Women's Soccer Opens 2018-19 Xavier Athletic Season Against Toledo

Friday, August 17

Cincinnati, Ohio

7 PM

Xavier University

Toledo

Women's Soccer Opens 2018-19 Xavier Athletic Season Against Toledo

08.16.18 | Women's Soccer

Musketeers host Rockets on Friday, August 17 at 7 PM

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier women's soccer opens its season on Friday, August 17 when the Musketeers host Toledo at the XU Soccer Complex. First touch with the Rockets is set for 7:00 p.m. Live stats will be available through GoXavier.com.

THE MATCHUP

Xavier Musketeers vs.
Toledo Rockets
Friday, August 17 | 7 PM
XU Soccer Complex | Live Stats

THE MATCHUP

Friday's match with Toledo is home opener for the Musketeers. The rest of Xavier's women's soccer promotional schedule was announced recently, click here to check out.

PREVIEWING TOLEDO

The Rockets finished 2017 at 12-8-3, led by head coach TJ Buchholz who enters his fourth season at Toledo in 2018.
Toledo finished 6-3-2 in MAC play, earning the No. 3 seed for the MAC Tournament. The Rockets advanced to the Championship game, defeating No. 4 seed Bowling Green 2-1 in extra time to win the MAC Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
UT faced Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling 5-0.
Toledo returns All-Conference selections Hannah Scafaria (All-MAC Second Team) and Madison Perrin (All-Freshman Team). Toledo loses First Team selection Isa Echeverri and Second Team selection Chiara Paradiso to graduation.
Xavier is 2-2-0 all-time against the Rockets, with the last match-up coming in 2015 where the Musketeers topped the Rockets, 2-0, in Cincinnati.

XU LINEUP

Xavier returns 75 percent of its scoring from last season, including the scorers of 14 of the team's 19 goals.
Leading scorer Sydney Schembri is back after finishing with 12 points on six goals as a rookie, earning BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and All-Freshman Team honors.
Emma Westwater returns as a senior after a nine-point junior season, scored on four goals and an assist.
The Musketeers' attack is bolstered by the return of two of the program's most prolific scorers in recent years, redshirt junior Samantha Dewey and redshirt senior Kenadie Carlson.
Xavier also adds a pair of transfers up front, Sabrina Kunimoto, a sophomore from Delaware, and Raechel Eck, a grad transfer from Akron with two years of eligibility remaining.
.Four freshmen also join Xavier's offensive attack, Grace Brauer, Makenna Jordahl, Reagan Norvell and Brooke Sroka
Xavier returns the core of its midfield with Carrie Lewis and Courtney Lankford who, combined, accounted for six of Xavier's 14 assists on the season.
Lewis led the Musketeers with four in a season where she started every match, while Lankford added a pair.
Jessica Miller, who started two of the first three games last season before sitting out due to injury, also returns. Emily Burton and Abby O'Keefe combined to make 16 starts last season after Miller's injury. O'Keefe assisted on a pair of goals and Burton added an assist as well. Makayla Kolberg, who made multiple starts in 2017, and Megan Sullivan, who appeared in 15 matches, also return.
The Musketeers brought in a pair of experienced transfers in the midfield for the 2018 spring season, Claire Fisher, a sophomore transfer from Tennessee, and Grace Bahr, a junior transfer from Wisconsin.
Rachel Dewey, younger sister of Samantha Dewey, makes up part of a quartet of freshmen midfielders, which also includes Jordan Reddington, Molly McLaughlin and Rachel Butler.
Xavier returns defender Andie Kennard for her senior season after a junior campaign where she was second on the team in minutes played. Kennard also recorded her first career goal in 2017, the game-winner against Ohio.
Redshirt-freshman Abi Janszen also returns for the Musketeers after being limited to three appearance due to injury.
Five newcomers join the backfield, freshmen Hayley Jakovich, Isabella Langusch, Jenna Leslie, Allison Klimkowski and Olivia Popovich.
Goalkeeper Toni Bizzarro, who started all 19 games she appeared in last season, returns for her junior season. Bizzarro collected eight wins, including four shutouts last season, making 106 saves for a .828 save percentage with a GAA of 1.09.
Xavier added a pair of freshmen goalkeepers, Olivia Jenkins and Caroline Welsh, to join Bizzarro.

LAST TIME OUT - EKU

Xavier women's soccer came away from its lone exhibition with a win, topping Eastern Kentucky, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon.
The match, which consisted of three 30-minute periods without official stats, remained scoreless until the 55-minute mark when redshirt senior Kenadie Carlson broke the scoreless draw.
The Musketeers held the Colonels scoreless to close out the second period and the final 30-minutes was scoreless on both sides to give Xavier the unofficial 1-0 win.

DEWEY NAMED PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST

For a second-straight season, Xavier women's soccer's Samantha Dewey was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.
The red-shirt junior forward is the first Musketeer to earn preseason conference honor in back-to-back years since joining the conference. Last season, her nomination was the first preseason nod for a Musketeer since Xavier joined the BIG EAST in 2013.
Dewey, a native of Fairland, Ind., appeared in the first five matches in 2017 before sitting out the remainder due to injury. In her shortened season, Dewey still tallied three goals, fourth most on the team. Dewey led the Musketeers in scoring during the first five games of the season, tallying a pair in a win against Cleveland State and scoring the game winner against Ball State. She was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll twice in the first two weeks of the season.
Prior to the 2017 season, Dewey led the Musketeers in points in each of her two previous seasons at Xavier. After posting 20 points on eight goals and four assists in 2016, Dewey was named Second Team All-BIG EAST, making her the first Musketeer to earn first or second team honors since joining the conference. Dewey was also named to the All-Ohio Second Team after the 2016 season.
As a freshman, Dewey was a unanimous selection to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team after a 22-point rookie campaign. She was twice conference rookie of the week and has earned BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll honors fives times in her career.

2017 IN REVIEW

The Musketeers, picked to finish seventh in the BIG EAST, are coming off a fifth-place finish in the 2017 season, which earned the program's first berth to the BIG EAST Championship since joining the conference.
In Nate Lie's first season as head coach, Xavier finished the season 8-8-4 overall, marking the first season at .500 or above since 2013, when Xavier finished 9-8-1. The Musketeers' record of 4-3-2 in BIG EAST play, posting a winning conference record for the first time since 2005. Xavier finished the regular season with a program-best 14 points in the BIG EAST standings.
The Musketeers limited 16 of 20 opponents to a single goal or less, including every BIG EAST regular season match-up.
In addition to Sydney Schembri's Freshman of the Year and All-Freshman Team honors, seniors Tori Doss and Carly Alfano both earned Second Team All-BIG EAST and CoSIDA Academic All-American after last season.