University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Soccer Opens A-10 Tournament Vs. Fordham
November 04, 2009 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 4, 2009
AMHERST, Mass. - Making its first postseason appearance since 2004, the UMass women's soccer team opens play in the Atlantic 10 Tournament this Thursday, Nov. 5, in Charlotte, N.C. As the No. 6 seed in the field, the Minutewomen will be taking on No. 3 Fordham in a first round match at 5:30 p.m. at Charlotte's Transamerica Field. In the 8 p.m. contest, No. 4 St. Bonaventure will play No. 5 Saint Louis with the winners of both matches moving on to face Dayton and Charlotte in semifinal action on Friday.
MINI STREAKS
UMass enters the Atlantic 10 tournament on a two-match winning streak and has not allowed a goal in the past 223:44 minutes of play. Sophomore Lauren Yelinek has recorded a point in two straight games, assisting on the deciding tally against George Washington and scoring the lone goal in the Minutewomen's victory over Richmond, her first of her collegiate career.
UMASS IN THE A-10 TOURNAMENT
UMass is making its first appearance in the Atlantic 10 Tournament since 2004, its 10th overall. The Minutewomen are 9-5 all-time in the A-10 postseason, but have never played conference tournament games against four of the five teams in this year's field. Dayton is the only one of the group that UMass has previously squared off against in the A-10 Championship, with a 1-1-0 A-10 Tournament record against the Flyers. The Minutewomen are the only team to have won three straight conference titles, a feat accomplished from 1993 to 1995. UMass' last Atlantic 10 tournament victory came in the 1997 championship game, 1-0 over George Washington.
FACING FORDHAM
The Minutewomen lead the all-time series against Fordham, 11-3-0. UMass' last win versus the Rams was a 1-0 victory in 2007, Fordham's only Atlantic 10 loss that season. Current senior Cristina Adams recorded the deciding tally in the 27th minute of that match. Back on Oct. 11, the Minutewomen dropped a heartbreaker to Fordham at home, 3-2 in overtime. Therese Smith and Sydney Stoll both scored for UMass in that contest while Michelle Ancelj had two of the three for the Rams.
SCORING SUMMARY
Ten UMass players have combined for a total of 34 points, led by junior Therese Smith with 13 points on five goals and three assists. Redshirt junior Sydney Stoll follows with 11 points on five goals and one assist and senior Cristina Adams has four points on two goals. Freshman Meredith Fox, senior Katie Ruggles and sophomore Lauren Yelinek have scored one goal apiece. Smith has surpassed her career high for goals (3) and points (8) in a season, her final totals from 2008 as a sophomore. The Minutewomen are 6-3-1 this season when scoring a goal.
ADAMS RECOGNIZED BY A-10
Senior Cristina Adams was named Co A-10 Women's Soccer Player of the Week on Oct. 19 after scoring two key goals in the Minutewomen's 3-2 victory over Rhode Island on Oct. 17. Adams scored the first goal of the game in the 27th minute to put UMass up 1-0 and her second tally of the day broke a 1-1 tie at 79:57. The two-goal game marked the first multi-point game of Adams' career and set a new career high in points at four.
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. To date, the freshman netminder has played in 16 games with seven starts for a total of 1105:46 minutes. She holds a 1.71 goals against average and a .784 save percentage with 76 saves.
MOVING ON UP
The Minutewomen have jumped from an 11th-place finish in the Atlantic 10 standings in 2008 to a sixth-place finish in 2009, the best turnaround of any team in the conference. UMass is the lone team in the 2009 A-10 Tournament that did not compete in the 2008 A-10 Tournament.
CRUNCH TIME
UMass has scored five of its 15 goals on the season with 15 minutes or less to play in regulation. Of the squad's game winning tallies, 50% have been scored in the 86th minute or later (Sydney Stoll vs. Duquesne, Therese Smith vs. Rhode Island, Stoll vs. George Washington). All six wins have come by a one-goal margin.
NEW LOOK LINEUP
The Minutewomen's starting lineup in the season opener featured just four players who started five games or more in 2008: Ashley Hamel, Lauren Luckey, Katie Ruggles and Therese Smith. 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. Howe and Yelinek have started every match thus far for the Minutewomen, while Fox has started 17 of 18.
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.
WELCOME BACK
UMass returned six starters from the 2008 squad, including seniors Lauren Luckey and Katie Ruggles, juniors Kelsey Anderson, Therese Smith and Alyssa Visconti, and sophomore Meghan Collins. 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
UMass welcomed six new additions to the roster 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. Yelinek had her first point as a Minutewoman, assisting on Cristina Adams' second goal of the game in UMass' 3-2 win over Rhode Island on Oct. 17. 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 on Oct. 4, playing nine minutes at Charlotte.
