Sept. 30, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. -
The UMass women's soccer team will ride its four-game winning streak into Atlantic 10 play, which will open for the squad this Saturday, Oct. 1, at home against Rhode Island. The Minutewomen, who are currently 6-2-1 on the year, will take on the Rams at 4 p.m. on Rudd Field, the second half of a men's-women's UMass soccer doubleheader.
Scouting Rhode Island
Rhode Island comes into Saturday's match against the Minutewomen with a 5-4-1 record this season. Rhode Island has only one of their five wins on the road and will be seeking to better its 1-2-1 record in away competitions. The Rams are coming off a 1-0 loss this past Wednesday to Brown, a team UMass recently defeated 1-0 in overtime.
Rhode Island's leading scorer is senior forward, Stephanie Santos. Santos has played in all 10 games to this point coming off the bench for the Rams. The senior forward has a total of five goals out of 20 shots taken this season, 14 of the 20 shots were on goal. Two of the five talliess were game winners.
Freshman forward, Dariann Sellitti, and senior forward, Alexis Veith, are not far behind Santos in scoring. Sellitti has two goals and one assist. Five of her ten shots taken have been on goal. Veith also has two goals on the year on 15 shots taken, six of the 15 were on goal. Both forwards have started all 10 games for URI.
Reilly Lindsey and Ashley Harris have each seen time in goal this season, starting six and four matches apiece, respectively. Lindsey holds a 0.67 goals-against average, an .826 save percentage and a record of 3-2-1 with two shutouts. Harris is 2-2-0 on the year with a 1.19 GAA and an .808 save percentage, stopping 21 of 26 shots over 377:36 minutes in net.
Against Rhode Island
UMass is 15-8-0 all-time vs. Rhode Island since the series began in 1988.
Last season the Rams defeated the Minutewomen, 1-0, in Kingston, R.I. UMass won the last meeting in Amherst in 2009 by the score of 3-2. Current junior Emily Cota picked up the win and made eight saves in that match.
Cota Strong Since Return
Seeing her first action since her 2010 season ended with a leg injury, junior Emily Cota has been sharp in her return to the pitch in 2011.
She has appeared in the past five games, all starts, and holds a 0.40 goals-against average with four shutouts. Cota boasts .920 save percentage, stopping 23 of 25 shots she has faced.
Entering this week's action, Cota ranked second in the Atlantic 10 in goals-against average, third in save percentage and second in shutouts per-game.
Shutout Streak
This past Tuesday, UMass collected its fourth straight 1-0 shutout on the road at Dartmouth. This marked the first time since 2001 that the Minutewomen have posted four or more shutouts in a row.
From Oct. 7, 2001 to Oct. 21, 2001, UMass logged five straight clean sheets. The program record for consecutive shutouts was set back in 1982 when the Minutewomen held their opponents scoreless for nine straight games.
Zero's Zeros
With her most recent shutout, junior Emily Cota entered the program's top-10 for career shutouts as she now sits in 10th with 10 in her three years with the Minutewomen.
Cota also ranks in the top-10 for career saves, currently eighth with 166.
Regional Recognition
The UMass women's soccer team earned a regional ranking week from the NSCAA last week, sitting at No. 9 in the Mid-Atlantic Region and moved up to No. 8 this week.
With the regions being divided by conference affiliation, the Mid-Atlantic Region includes the Atlantic 10, Ivy League, CAA and the Patriot League.
The Minutewomen's most recent win came against the No. 8 team in the region, Brown. Last week A-10 foes Dayton, Richmond and La Salle were first, fifth and seventh, respectively.
The first RPI report of the 2011 season was also released this week by the NCAA. Currently UMass is #61 out of 322 Division I teams.
A Balanced Attack
Through nine games, 10 different players have tallied points for the Minutewomen, including six different goal scorers.
Among the six goal scorers, four are in their first year at UMass. For three of the six, the tallies were their first career goals (Moa Mattsson, Grace Coombs, Jen Houtmann).
Morrissey Making Her Mark
Senior Julie Morrissey has scored four of UMass' eight goals through the team's first nine matches and leads the squad with eight points.
The transfer from Cincinnati has already surpassed her goal and point totals from last season with the Bearcats. She posted a career-high 16 points on seven goals and two assists as a freshman.
Morrissey logged her third career multi-goal game, scoring twice against Elon on Sept. 2. She earned her 10th career game-winner in that contest, as well.
UMass Takes Down Nationally-Ranked BU
Sophomore Grace Coombs' first collegiate goal was all the offense UMass needed in a 1-0 upset of #20 Boston University on Sunday, Sept. 11, at Rudd Field. Strong team defense helped the Minutewomen to their first win over a ranked team since defeating #15 Connecticut, 2-1 on Sept. 19, 2006.
The Terriers had opened the year at 5-0-1 with a win and a draw against two top-10 teams prior to the weekend's action and had been ranked in three national polls.
The victory over BU was the first for UMass against the Terriers since a 3-1 victory on Aug. 31, 2006 in Amherst.
Coombs Honored After BU Win
Sophomore defender Grace Coombs was named co-Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week and UMass Athlete of the Week on Sept. 12 after scoring her first career goal, the game-winner vs. No. 20 Boston University.
Stephanie Gordon as the second member of the squad to collect a UMass Athlete of the Week nod this fall.
Coombs, who made the first two starts of her career during the week of Sept. 5-11, at Harvard and against BU. She scored the lone goal of the match in the 23rd minute against the nationally-ranked Terriers.
Coombs also played a key roll in the team defensive efforts that resulted in the shutout of BU, who had out-scored its opponents 12-6 heading into the match and out-shot the Minutewomen, 22-3.
Gordon Earns Award
Junior goalkeeper Stephanie Gordon was named the UMass Athlete of the Week on Aug. 29.
The previous week, on Aug. 23, Gordon helped the Minutewomen win a season opener for the first time since 2007, making nine saves and backstopping the squad to a 2-1 victory at New Hampshire. The match was Gordon's first in nearly two years, as the Northeastern transfer was just two shy of her career high in saves.
Minutewomen Firsts
Eleven players made their debuts as Minutewomen against New Hampshire in the season opener, including first career starts for Moa Mattsson, Cecilia Jensen, Becky Landers and Kelsey Varzeas.
Sophomore Grace Coombs made her first UMass appearance off the bench in the squad's 0-0 draw vs. Fairfield. She started her first match at Harvard on Sept. 9 and scored her first career goal against Boston University on Sept. 11.
Sophomore Jen Houtmann netted her first career goal at UNH, which proved to be the game-winner.
Jensen tallied her first career assist and Julie Morrissey registered her first goal as a Minutewoman against the Wildcats, as well, bringing her career total to 15 after playing three seasons at Cincinnati.
Junior Stephanie Gordon collected her first shutout at UMass against Fairfield on Aug. 30 and made three saves. She now has 14 career shutouts combined between Northeastern and UMass.
Senior Erin McGafigan scored her first UMass goal on a penalty kick at Harvard on Sept. 9.
Freshman Kristen Gargiulo made her first career start on Sept.11 vs. Boston University.
Freshman Moa Mattsson notched her first career goal with just 2:17 remaining in regulation to give UMass a 1-0 win over Maine on Sept. 16.
Freshman Tori Sousa tallied her first career point against Brown on Sept. 22, logging the assist on the game-winning goal in overtime off a corner kick.
Offense Overview
Though UMass lost a key component to its offense, 2010 NSCAA All-Region midfielder Therese Smith, to graduation, the Minutewomen bring back two of their top three point-getters from last fall in co-captains Deanna Colarossi and Meghan Collins.
Colarossi led UMass in scoring in her first season with the team in 2010, posting nine goals and two assists for 20 points on the way to an All-Atlantic 10 second team honor. Her nine goals marked the highest total by a UMass player since 2004 when Britt Canfield scored 11, while Colarossi's point total was the most for a Minutewoman since Canfield had 26 in 2007.
Colarossi finished in the top-10 in the Atlantic 10 for points (10th), points per-game (10th), goals (8th) and goals per-game (8th) last season.
Collins, who tallied the first three goals of her career last fall, was third in scoring for UMass in 2010. She finished her junior campaign with nine points on three goals and three assists, including two game-winners.
A Strong Back Bone
Among UMass' 10 returnees include four members of the back line: senior Meghan Collins, junior Jess Howe and sophomores Brittany Moore and Lauren Skesavage. The group helped the Minutewomen log seven shutouts in 2010, fourth-best in the Atlantic 10.
Collins played in 56 of 58 possible games in her three previous seasons and has been a regular starter since her freshman year in 2008. Last fall she started all 19 games, helping to bring her current total to 38 consecutive starts and 44 consecutive games played.
Howe has started every contest she has played in her collegiate career, having missed just two matches due to injury over the past two seasons heading into 2011. She tallied two assists last fall for the first two points of her career.
Moore started every possible game in her first year at UMass and collected All-Atlantic 10 Honorable Mention and Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team recognition last season. She contributed two assists, as well.
Skesavage played in all 19 games in her rookie year in 2010 and made her first career start on Sept. 3 against Vermont. She tallied three assists, including two in A-10 play.
Welcome To Amherst
In addition to co-captain Deanna Colarossi, who transferred in to UMass from Oakland prior to the 2010 season, head coach Ed Matz has brought six more transfers into the fold in 2011.
Midfielder Erin McGaffigan and goalkeeper Stephanie Gordon both joined the Minutewomen this past spring after previously having played for Matz at Northeastern. Gordon was an All-CAA second team selection in 2009 and helped the Huskies to a CAA tournament championship as a freshman in 2008 and a regular season title in 2009. She left NU as the program's all-time leader in career goals-against average (1.09) in addition to holding single season records for shutouts (7 in 2008) and goals-against average (0.96 in 2009).
Senior Julie Morrissey comes to UMass after three seasons playing in the BIG EAST conference for Cincinnati. Morrissey was among the Bearcats' top scorers in each of her three seasons, including leading the squad with 16 points on seven goals and two assists as a freshman, becoming the first freshman to lead Cincinnati in points since 1993. Eleven of her 18 career goals have been game-winners.
Cecilia Jensen played at Elon as a freshman in 2009 and totaled four points on one goal and two assists in eight games with the Phoenix. She was a high school teammate of current UMass freshman Kristen Gargiulo.
Erin Ronan, a sophomore transfer from Saint Peter's, will add depth for the Minutewomen at the goalkeeper position. Ronan started nine games for the Peahens in 2010 and made 38 saves.
Defender Grace Coombs comes to Amherst from across the pond. The UK native played club soccer for the Charlton Athletic women's team and helped the squad to promotion back into the Premier League National Division this past season.
Fresh Faces
Among the new faces taking the field for UMass this fall are 10 freshmen, eight of whom hail from Massachusetts (Alex Farris, Emily Benjamin, Tanya Finnerty, Kristen Gargiulo, Becky Landers, Kelsey Varzeas, Alyssa D'Arcy and CJ Johnson), one from New Hampshire (Tori Sousa) and one from Sweden (Moa Mattsson).
This summer Gargiulo, Landers and Sousa helped FC Stars of Massachusetts capture the Region I championship and advance to the National Finals in Arizona.
Mattsson Honored By A-10
UMass women's soccer freshman midfielder Moa Mattsson was selected to the 2011 Preseason Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team. Current junior goalkeeper Emily Cota was a previous preseason all-rookie honoree in 2009.
Mattsson, who comes to UMass from, Uppsala, Sweden, is a member of the U19 Swedish National Team and made her international debut in a 4-0 win over Slovakia in September 2010. She played club soccer for Danmarks IF, as well.
Capinera Joins Staff At UMass
Former St. John's goalkeeper, Rebecca Capinera has joined the UMass women's soccer staff as an assistant coach. She comes to UMass from Marist and has previously coached in the Atlantic 10 as a member of the St. Bonaventure staff.
Capinera was the head of goalkeeper development for the Red Foxes and was responsible for the team's video breakdown and exchange. She also assisted with recruiting, practice plans, travel, summer camps and fundraising.
Previously Capinera spent two seasons as the first assistant coach at St. Bonaventure and worked with the Bonnies' goalkeepers, helping the squad to consecutive A-10 Tournament appearances in 2009 and 2010, and two 10-plus win seasons.
Capinera was a three-year letterwinner in goal for the Red Storm and collected three BIG EAST Academic Scholar-Athlete honors, while finishing with over 100 career saves. 
