No. 21 Women's Soccer Wraps Up Homestand with UConn

Thursday, September 26

Cincinnati, Ohio

7:00 PM

Xavier University

Connecticut

No. 21 Women's Soccer Wraps Up Homestand with UConn

09.25.24 | Women's Soccer

Live Stream Live Stats

Musketeers and Huskies get underway at 7:00 p.m. on FloSports

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - No. 21 Xavier women's soccer (8-1-1) wraps up a four-match homestand on Thursday, September 26, hosting Connecticut at Corcoran Field. The Musketeers and the Huskies are set to get underway at 7:00 p.m., streamed live on FloSports. Admission is free to all regular soccer contests at Corcoran Field.

The Musketeers came in at No. 21 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Top 25 and moved to No. 15 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll after opening up BIG EAST play with a win over DePaul to move to 8-1-1 overall. Xavier enters the match with UConn with a 29-match unbeaten streak in BIG EAST regular season matches, dating back to September 2021.

GAME DETAILS

vs. UConn
Thursday, Sept. 26 - 7:00 p.m.
Corcoran Field - Cincinnati, Ohio

OPPONENT INFO

Connecticut, which was picked to finish second in the BIG EAST in the preseason coaches poll, is 6-1-2 on the season and 0-0-1 in BIG EAST play after erasing a three-goal deficit to earn a 3-3 draw with St. John's in the conference opener.
UConn also has wins over New Hampshire, Boston, Cal State Fullerton, Rhode Island, Yale and Texas A&M and a draw against Vermont, with the only set back on the season coming against Wisconsin. UConn will face St. John's on Sunday to open league play.
The Huskies went 10-4-5 overall and 6-1-3 in the BIG EAST standings, earning the No. 3 seed in the league tournament.
UConn topped Butler in the BIG EAST First Round before falling to Georgetown in the Semifinals.
Xavier is 3-0 against the Huskies all-time after taking a 1-0 win in Storrs last season.

OFFENSE Notables

Nine 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 five each from Emma Flick and Olivia Lawson.
Regan Dancer, who has four goals on the season, leads the BIG EAST and ranks 14th in the country in shot accuracy at 0.696.
Samantha Wiehe has four total goals on the season and remains perfect on penalty kicks at 3-for-3, with three made PK's on three attempts matching UConn's Chioma Okafor for the lead in the BIG EAST and two others for the NCAA DI lead.
Olivia Baca and Samantha Erbach each have three goals.
Flick, Erbach and Lawson lead the BIG EAST and rank 48th in the country for game-winning goals with a pair.
Flick has a team-high six assists, most in the BIG EAST and the 10th most total assists in NCAA DI, to lead the Musketeers with 16 points, a number that leads the conference and ranks 31st in the country. Flick's assists per game (0.60 - 22nd) and points per game (1.60 - 47th) also rank in the top 60 in NCAA DI.
As a squad, Xavier leads the BIG EAST and are No. 4 in NCAA DI with 30 total goals on the season.
The Musketeers rank 8th in the country in scoring offense (3.00 goals per game) and leads the conference and ranks 9th in the nation goal differential (21).
The Musketeers are also in the top 15 in NCAA DI in total points, ranking 12th with 83 points for the season, and points per game, ranking 14st with 8.30 points per game. All three marks are the best in the BIG EAST.
Xavier ranks in the top 50 of NCAA DI teams for total assists (No. 30 - 23) and assists per game (No. 33 - 2.30).

WEEKLY AWARDS

Junior goalkeeper Maria Galley picked up her second BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week honor of the season after helping the No. 23 Musketeers to a 3-0 win over DePaul in the BIG EAST opener, the league announced on Monday.
In Xavier's lone match last week, Galley collected three saves in-goal on the way to a 3-0 win over DePaul on Sunday. The complete shutout, her fourth of the season, is tied for the most in the BIG EAST this season
After tying the school record for career complete shutouts set by Kelcey Ervick (1990-93) in the match against Cincinnati, Galley now holds the program record at 27. Galley also broke the school record for career wins with her 30th earlier this season against Michigan.
Galley also earned the first Goalkeeper of the Week of the season, announced on August 19, 2024.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier heads out for its first BIG EAST road match this weekend, taking on the Villanova Wildcats in Villanova, Pa., on Sunday, September 29 at 1:00 PM
VU was picked T-9th in the BIG EAST Coaches Preseason Poll, and enter the week at 3-4-2 overall and 0-0-1 in BIG EAST play after playing Creighton to a scoreless draw in the conference opener. The Wildcats travel to Creighton on Thursday.
Villanova went 4-7-7 overall and 1-7-2 in the BIG EAST last season, finishing 11th in the league standings.
The Musketeers are 7-4 all-time against Villanova, with a four-match win streak entering this season's match.
Xavier took a 1-0 win in the last match-up in Cincinnati.

LAST TIME OUT

Xavier opened up BIG EAST play with a 3-0 win over DePaul on Sunday afternoon at Corcoran Field, moving the Musketeers to 8-1-1 overall. The win extends Xavier's unbeaten streak in BIG EAST regular season matches to 29, dating back to 2021.
Emma Flick's fifth goal of the season gave the Musketeers a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute, scoring from Olivia Baca and McKinley Berry. Xavier finished the first half with a 9-3 advantage on shots overall and a 6-2 lead on shots on-goal. Maria Galley collected both Blue Demon looks on-frame for a pair of saves to send Xavier into halftime with the 1-0 advantage.
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Xavier added another tally to the lead on a penalty kick from Samantha Wiehe, awarded after Olivia Baca was fouled in front of the net. The goal was WIehe's fourth of the season and she remains perfect on PKs for her time at Xavier. The Musketeers added another insurance goal in the final 15 minutes when Reese Slater set up Olivia Lawson for her fifth goal of the season to set the final score at 3-0.
The Musketeer defense only allowed one shot in the second half, a look on-frame that Galley collected for her third save of the match. Galley picked up the shutout, her fourth complete shutout of the season and her school-record 27th for her Xavier career.
Emma Flick's first half goal was her team-high matching fifth of the season and her second game-winner. Along with six assists, she leads the Musketeers with 16 points.
Samantha Wiehe's made penalty kick was her fourth goal of the season, combining with four assists for 12 points. Wiehe is 3-of-3 on PKs for the season and 5-of-5 for her Xavier career.
Olivia Lawson's second-half goal gives her five for the season, matching Flick for team high. She also has an assist for 11 points.
Olivia Baca picked up her first assist of the season on Flick's game-winner, combining with three goals for seven points.
McKinley Berry picked up as assist on Flick's goal, her first of the season, giving her three point on a goal and a helper.
Reese Slater picked up her first point of the season, assisting on Lawson's second-half goal.
Natalie Bain played the full 90 minutes on the Xavier defense, and Brooklynn Miltenberger, Samantha Wiehe and maddie Reed all played over 75 minutes to help the Musketeers pick up their fifth shutout of the season.
Maria Galley collected three saves in-goal on the way to the complete shutout, her fourth of the season. After tying the school record for career complete shutouts set by Kelcey Ervick (1990-93) in the match against Cincinnati, Galley now holds the program record at 27.
Xavier extends its unbeaten streak in BIG EAST regular season matches to 29, dating back to September 2021. The Musketeers' last regular season BIG EAST loss was a 2-1 overtime setback to No. 25 Georgetown on Sept. 26, 2021.
The Musketeers are unbeaten in the last five BIG EAST openers, a streak that goes back to the 2020 season.
The result extends Xavier's win streak over the Blue Demons to six matches, and the unbeaten streak against DePaul to nine.

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

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