AMHERST, Mass. -
After a challenging road trip last weekend, the UMass women's soccer team will look to get back on the winning track as the squad will play host to two Atlantic 10 matches this weekend, taking on La Salle at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, and Fordham on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. The Minutewomen enter the weekend with a mark of 3-6-2, 2-2-0 in the A-10. Please note that Friday's game time has been changed from the originally scheduled 4 p.m. start.
La Salle comes to Amherst on Friday with a 6-5-2 record on the season and 0-3-1 in A-10 play. The Explorers last three A-10 games have resulted in losses to Dayton (2-1), Xavier (1-0), and Richmond (2-1). Their lone point came from a 0-0 tie at Saint Louis.
In their final three non-conference games leading up to the conference schedule, the Explorers defeated Delaware 1-0, Vermont 3-1 and suffered a 5-2 loss against Penn.
Twelve different players have at least one point for the Explorers. Traci DePasquale leads the crew with 17 points on five goals and seven assists followed by Ally Kenney with 14 points on four goals and six assists.
Junior Melissa Sanger has seen the majority of the minutes in net with nine games played and a 4-3-2 record. She has a 0.84 goals against average and a .871 save percentage to go along with four shutouts on the season.
Freshman Gabby Pakhtigian has played four games and holds a 2-2-0 record. She has a 1.75 GAA, a .731 save percentage and two shutouts so far this season.
Scouting Fordham
Fordham plays at Rhode Island on Friday before taking on the Minutewomen on Sunday. Fordham enters Sunday's contest with a record of 3-9-1, including a 2-2-0 mark in Atlantic 10 matches.
After splitting their last two non-conference matches (a 1-0 loss at Villanova and a 3-0 win at Manhattan), the Rams opened their conference schedule with a 3-0 win at Richmond and a 4-0 loss against Charlotte.
Last weekend Fordham continued its conference slate with a 2-0 loss vs. Dayton and a 4-0 win vs. Temple.
Eleven players have recorded a total of 33 points for Fordham, compared to 57 by the Rams' opponents. Leah Loguidice and Annie Worden both lead the squad with seven points on three goals and one assist. Other notable contributors are Katie McDermott (four points on two goals) and Mariella Romano (three points on one goal and an assist).
Rachel Suther and Jen Byer have split time in goal for the Rams. Suther holds a 1-4-1 record with a 1.40 goals against average, whereas Byer has a 2-5-0 record with a 1.65 GAA. Both goaltenders have two shutouts on the season.
Wilkins To Be Honored
Former UMass women's soccer standout Paula Wilkins will be inducted into the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame this Friday evening in a dinner held at the UMass Student Union Ballroom. She will also be honored by the current Minutewomen squad during halftime of Friday's match vs. La Salle.
A defender who played from 1990-93, Wilkins helped UMass to three NCAA berths during her four seasons, including serving as captain of the 1993 squad that went 17-3-3 and made the sixth Final Four appearance in program history.
Wilkins appeared in 73 career games, scored seven goals and collected 18 assists.
As a senior in 1993, she was named an NSCAA First-Team All-American and to the Soccer News All-America First Team. Wilkins was named an All-Atlantic 10 selection in 1993 and captured All-New England honors in 1991.
After graduating from UMass in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science, the Academic All-American went on to become the head women's soccer coach at Penn State and is currently the head coach at Wisconsin.
When Wilkins led Penn State to the 2002 College Cup, she became the first person in NCAA history to both play and coach in the event.
Series History
In a series that began in 1996, UMass is 6-6-0 all-time against La Salle.
Last season in Philadelphia, the Explorers defeated the Minutewomen, 2-0. UMass' last win in the series came on Oct. 23, 2005, a 2-1 double overtime road victory.
The Minutewomen lead the all-time series against Fordham, 11-2-0, including a perfect 7-0-0 in Amherst, outscoring the Rams 18-3 in those contests.
UMass' last win versus Fordham was a 1-0 victory in 2007, the Rams' only Atlantic 10 loss that season. Current senior Cristina Adams recorded the deciding tally in the 27th minute of that match.
Scoring Summary
Seven UMass players have combined for a total of 16 points, led by redshirt junior Sydney Stoll with five points on two goals and one assist. Junior Therese Smtih follows with four points on two goals, while freshman Meredith Fox and senior Katie Ruggles have one goal apiece.
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 on Sept. 28.
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 holds a 1.55 goals against average and a .825 save percentage in 638:20 minutes in net. She has a total of 52 saves, including eight or more stops in her past three contests.
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 every matches thus far for the Minutewomen.
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.
Marissa Dos Santos made her collegiate debut last Sunday, Oct. 4, playing nine minutes at Charlotte.
