Women's Soccer Returns Home to Host Seton Hall on Sunday

Sunday, October 13

Cincinnati, Ohio

1:00 PM

Xavier University

Seton Hall

Women's Soccer Returns Home to Host Seton Hall on Sunday

10.11.24 | Women's Soccer

Live Stream Live Stats

Musketeers take on Pirates at 1:00 p.m. on FloSports

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier women's soccer (11-1-2; 4-0-1 BIG EAST) returns home on Sunday afternoon to host Seton Hall at Corcoran Field.The Musketeers and the Pirates are set to get underway at 1:00 p.m., streamed live on FloSports.

The Musketeers were receiving votes in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Poll and came in at No. 18 in this week's Top Drawer Soccer poll after taking a 2-1 win over Creighton and a 3-0 win at Butler last week

Xavier extended its unbeaten streak in BIG EAST regular season play to 33 matches with wins over Creighton and Butler last week. The Musketeers now have 13 points in the conference standings, matching Georgetown for first place.

PINK GAME

The Musketeers will be wearing pink on Sunday to raise awareness and support for American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.
The American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a celebration of courage and hope, a movement uniting communities to end breast cancer as we know it, for everyone. Fundraising through the Making Strides movement has helped the American Cancer Society fund life-saving breast cancer research, crucial patient services, and education and prevention initiatives that have helped millions of people.
Fans who wish to support the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer can visit GoXavier.com/PinkGame to donate or get involved.

BIG EAST STANDINGS

SCHOOL	CONF	PTS.	OVERALL	PCT.	STREAK
Georgetown	4-0-1	13	8-1-4	.769	W1
Xavier	4-0-1	13	11-1-2	.857	W3
Providence	2-2	6	5-6-1	.458	L2
Creighton	2-3	6	5-5-1	.500	W1
Seton Hall	1-1-2	5	4-6-3	.423	W1
Villanova	1-1-2	5	4-5-3	.458	T1
UConn	1-2-2	5	7-3-3	.654	L1
Butler	1-2-2	5	6-4-3	.577	L1
Marquette	1-2-1	4	4-7-3	.393	T1
DePaul	0-1-3	3	2-5-5	.375	T3
St. John's	0-3-2	2	5-4-4	.538	L2

GAME DETAILS

vs. Seton Hall
Sunday, Oct. 13 - 1:00 p.m.
Cincinnati, Ohio - Corcoran Field

OPPONENT INFO

The Pirates, who were picked to finish eighth in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll, are 4-6-3 overall and 1-1-2 in BIG EAST play, currently tied for fifth in the league standings after taking a win over Providence on Sunday.
Seton Hall went 6-7-5 overall and 2-4-4 in BIG EAST play last season, finishing seventh in the league standings.
The Musketeers are 7-1-2 all-time against SHU, entering 2024 with a six-match unbeaten streak.
Xavier and Seton Hall played to a 1-1 draw in South Orange last year.

OFFENSE Notables

Fourteen games into the season, 12 Musketeers have recorded points, including nine who have scored goals.
Among Xavier's nine goal scorers, eight have notched multiple tallies this season, led by seven for Samantha Wiehe and six from Emma Flick. Both lead the Musketeers with 19 points.
Samantha Wiehe remained perfect on penalty kicks at 5-for-5 with the make against Creighton, and is the only player in the country with five made PKs so far this season.
Flick has a team-high seven assists, most in the BIG EAST and the 10th most total assists in NCAA DI. Flick's assists per game (0.50 - 22nd in DI) also leads the BIG EAST.
Regan Dancer leads the BIG EAST and ranks 20th in NCAA DI with a 0.636 shot accuracy, with 21 of her 33 shots going on-frame. She has five goals for the season.
As a squad, Xavier leads the BIG EAST and are No. 4 in NCAA DI with 39 total goals on the season.
The Musketeers lead the BIG EAST and are No. 5 in the country in goal differential (28), rank 7th in the country in scoring offense (2.79 goals per game) and are 8th in the country in total points (106).
The Musketeers are also in the top 35 in NCAA DI and lead the BIG EAST in points per game, ranking 13th with 7.57 points per game, and total assists, ranking 34th with 28 assists on the season.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Following a 2-0 week in conference action for Xavier women's soccer, three Musketeers, Natalie Bain, Samantha Erbach and Samantha Wiehe, picked up honors from the league office. Natalie Bain was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week, Samantha Erbach picked up Freshman of the Week honors and Samantha Wiehe was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
Bain, a junior defender from Alexandria, Ky., was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week for a second time this season. She played the full 90 minutes against Creighton, helping limit the Bluejays to just three shots on goal, including just one look on frame in the final 40 minutes of the match. Bain also played the full 90 minutes against Butler, helping limit the Bulldogs to just three shots on goal to matching BU's season low. Xavier's defense earned its seventh shutout of the season. Bain also got involved offensively against Butler, finishing the day with three points after assisting on Samantha Erbach's game-winner, and then knocking in an insurance goal late. The goal was her career-high third of the season, and combined with her assist, she has a career-high seven points for the campaign.
Erbach, a freshman forward from Lebanon, Ohio, earned Freshman of the Week honors for a second-straight week, and for the third time overall. In Xavier's win over Butler, Erbach finished with four points on two goals, marking the first multi-goal game of her college career. She now has six goals for her freshman season, including a team-high matching three game-winners. Combined with three assists, she has 15 points for the season.
Wiehe, a senior midfielder from Northfield, Ohio, picked up a spot on the the Weekly Honor Roll after playing all 180 minutes in the Xavier midfield last week, collecting three points. After Creighton scored shortly after halftime, Wiehe tied the match in the eventual 2-1 Xavier win on a made PK, her team-leading seventh goal of the season. She's 5-of-5 on penalty kicks for the season and was the first player in NCAA DI to make five PKs this season. In Xavier's win at Butler, she picked up an assist on Samantha Erbach's second goal, her fifth helper of the season to go with seven goals for a team-high matching 19 points.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier returns to the road on Thursday, October 17, traveling to Queens, N.Y., to face St. John's, set for a 7:00 p.m. start on FloSports.
The Red Storm, which was picked to finish sixth in the league's preseason poll, is 5-4-4 overall and 0-3-2 in BIG EAST play. SJU will face Villanova on Sunday.
St. John's went 10-6-3 overall and 5-4-1 in BIG EAST play, earning the No. 5 seed in the league tournament.
SJU fell to Providence in the BIG EAST Tournament First Round.
The Musketeers are 4-7-1 all-time against the Red Storm after taking a 3-0 win in Cincinnati last season.

LAST TIME OUT

A pair of first half goals from Samantha Erbach and a late tally from Natalie Bain helped Xavier women's soccer take a 3-0 win at Butler on Sunday afternoon.
Xavier took the lead early, with Bain serving the ball ahead to Erbach, who shot from around 18 yards out, bouncing the ball over the head of the Butler goalkeeper to give the Musketeers the 1-0 advantage less than 10 minutes into the match.
Erbach posted the first multi-goal game of her collegiate career when she added a second tally less than 30 minutes later, scoring from Samantha Wiehe to give the Musketeers a 2-0 lead going into halftime.
The two-goal lead held into the final minutes of the match, with Xavier's defense allowing just five Butler shots in the second half, and not allowing a single look on-frame after halftime, to keep the seventh shutout of the season intact.
Bain added a third goal to the lead late, using a header off an Emma Flick corner kick in the final five minutes of the match to set the final score at 3-0 in favor of the Musketeers.
Samantha Erbach finished with four point on two goals, marking the first multi-goal game of her college career. She now has six goals for her freshman season, including a team-high matching three game-winners. Combined with three assists, she has 15 points.
Natalie Bain finished the day with three points after assisting on Erbach's game-winner, and then knocking in an insurance goal late. The goal was her career-high third of the season, and combined with her assist, she has a career-high seven points for the campaign.
Samantha Wiehe picked up an assist on Samantha Erbach's second goal, Wiehe's fifth helper of the season to go with seven goals for a team-high matching 19 points.
Emma Flick added to her team-high assist total on Natalie Bain's goal, giving her seven for the season. Combined with six goals, she matches Wiehe for team-high with 19 points.
Natalie Bain, Maddie Reed and Brooklynn Miltenberger each played the full 90 minutes for the Xavier defense, helping limit the Bulldogs to just three shots on goal, matching Butler's season low, as Xavier earned its seventh shutout of the season.
Maria Galley played the full 90 minutes in-goal, saving all three Butler looks on-frame to pick up her sixth complete shutout of the season.

BAIN NAMED TO HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST

Defender Natalie Bain was named one of the 44 NCAA Division Women's Division I college soccer players named to the 2024 Hermann Trophy Watch List, announced by the United Soccer Coaches on Thursday, August 15.
Bain, a junior from Alexandria, Ky., was a United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-American and First Team All-BIG EAST selection in 2023 and was selected as the BIG EAST Preseason Defensive Player of the Year ahead of the 2024 season.
The defender made 20 starts for the Musketeers in 2023, playing 1,770 minutes for a Xavier defense that allowed only 11 goals for the season, winning a share of the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship and earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Bain played the full time in 17 matches on the Xavier backline in 2023, helping the Xavier defense finished the season with 13 shutouts, matching the school record set in 2019. Offensively, Bain finished with two points on a goal, scored in Xavier's 3-0 win at DePaul. She had 14 shots on the season, with eight on-frame.
The Hermann Trophy is presented annually by the Missouri Athletic Club and is the nation's highest individual honor recognizing the National Player of the Year as determined by voting of Division I head coaches who are members of United Soccer Coaches.

2023 season

Xavier is coming off a 2023 season where the Musketeers went 14-4-4 overall and went 6-0-4 in conference play to win a share of the BIG EAST Regular Season title and the No. 1 seed in the league tournament, where XU finished runners-up.
The 2023 Musketeers picked up an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking the third at-large bid in program history and the sixth trip overall to the national tournament.
Xavier earned a No. 4 seed, the best seeding in program history, and hosted the opening round of the of the tournament, the second NCAA home match in program history.

THE 2024 MUSKETEERS

The Musketeers returned 15 letterwinners in all from last season, and added six transfers in addition to an eight-person freshman class for Dean Ward's first year leading Xavier.
Ward took over the program in December 2023, coming to Xavier from Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C., where he led the Bears to 29 wins, two league titles, one conference tournament title and a pair of NCAA DII Women's Soccer Championship appearances in two seasons as head coach.
Xavier returns four of all-conference honorees from last season, led by USC Second Team All-American Natalie Bain, who was selected as the league's Preseason Defender of the Year after earning a spot on the All-BIG EAST First Team last season.
Goalkeeper Maria Galley, an All-BIG EAST Second Team honoree in 2023, was also selected to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.
Xavier also returns Maddie Reed and Samantha Wiehe were selected to the All-BIG EAST Second Team in 2023.
Wiehe led the Musketeers in points last season, finishing with 20 after matching for team high in goals (7) and assists (6).
Reed anchored Xavier's backline last year, starting all 22 matches and playing 1,950 minutes for a Xavier defense that limited opponents to just 11 goals for the season.

BIG EAST COACHES POLL

BIG EAST Preseason Women's Soccer Coaches' Poll
(first-place votes)
1. Georgetown – 100 (10)
2. UConn – 91 (1)
3. Xavier – 72
4. Butler – 70
5. Providence – 66
6. St. John's – 57
7. Creighton – 44
8. Seton Hall – 43
T9. Marquette – 22
T9. Villanova – 22
11. DePaul – 19

Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year
Natalie Tavana, Seton Hall, Sr., F

Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Natalie Bain, Xavier, Jr., D

Preseason BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Kaitlyn Mahoney, UConn, Gr., GK

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Abigail Isger, Butler, Gr., F
Caitlin O'Malley, Butler, Gr., D
Talia Sommer, Butler, Jr., M/F
Azumi Manriki, Creighton, Sr., M
Natalie Means, Georgetown, Jr., F
Eliza Turner, Georgetown, Sr., MF
Kayla Briggs, Providence, So., F
Natalie Tavana, Seton Hall, Sr., F
Lucy Cappadona, UConn, Gr., D
Kaitlyn Mahoney, UConn, Gr., GK
Chioma Okafor, UConn, Jr., F
Natalie Bain, Xavier, Jr., D
Maria Galley, Xavier, Jr., GK

XAVIER SOCCER ON FLOSPORTS

Fans can sign up now to watch Xavier Athletics on FloSports! Men's and women's soccer and volleyball air on the streaming platform this fall, while women's basketball and baseball will be available later this academic year.
Xavier will broadcast every home soccer and volleyball match that isn't produced by the BIG EAST Digital Network. Both broadcasts will be available for fans to watch on FloSports.

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