Pair Of A-10 Road Matches On Tap For Women's SoccerThe Minutewomen will head to Saint Louis and Charlotte with a five game unbeaten streak on the line.
AMHERST, Mass. -
Off to its best start in Atlantic 10 play since 2005, the UMass women's soccer team will put its unbeaten streak on the line as the squad will travel to Saint Louis and Charlotte for a pair of road matches this Friday and Sunday. Currently 3-4-2 overall and 2-0-0 in the A-10, the Minutewomen will take on the Billikens at 8 p.m. on Oct. 2 before playing the 49ers on Oct. 4 at 1 p.m.
Saint Louis enters Friday's match with a record of 3-5-2, including an 0-1-1 mark in Atlantic 10 play. After winning their final two non-conference matches (1-0 vs. Air Force and 2-0 at Memphis), the Billikens opened their conference schedule with a 0-0 draw against La Salle and a 1-0 loss at Saint Bonaventure last weekend.
Seven players have recorded a total of 24 points for Saint Louis, compared to 21 by the Billikens' opponents. Susan Frederickson leads the squad with eight points on three goals and four assists. Three individuals are tied for second on the team with four points apiece.
Hannah Perry has played all 10 games in net for a total of 940 minutes. She holds a 0.67 goals against average and a .741 save percentage to go along with five shutouts.
Scouting Charlotte
Charlotte will play host to Rhode Island on Friday before taking on the Minutewomen on Sunday. The 49ers are 8-2-0 on the season and 2-0-0 in A-10 play, including the past four straight. Charlotte, which won its first two conference games by a combined score of 9-3, last fell to Georgia, 3-2, on Sept. 13. Its only other loss came against Villanova (3-2) on Sept. 6.
Seventeen different players have at least one point for the 49ers, including three individuals with 10 points or more. Whitney Weinraub has 19 points on eight goals and three assists, Hailey Beam has 15 points on five goals and five assists and Kirby Stenard has five goals (10 points).
Lauren Brown has played the bulk of the time in net, 831:38 minutes over 10 games with 10 starts. Brown begins the weekend with a 1.08 goals against average and a .706 save percentage to go along with four shutouts.
Series History
UMass is a winless 0-4-0 all-time against Saint Louis, despite a number of close games.
All the games have come since the Billikens entered the Atlantic 10. UMass lost 1-0 in 2005, 1-0 in 2006, 2-0 in 2007 and 2-0 in 2008.
Charlotte leads its all-time series against the Minutewomen, 2-1 in the all-time series, with two of the three matches coming in Charlotte, N.C.
The UMass win came in the first-ever meeting between the schools, a 2-0 victory at Charlotte on Oct. 28, 2005.
Some Notes On The Streak
After beginning the year 0-4-0, the Minutewomen have gone undefeated in their last five games, including three straight wins.
The stretch matches UMass' best streak from the 2008 season, a five game span (3-0-2) from Aug. 29 to Sept. 17.
In the opening four games, UMass was outscored by its opponents, 6-0, but in the past five, has six goals and just three against.
With wins over Saint Joseph's (2-1) and Duquesne (1-0) last weekend, the Minutewomen are off to their best Atlantic 10 start since 2005.
Redshirt junior Sydney Stoll has a three game point scoring steak in UMass' three consecutive wins and leads the squad with five points on two goals and one assist. Stoll scored the deciding tally at Duquesne with just over three minutes remaining in regulation.
Cota Cops Pair of Honors
For her efforts in the opening week of conference play freshman goalkeeper Emily Cota was named Co-A-10 Rookie of the Week and UMass Athlete of the Week this Past Monday.
Cota played a scoreless second half to record her first collegiate win vs. Saint Joseph's and earned a shutout in her first start while making eight saves against Duquesne.
Cota leads the Atlantic 10 with a .909 save percentage and ranks ninth nationally, while she is second in the A-10 with a 0.59 goals against average (29th nationally). She has played a total of 458:20 minutes across eight games.
Scoreless Tie Tidbits
The 0-0 tie vs. New Hampshire on Sept. 13 was the third scoreless draw in the past two seasons for the Minutewomen.
In total, the program has logged 12 scoreless ties all-time: 2009, 2008 (2), 1995, 1993 (2), 1989, 1988, 1983 (3), 1980.
More On OT
From Sept. 9 to Sept. 17, the Minutewomen played three straight double overtime games for the first time in school history and went 0-1-2 in those contests. In 2008 and 2007, the squad played five-consecutive overtime games (third game in that stretch was a single OT) spanning the final two games of 2007 and the first three of 2008, which were by far and away the most in school history. There had never been more than two consecutive overtime games.
Last season, UMass set a program record with six overtime games, all coming in the first nine matches of the 2008 schedule. The previous high was four in 2007.
Two of the remaining seven, Sydney Stoll and Meghan Gould, returned to the lineup after missing all of 2008 with injuries. In her first two seasons with the Minutewomen, Stoll played in 28 games with 18 starts and totaled 18 points on seven goals and four assists. Gould started 13 of 14 games she appeared in as a sophomore in 2007.
Freshmen Meredith Fox and Jess Howe both made their first collegiate starts on Aug. 28 at Holy Cross. Sophomore Lauren Yelinek, who is in her first season with the Minutewomen, also made her UMass debut as a member of the starting lineup in that contest. Fox, Howe and Yelinek have started all nine matches thus far.
Changing Of The Guard
After long-time head coach Jim Rudy announced his retirement in late may after 21 seasons at the helm for the Minutewomen, Angela Napoli was appointed as head coach on July 21.
Napoli, a 2000 UMass graduate and native of nearby Longmeadow, takes over after spending for season as an assistant coach on Rudy's staff. In her four previous seasons as an assistant, the Minutewomen compiled a 34-30-6 record, including an 11-6 mark in 2006.
A four-year letterwinner in goal for the Minutewomen (1996-1999), Napoli played in 35 career games (starting 27) and posted a 1.38 goals against average. Currently, she ranks seventh all-time in the UMass record book in career shutouts (13) and saves (159).
Napoli's First Head Coaching Victory
UMass' 2-1 win over Saint Peter's on Sept. 19 marked the first career head coaching victory for Angela Napoli.
The Minutewomen scored a pair in the first half courtesy of Sydney Stoll and Therese Smith and finished the contest with a decisive 22-6 shot advantage.
Luckey played every minute of all 18 games last season and posted a 1.05 goals against average while also recording five shutouts.
Smith, who started 17 contests in 2008, finished her sophomore campaign second on the team in points with eight (three goals, two assists) and is the top returning scorer for UMass. She had two game-winning goals and trailed only Vanessa Patry (13 points) in point production. Patry is back with the Minutewomen, but in a new role as an assistant coach.
Close To Home
Nearly 60 percent of the UMass roster is made up of players from Massachusetts.
A total of 13 players hail from the Bay State, while four come from Pennsylvania, two are from New York, with one each from Connecticut, New Jersey and Tennessee.
New Faces
There are six new additions for the Minutewomen in 2009, five freshman and one sophomore transfer. Emily Cota (Green Lane, Pa.), Marissa Dos Santos (Ludlow, Mass.), Meredith Fox (Chalfont, Pa.), Jenna Goodwin (Weymouth, Mass.) and Jess Howe (Wilbraham, Mass.) are the five members of the freshman class.
Lauren Yelinek, a native of Ludlow, transferred closer to home after spending her freshman season at Texas Tech. Yelinek played in 13 matches for the Red Raiders in 2008 and tallied six assists, which tied for fifth-most in Texas Tech history for a single season.
Cota, who was tabbed a top-100 recruit by TopDrawerSoccer.com, was named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Rookie Team. She made her collegiate debut on Aug. 30 against Boston University and played a scoreless second half, making one save.
