20-7.

Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen University women's soccer program on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @DaemenWSOC.

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