The Daemen University women's soccer team reported to campus and began their preseason training this week. Here are a few things to know about the 2023 Wildcats...
1. Veteran head coach Dan Dolan returns for his 15th season at the helm. Daemen went 5-1-1 over its final seven games last fall and earned its second-straight bid to the four-team East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship tournament. The Wildcats suffered a 2-0 loss to eventual champion Mercy College in the semifinals. The longest-tenured and winningest coach in program history, Dolan enters the year with a 115-108-14 career record. Daemen has gone 44-37-8 over the past six years and has advanced to post-season play each of the last four seasons (not including the COVID-shortened 2020 season).
2. Daemen returns 19 players from last year and welcomes eight newcomers (six freshmen, two transfers) to the
2023 roster. Five of the top six scorers return to the fold, including All-ECC selections
Alyssa Diaz (Rochester, N.Y.),
Tatyjana Scalisi (Williamsville, N.Y.) and
Kylie Miranto (North Tonawanda, N.Y.). Diaz, a junior forward, has earned all-conference honors in each of her first two seasons and became the first player in program history to be named the
ECC Rookie of the Year in 2021. She totaled a team-high seven goals and 16 points last year and has racked up 13 goals and 32 points over her career. Scalisi has also collected All-ECC honors the past two seasons and totaled nine goals and 28 points over her three year career. Miranto started 15 of 17 games as freshman last year and ranked second on the team in goals (5) and points (11). Additional offense can be expected from senior forward
Brooke Amato (Grand Island, N.Y.) and senior midfielder
Madita Zeitz (Malsch, Germany). Amato has scored 12 goals in 29 games over her career, while Zeitz tied for second on the team in assists (3) last year. Dolan lost all-conference defender
Julia Eichel (Grand Island, N.Y.) to graduation, but welcomes the return of junior
Baylin Tighe (Tonawanda, N.Y.). Tighe, a second-team All-ECC pick as a freshman in 2021, suffered a season-ending injury in the 2022 season-opener. Sophomore defender
Nevada Hahn (Lancaster, N.Y.) is coming off a solid rookie season in which she started 16 of 1
7 games and ranked third on the team in minutes played (1,338 minutes). Dolan must also find a replacement for two-time all-conference goalkeeper
Tori DeLappi (Medina, Ohio), who started 13 games and posted a 1.62 goals against average as a senior last year. Sophomore
Becca Schultz (Grand Island, N.Y.), who appeared in six games last year as a rookie, and junior college transfer
Jenna Vath (Foster City, Calif.) will challenge for the starting job this year. Vath earned first team All-Coast Conference honors last year at Cañada College.
3. The Wildcats open the 2023 season with back-to-back non-conference home games against Assumption University (Sept. 1) and American International College (Sept. 3), before traveling to Albany, N.Y. to take on regional power College of Saint Rose on Sept. 12. Daemen returns home on Sept. 16 to host Queens College in the ECC opener for both teams. Additional highlights of the season include a trip to Philadelphia, Pa. to face Chestnut Hill College on Sept. 19, and two trips to West Virginia in October for non-league games at Bluefield State (Oct. 4) and Salem University (Oct. 14). Daemen closes out the regular season on Oct. 28 when it travels to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. to square off against defending ECC Tournament champion Mercy College.
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 women's soccer program on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @DaemenWSOC
