#3 Women's Soccer Readies For A-10 Finals At #1 Saint Louis

University of Massachusetts Women's Soccer Game Notes & Information
Game 21 (Atlantic 10 Finals)	No. 3 Massachusetts (13-4-3, 6-2-2 Atlantic 10) at No. 1 Saint Louis (13-1-6, 7-0-3 Atlantic 10)
Date \| Time	Sunday, November 10 // 1 p.m.
Location	St. Louis, Mo. // Hermann Field
Watch	ESPN+
Live Statistics	StatBroadcast
Twitter	@UMassWSoccer
Instagram	UMass Women's Soccer
Facebook	UMass Women's Soccer

AMHERST, Mass. – The No. 3 University of Massachusetts women's soccer team faces No. 1 Saint Louis in the Atlantic 10 Championship Finals on Sunday, November 10, at 1 p.m., in St. Louis, Missouri, at Hermann Field.

Massachusetts will make its eighth appearance in an A-10 Finals match, and third since head coach Jason Dowiak took over the program. It will be the first appearance since 2021 when the Minutewomen were A-10 Runner-Ups.

Atlantic 10 Tournament History
UMass is making its 21st appearance in the conference tournament in program history. The Minutewomen are 16-16-1 all-time in A-10 postseason action and has won the league championship four times (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997).

Additionally, Massachusetts has made the A-10 Tournament every year since Dowiak took over as head coach of the program. Under Dowiak's helm, the Minutewomen appeared in seven straight A-10 Quarterfinals, four A-10 Semifinals and were the 2021 A-10 Runner-Ups.

Last Time Out
UMass improved its overall record to 13-4-3 on the season after senior forward Emma Pedolzky netted a late game-winning goal to push past No. 2 Dayton, 2-1, in the A-10 Semifinals.

Graduate student forward Karina Groff put UMass on the board first early in the first half, before the Flyers tied it up in the 43rd minute. Pedolzky broke the tie with 88:22 on the clock with her fourth goal of the season, after chipping in a shot from senior midfielder Bella Recinos.

Redshirt senior Bella Mendoza stopped four shots and allowed only one goal in the 90 minutes of competition.

Record Book Tracking
Mendoza placed her name on the program's career saves list, ranking seventh after collecting her 266th save on Wednesday, surpassing Kelly Nigh's (2000-03) 249 career saves.

Mendoza earned her ninth shutout of the year against in the 1-0 win over Loyola Chicago etching her name in the career records for the program. The San Ramon, California, native, is now tied for fifth with Emily Cota (2009-12) with 20 career shutouts.

Additionally, Curry put her name on the career games played list, solely taking over first with 90 games played. She surpasses former teammate Fiona Kane (2019-23), with 89 games played. She is also tied for fourth with Erica Iverson (1994-97) with 83 games started.

Recinos is two game-winning goals away from tying for 10th in the record books with 10 game-winners in her career, as she currently has eight.

Statistically Speaking
UMass is fourth in points in the A-10 with 101, while ranking second in goals (37) and fifth in assists (27). Massachusetts is fourth in shutouts with nine on the season.

Recinos leads the team in points (21) and goals (nine), while adding three assists on the season. Her nine goals tie her for third the league, while her point total places ties her for fifth. She also leads the team in game-winning goals with four and is tied for first in the A-10 Conference.

Recinos leads the team in shots (44) and shots on goal (24). In the league, she is tied for fifth in shots on goal.

Ella Curry leads the team in assists with four, while totaling four goals to accumulate 12 points. Chandler Pedolzky, Emma Pedolzky and Ashley Lamond all follow with 11 points each, with Lamond scoring five goals and adding one assist, and both Chandler and Emma Pedolzky having four goals and three assists apiece.

Mendoza tallied 1,800 minutes in net for the Minutewomen, averaging a 1.00 goals-against-average (GAA) and a .750 save percentage. She has also accumulated nine shutouts on the year.

Mendoza has placed herself in the conference rankings, sitting sixth in goals-against-average with a 1.00. She is also eighth in total saves with 60, while tying for third in shutouts with nine, averaging .450 shutouts per game. In the nation she is 31st in total shutouts.

Scouting Saint Louis
The Billikens earned the first seed overall in the tournament after posting a 7-0-3 record in the conference and are 13-1-6 overall. Saint Louis moved on to the A-10 Finals after blanking No. 5 Saint Joseph's, 2-0, on Wednesday night.

Emily Gaebe leads the Billikens with 30 points, tallying 13 goals and four assists. Lyndsey Heckel follows with 12 points with five goals and two assists. In addition to Gaebe, Katie Houck and Hannah Larson also lead the team in assists with four. Gaebe also sits atop the leaderboard in shots with 81, including 39 shots on goal. In goal, Emily Puricelli has started in all 20 contests, accumulating 1,665 minutes. She recorded 10 shutouts on the year, and has a 0.49 GAA and a .871 save percentage.

A-10 Accolades
Recinos was named the Atlantic 10 Midfielder of the Year to headline a total of four postseason awards for the UMass women's soccer team. Recinos garners the award for the second consecutive season, becoming the first Minutewomen to achieve the honor in back-to-back season. She is also the first A-10 player to collect the accolade in two consecutive seasons since Nicole Waters (Dayton) achieved the feat in 2014 and 2015.
Additionally, Recinos, a midfielder, was tabbed to the league's All-Conference First Team for the second time in her career. Defender Curry and forward Lamond earned a spot on the All-Conference Second Team. Curry picks up the award for the first time her career, while Lamond picks it up for the second time in her career.

Weekly Honors
Hannah Peric collected the first Atlantic 10 weekly accolade of the year for the Minutewomen on September 3. She earned A-10 Defensive Player of the Week after playing a key role for UMass' defense to post a 0-0 shutout and hold Boston College to one goal in a 2-1 victory. Peric combined for 180 total minutes on the week.

Mendoza garnered the second A-10 weekly award, tabbing A-10 Defensive Player of the Week on September 9. She earned the accolade after picking up her third and fourth shutouts of the year with a 4-0 win against Northeastern and a 3-0 win at Bryant. Allowing no goals, she had a 1.000 save percentage. Against Northeaster, the San Ramon, California, native made two saves, while stopping three shots at Bryant. The two shutouts also marked the 14th and 15th of her career at the time.

Curry received the third weekly honor of the season, and first A-10 Offensive Player of the Week award on September 30. She competed for 160 minutes and tallied five points with one goal and three assists. Curry also had two shots, both on target. Against Fordham, the graduate student registered two assists on the day for two points, while notching her second goal of the season and an assist against Rhode Island for three points.

Lamond tabbed the fourth A-10 weekly award for the Minutewomen on October 28 after being named the A-10 Offensive Player of the Week. The accolade marked the first of her career, as she totaled four points on two goals, while taking six shots with three on target. Lamond notched the second goal for UMass against Davidson and recorded the first equalizing goal at VCU. On the pitch, she played over 124 minutes.

Scoreboard

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Players Mentioned

Ella Curry

Karina Groff

Fiona Kane

Ashley Lamond

Bella Mendoza

Chandler Pedolzky

Emma Pedolzky

Hannah Peric

Bella Recinos

Scoreboard

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