UNH Faces Binghamton on ESPN3 (Thursday, 7 P.M.)

Thursday, October 18

Vestal, N.Y.

6 PM

University of New Hampshire

Binghamton

Casey Peterson (Photo by Helene Bartsch)

Photo by: Helene Bartsch

10/17/2018 2:28:00 PM | Women's Soccer

The Wildcats meet the Bearcats as both teams fight for playoff positioning.

New Hampshire (6-7-2, 2-3-1 AE) at Binghamton (7-7-2, 2-4-0 AE)
Thursday, October 18 • Bearcat Sports Complex – Vestal, N.Y. • 6 p.m.
WATCH - ESPN3 | LIVE STATS

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's soccer team heads on the road for their second-to-last game of the regular season, facing off with Binghamton on Thursday evening on ESPN3.

The game will have huge playoff implications for both teams, who sit in sixth and seventh place, in the mix for the final three America East playoff spots.

The Series with Binghamton
• The Wildcats come into the series with Binghamton holding a slight advantage in the all-time series record with a record of 9-5-6.
• Of the six ties, two came in the America East playoffs and sent the game to penalty kicks. UNH won both shootouts to advance.
• On the road, UNH is 3-2-3 against the Bearcats. Their last road matchup came in September of 2016, with UNH securing a 1-0 victory.

UNH	Team Stat Comparison	BING
0.93	Goals Per Game	1.25
1.53	Goals Allowed Per Game	1.31
13.3	Shots Per Game	12.3
3.4	Corners Per Game	3.5

Last Time Out
• The Wildcats are on a two-game skid coming into the final weekend of the regular season, with tough losses to Vermont and Albany.
• At home, the Wildcats outshot the Catamounts 15-13 and held the early momentum, but a free kick goal in the second half swung the pendulum in Vermont's favor, as they outshot the Wildcats 7-3 on goal.
• The Wildcats found themselves down at halftime at Albany, as the Great Danes tallied two insurance goals in the second; the Wildcats would keep the pressure on in the second, but were unable to find the back of the net.

The State of New Hampshire
• New Hampshire was ranked the number one team in the America East in their annual preseason poll that was released on August 6th.
• The Wildcats opened up the season with back-to-back overtime wins, the first in program history; UNH started 2-0-0 to start the season for the second straight year (went 11-6-1 in 2017).
• Both game-winners were scored by junior transfer Ally Reynolds (Weymouth, Mass.), who now leads the teams with three goals on the season.
• Also in that first weekend, sophomore Casey Peterson (Clifton, Va.) tallied her first four career points, notching two assists and a goal against Rhode Island.
• In their next five games, New Hampshire had a 1-3-1 record; they dropped two games of their season-opening three-game homestand to #14 Princeton and UMass, after going undefeated in the regular season at home last year (7-0-1).
• The 'Cats then went 1-1-1 in their next three, with a win over ASU, a loss to Arizona, and the draw with Northeastern.
• UNH ended non-conference play splitting the weekend 1-1-0 home against Dartmouth and at Sacred Heart. The 4-4-1 non-conference record is the second best in the Steve Welham era, the first best being last season's 6-3-0.
• New Hampshire opened up conference play with a 1-0 overtime victory over UMBC. The victory put the 'Cats to 2-3-0 at home and was their first win following a win since the start of the season. They fell at Maine (1-0) in their second conference game.
• The 'Cats tied with UMass Lowell (0-0) on the road before returning home to take down Stony Brook 1-0, putting their home record back to .500 with a 3-3-0 record.
• In the second-to-last week of conference play, the Wildcats looked to ride the big home win over Stony Brook but stumbled with a 0-2-0 record, facing Vermont at home and Albany on the road.

Players to Watch
• The Wildcats return 19 players with six incoming freshmen and one junior transfer for a total of 26 players on the 2018 roster.
• Among those returners is reigning America East Goalkeeper of the Year Mia Neas who touted an 11-5-1 record in 2017 after seeing action in only three games prior to that season. Neas currently stands at a 6-7-2 record on the 2018 season with a .780 save percentage and a 1.41 GAA.
• Neas will serve as one of the two captains on the team this season, along with junior Caitlyn Keenan (Bow, N.H.) who has tallied one goal on the season. They are joined by two other representatives to serve as captains each game.
• The Wildcats also return All-Conference first-teamer Gaby Dorsey (Hubertus, Wisc.) who tallied 10 points on four goals and two assists last season, and All-Conference second-teamer Kaylan Williams (Marion, Ind.) who had five goals and an assist for 11 points last season. So far this season, Williams has six points on two goals and two assists.
• Junior Liz Lane tallied her first three goals of the season starting against Sacred Heart; her three goals are the last three goals the Wildcats have scored, and all have been game-winners. The latter two were assisted by Williams (vs. UMBC, vs. Stony Brook).
• The defensive core remains intact for the 'Cats, who return Keenan, Maddie Murdick (Burlington, Conn.) and Caroline Wysocki (Agawam, Mass.), whom each tallied an assist last season, while holding their opponents to just 0.94 goals per game.
• Also returning on the defense is junior Megan Rumbold (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) who has been a threat on free kicks the past two seasons. Rumbold has two career goals, both coming off long setpieces, and leads the team in shots on goal with 17. This season, she scored late to equalize against Northeastern, which ended up being the deciding goal in a 2-2 tie with the Huskies.
• All-Rookie team members Sofia Borea (Oakville, Ontario) and Francesca Picicci (North Massapequa, N.Y.) got a great start to their UNH careers in the 2017 season and look to fill the holes left by some graduating members. Borea tallied one assist in her rookie season, filling in at the midfield spot, while Picicci worked her way up to a starting role and tallied three goals and two assists in her freshman season. Picicci has tallied one goal and an assist so far this season, while Borea nothced her first career goal in the season opener.

Scouting Binghamton:
• The Bearcats (Vestal, N.Y.) are 7-7-2 overall and 2-4 in conference.
• Binghamton's home record is 6-1-0 this season.
• The Bearcats are currently ranked 7th in the America East conference, one point behind UNH.
• Binghamton is coming off a loss to the University of Hartford 3-1; the Hawks are ranked first in America East.
• Binghamton is also riding a slight conference losing skid, losing to Hartford, UMass Lowell, and Stony Brook)
• Kayla Saager is first in goals with 10, first in assists with 5 and first in points with 25.
• Haylee Poltorak, a freshman, has been the Bearcats' go-to in net; she has allowed 16 goals for a GAA of 1.16, and has 42 saves which is a SV% of .724. Her overall recored is 4-5-1. Poltorack also has four shutouts recorded.

New Hampshire vs. The Power Five
• New Hampshire women's soccer now has three wins against schools in a power-5 conference (Big 10, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Pac-12)
• The first two wins came in the 1980s, with a victory over ACC foes Duke (9/16/89, 3-2) and Maryland (10/16/88, 2-1 in OT).
• With their win over ASU on Friday, August 31, New Hampshire tallied it's third win over a power-five school in program history, and their first against the Pac-12.

Road Warriors
Last season the Wildcats had a road record of 4-5-0 in the 2017 season; through 15 games of the 2018 season, the Wildcats hold a 3-2-2 road record, including going 3-0-1 in non-conference play.

Score Early and Often
New Hampshire is 5-0-1 in games where they tally the first goal, and 3-0-1 when leading at halftime. The 'Cats are also 3-0-1 when scoring two or more goals in a game.

UNHShop.com:
Get the latest in official UNH gameday gear from the all-new UNHShop.com.