Women's Soccer Travels to Knoxville to Face No. 22 Tennessee in Opening Round of NCAA Championship

Friday, November 11

Knoxville, TN

6:00 PM

Xavier University

Tennessee

Women's Soccer Travels to Knoxville to Face No. 22 Tennessee in Opening Round of NCAA Championship

11.09.22 | Women's Soccer

Live Stream Interactive Bracket Live Stats

Musketeers and Vols get underway at 6 PM on ESPN+.

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier women's soccer opens up the 2022 NCAA Championship on Friday, taking on No. 22 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. The Musketeers and the Vols are set to face off at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.

Xavier (13-3-5; 6-0-4 BIG EAST) finished runners-up in the BIG EAST Championship after falling to No. 18 Georgetown on Sunday afternoon. The Musketeers earned the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST tournament after going unbeaten in conference play during the regular season, the first time in program history the Musketeers have gone unbeaten in league play.

This Xavier's fifth bid to the NCAA Championship overall (1998, 2000, 2019, 2021) and third berth of head coach Nate Lie's tenure.

The winner of the first round match advances to take on the winner between No. 3 seeded Virginia and Fairleigh Dickinson in the second round.

GAME DETAILS

vs. No. 22 Tennessee (NCAA First Round)
Friday, November 11 - 6 PM
Regal Stadium (Knoxville, Tenn.)

OPPONENT INFO

Tennessee, ranked No. 22 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll, earned a No. 6 seed, and enters the NCAA Tournament at 11-5-2 overall with a 7-2-1 record in SEC play, winning the SEC East Division Championship.
First Team All-SEC Selection Jaida Thomas leads the Vols with 26 points on 12 goals and two assists.
Taylor Huff, also an All-SEC First Team selection, has a team-best seven assists to go with five goals for 17 points.
Mackenzie George has 14 points on four goals and six assists, earning Second Team All-SEC.
Lindsey Romig has played the bulk of the time in-goal for the Vols, collecting 53 saves with 17 goals against. She has a GAA of 1.20 and a record of 11-4-1 overall with six complete shutouts and four combined shutouts.
Xavier is 2-4-0 all time against the Vols, last facing off with UT in the Spring 2021 season.

BIG EAST POSTSEASON HONORS

After leading Xavier in goals during the regular season, Xavier graduate student Molly McLaughlin was named the BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year. She also earned a spot on the All-BIG EAST First Team.
McLaughlin, originally from Granger, Ind., led Xavier with 13 points on a team-high five goals and three assists in the regular season.
Among her five goals were a BIG EAST-leading three game-winners prior to the post-season. Four of her goals came on penalty kicks, where she's a perfect 4-of-4 for the season and 7-for-7 for her Xavier career.
On the defensive end, McLaughlin started all 19 regular season matches in midfield for the Musketeers, helping limit Xavier opponents to just 12 goals during the regular season, while picking up 11 shutouts. The Musketeers entered the postseason on 12-match unbeaten streak.
A trio of freshmen, Natalie Bain, Maria Galley and Regan Dancer, also earned All-BIG EAST honors.
Goalkeeper Maria Galley earned All-BIG EAST Second Team and All-Freshman honors. Galley, originally from South Windsor, Conn., has made all 19 starts this season and played every minute in goal during the regular season.
During the regular season, she collected 50 saves with just 12 goals against, earning a save percentage of 0.806 with a GAA of 0.63, a mark that ranks in the top five in Xavier's single season records.
In BIG EAST play, Galley had a league best .903 save percentage, only allowing three goals against conference opponents for a GAA of 0.30.
Galley wrapped up the regular season with a record of 12-2-5 and earned 11 clean sheets, a mark that leads the BIG EAST and was tied for second most in the NCAA DI at the end of the regular season. Her 11 shutouts tie the Xavier single season school record for a goalkeeper. Seven of her 11 shutouts came in BIG EAST play.
Defender Natalie Bain earned a spot on both the All-BIG EAST Second Team and the the All-Freshman Team.
Bain, who is originally from Alexandria, Ky., has made all 19 starts in the regular season, helping limit opponents to just 12 goals during the regular season. The Musketeer defense has 11 shutouts on the season, which is tied for second most in a season in Xavier's record books.
Offensively, Bain has collected five points, scoring two goals off of set pieces and dishing out an assist, all coming in BIG EAST play. Among her two goals was the game-winner at Butler.
Forward Regan Dancer was named to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team.
Dancer, who is originally from South Lyon, Mich., was fourth on the team with seven points during the regular season, scoring three goals and dishing out an assist. All three of her tallies are game-winners.
Two of her goals came during BIG EAST regular season play, where she scored the game winner in Xavier's 2-0 win over Seton Hall and the Musketeers 1-0 win over UConn. Her two game-winners in conference action are tied for second most in league play.

RECORD BREAKING DEFENSE

Maria Galley has made all 21 starts this season, collecting 52 saves with 14 goals against, for a save percentage of 0.788 with a GAA of 0.66, a mark that ranks in the top five in Xavier's single season records.
Galley has a record of 13-3-5 on the season so far and has earned 11 clean sheets, a mark that leads the BIG EAST and is tied for fourth most in the NCAA DI. Her 11 shutouts tie the Xavier single season school record for a goalkeeper, set in 2000 by Megan Vieth.
Natalie Bain has played 1,885 minutes on the Xavier backline in 21 starts so far in her freshman season. Maddie Reed has made 20 starts at center back and Grace Haggerty has made a pair of starts
Molly McLaughlin and Ella Rogers have started each match in the midfield, and Avery Lockwood has made 17 starts. Olivia Lawson, Elise Le and Rachel Dewey rotate in the starting outside back positions.
The Xavier defense has 11 shutouts on the season, and had six shutouts in a row prior to Creighton's PK in the 82nd minute on Sunday, October 23. Going back to the DePaul game, the Musketeer defense had played 697 consecutive minutes of action without allowing a goal.
Xavier's 11 shutouts tie the 2000 season for the second-most team shutouts in a season in Xavier record books. The school record is 13, set in 2019.

XAVIER NOTES

Molly McLaughlin collected three points in the semifinal match against St. John's, on a goal and an assist, to bring her team-high point total to 16. She leads the Musketeers with six goals and has a team-high four game-winners this season. She also has four assists.
McLaughlin is 4-4 on PKs for the season, matching for the best percentage in the country. She's now 7-7 on penalty kicks for her Xavier career.
Emma Flick also picked up three points in the semifinal match on a goal and an assist. Her goal against SJU was her fourth of the season. She also assisted on Chloe Netzel's goal late in the first overtime period, her third of the season, to bring her season total to 11 points.
Chloe Netzel scored her fifth goal of the season in the first overtime period against St. John's. She now has 11 points on five goals and an assist.
Regan Dancer scored the game-winning goal in Xavier's 1-0 win over UConn, scoring from Ella Rogers and Grace Blumfeldt in the 25th minute. The goal was Dancer's third match-winning goal of the season, which leads the Musketeers and is tied for a league-best on the year. The freshman now has seven points on three goals and an assist.
Ella Rogers picked up an assist on Emma Flick's goal against St. John's, her team-best fifth of the season.
Natalie Bain picked up five points in the opening weekend of BIG EAST play, scoring the eventual game-winner in the 23rd minute at Butler, scoring the first goal in the 2-1 win over DePaul and then assisting on Emma Marcus' game-winner.
Grace Blumfeldt scored the equalizer in Xavier's 1-1 draw at Marquette, her first goal of the season. Combined with a pair of assists, she has four poitns on the season.
Rachel Dewey picked up a point on an assist for the third straight match against Villanova, dishing out the helper to Molly McLaughlin. She now has four points on a team-high four assists.
Brooke Sroka scored Xavier's first goal, an equalizer, in the first half of the Musketeers' 4-1 win over Lipscomb, her second of the season to bring her total to four points. She also scored in Xavier's 4-2 win over Ball State, knocking in an insurance goal in the final minute of the game.
Simone Rivard-Roberts also has two goals on the season, both game-winners. Rivard-Roberts scored her first goal as a Musketeer in the season opener against Western Kentucky, in her first appearance after dealing with injuries in her first two seasons at Xavier.
Avery Lockwood picked up her second assist of the season on Chloe Netzel's game-winner against Loyola, bringing her season total to four points. Lockwood, a transfer from Indiana, scored the equalizer in the eventual 2-1 win over Louisville, and picked up an assist on Regan Dancer's game-winner at Ball State.
Emma Marcus became the 10th Musketeer to score in 2022, notching the game-winner in Xavier's 2-1 win over DePaul shortly after halftime.
Elise Le has a point on an assist, picked up during the Lipscomb match.

STAND OUT FRESHMEN

A trio of Musketeer freshmen, Maria Galley, Natalie Bain and Emma Flick, were named to the Top Drawer Soccer's Midseason Top 100 Freshmen list
Galley, a goalkeeper, is tied for the most shutouts in the nation with 11, which also matches the individual school record. She earned All-BIG EAST Second Team Honors as well as All-Freshman Team honors following the regular season. She was also named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week on Oct. 10.
Bain, a defender, leads the Musketeers' field players with 1795 minutes of action this season, making all 20 starts. She's collected five points, scoring two goals off of set pieces and dishing out an assist. She was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team and All-Freshman Team following the regular season, and was also named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 26.
Flick, a forward, has 11 points on four goals and three assists, ranking second on the team in points and third in goals. Flick was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Sept. 12.
Forward Regan Dancer has also played a major role in Xavier's offense, collecting seven points on three goals and an assist, with all three goals going down as game-winners. She earned BIG EAST All-Freshman Team honors and was also BIG EAST Freshman of the Week twice this season.

MCLAUGHLIN ON HERMANN LIST

Women's soccer graduate student Molly McLaughlin was among the 61 NCAA Women's Division I college soccer players named to the 2022 Hermann Trophy Watch List by the United Soccer Coaches.
McLaughlin, a midfielder from Granger, Ind., is coming off her third all-conference season as a Musketeer, earning a spot on the 2021 All-BIG EAST First Team and the USC All-East Region First Team, as well BIG EAST All-Tournament Team honors. She was voted to the 2022 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team by the league's coaches.
Last season, McLaughlin totaled 1,664 minutes in the midfield for the Musketeers, helping Xavier to a school-record 16 regular season wins and 10 shutouts. McLaughlin finished with three goals on the season, a pair coming in BIG EAST play, with one game-winner, against Marquette.
The Hermann Trophy, presented annually by the Missouri Athletic Club, is the nation's highest individual honor recognizing the National Player of the Year as determined by the voting of Division I coaches who are members of United Soccer Coaches.

2021 SEASON

The Musketeers finished the 2021 season at 16-3-1 overall, setting a new school record for regular season wins (16). The Musketeers went undefeated in the non-conference portion of the home schedule, winning seven straight matches to open the season and playing Bowling Green to a draw to move into conference play at 7-0-1.
Xavier went 9-1 in conference play, winning program's second BIG EAST Regular Season Championship and earning the opportunity to host the league Semifinals and Finals at Corcoran Field.
The Musketeers earned a program-best ranking in both the United Soccer Coaches Poll (No. 11) and the RPI (No. 7) last season.
Last season, Xavier earned the program's first at-large bid and home match in the NCAA Tournament.

THE MUSKETEERS

The Musketeers return 23 letter-winners from last fall, including All-BIG EAST First Team honoree Molly McLaughlin, BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Ella Rogers, and All-Freshmen Team members Chloe Netzel and Shelby Sallee.
Xavier's returners account for over 80 percent of Xavier's goals last season, including Xavier's top six goal scorers in Netzel (6), Emma Marcus (4), Sallee (4), Rogers (4), McLaughlin (3) and Mathilde Rasmussen (3).
Netzel led the Musketeers last season with 14 points total, Marcus and Salle each added 11 for the Musketeers.
The Musketeers adds 13 newcomers, including four transfers and a nine-person freshman class.
Xavier enters the season ranked No. 24 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason poll after finishing last season at No. 19, and also open up the 2022 season ranked No. 21 by Top Drawer Soccer.
Xavier was selected to finish second in the BIG EAST Coaches poll, collecting a pair of first place votes.
All-conference honorees Molly McLaughlin and Ella Rogers were named Preseason All-BIG EAST by the league coaches.

BIG EAST COACHES POLL

BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll
(First-place votes)
1.       Georgetown          98 (8)
2.       Xavier 91 (2)
3.       Butler                     83 (1)
4.       Providence            69
5.       St. John's               59
6.       Connecticut           57
7.       Creighton               43
8.       Marquette             42
9.       DePaul                    31
10.     Villanova                22
11.     Seton Hall              10

BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
Katie Soderstrom, Butler, R-Sr., F

BIG EAST Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Julia Leas, Georgetown, Sr., M

BIG EAST Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year
Allie Augur, Georgetown, Sr., GK

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Aliyah Diagne, Butler, R-Jr., D
Katie Soderstrom, Butler, R-Sr., F*
Jaydah Bedoya, Connecticut, Jr., F
Aida Kardovic, Creighton, Sr., M*
Allie Augur, Georgetown, Sr., GK
Julia Leas, Georgetown, Sr., M*
Gia Vicari, Georgetown, Jr., F
Meg Hughes, Providence, Jr., F
Jessica Garziano, St. John's, Sr., M
Molly McLaughlin, Xavier, Grad., M
Ella Rogers, Xavier, So., M
*unanimous selection