No. 22 Women's Soccer Faces UConn in BIG EAST Championship Semifinals

Thursday, November 6

Boyds, Md. (Maryland SoccerPlex)

5 PM

Xavier University

UConn (BIG EAST Semifinals)

No. 22 Women's Soccer Faces UConn in BIG EAST Championship Semifinals

11.05.25 | Women's Soccer

Live Stream Live Stats

Musketeers and Huskies get underway at 5 p.m. on ESPN+

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - No. 22 Xavier women's soccer opens up the post-season on Thursday, Nov. 6, in the BIG EAST Semifinals, when the No. 2 seeded Musketeers take on No. 3 seed UConn at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md. The match with the Huskies gets underway at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN+

The winner will advance to Sunday's BIG EAST Championship game to face the winner of the match between No. 1 seed Georgetown and No. 4 seed Creighton.

GAME DETAILS

vs. No. 3 seed Connecticut
Thursday, Nov. 1 - 5:00 p.m.
Boyds, Md. • Maryland SoccerPlex

TOURNAMENT BRACKET

OPPONENT INFO

UConn enters the post season at 11-3-3, and finished third in the BIG EAST with a record of 7-1-2. Connecticut is currently on a four-match win streak.
The Huskies feature a pair of All-BIG EAST First Team honorees, forward Chioma Okafor and midfielder Anaya Johnson. A trio of Huskies also picked up all-conference honors with defender Anna Carson earning Second Team honors, and forward Se-Hanna Mars and midfielder Taylor Jenkins earning All-BIG EAST Third Team.
The Musketeers and the Huskies played to a 1-1 draw earlier this season in Storrs, Conn. Xavier took a lead into halftime on a goal from Regan Dancer, but the Huskies equalized 10 minutes into the second half on a goal from Farrah Stephens-Martin.

ALL-BIG EAST HONORS

A pair of Musketeers earned 2025 post-season honors from the BIG EAST Conference, with Natalie Bain repeating as the league's Defensive Player of the Year, and Samantha Erbach named the conference's Co-Midfielder of the Year, as voted on by the league's coaches.
Nine Musketeers in total were named to All-BIG EAST Teams, with Erbach and Bain joined on the All-BIG EAST First Team by forward Elin Hansson. Regan Dancer and Emma Flick both picked up All-BIG EAST Second Team honors, and four Musketeers, Maria Galley, Peyton Kohls, Brooklynn Miltenberger and Reese Slater, earned All-BIG EAST Third Team selections.
Natalie Bain, a senior from Alexandria, Ky., earned BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year honors for a second-straight season, also earning a spot on the All-BIG EAST First Team. Bain has started in 17 matches for the Musketeers, playing nearly 1,300 minutes to help Xavier to 12 wins in the matches she's appeared in, including nine shutout victories. Offensively, she has a career-high 10 points on three goals and four assists so far in 2025. The 2024 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Bain was selected as the league's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and was ranked No. 8 on TopDrawerSoccer's National Top 100 players list ahead of the 2025 season. Bain was also the only collegiate player selected to attend the Provisional U-23 US Women's National Team Roster for the Domestic Training Camp that ran in late October.
Bain has now earned all-conference honors in all four of her seasons at Xavier, earning All-BIG EAST First Team three times, and picking up All-BIG EAST Second Team and All-Freshman Team honors in 2022.
Samantha Erbach, a sophomore from Lebanon, Ohio, earned BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year and a spot on the all-conference First Team after leading the BIG EAST and ranking among the top players in NCAA DI in offensive output through the regular season. Erbach has 42 points so far this season, third most in the country, and her 2.33 points per game also rank third in NCAA DI. She is the NCAA leader with a school-record 14 assists for the season, and also leads the NCAA at 0.78 assists per game. Erbach's 14 goals match Elin Hansson for the lead in the BIG EAST and are the ninth most in the NCAA, while her goals per game (0.78) rank 11th in the country. In BIG EAST play, Erbach has a league-high 24 points on eight goals and eight assists.
This is Erbach's second major post-season award of her Xavier career after picking up Freshman of the Year honors in 2024. She was also named to the All-BIG EAST First Team following her freshman season.
Elin Hansson, a senior from Halmstad, Sweden, was named to the 2025 All-BIG EAST First Team after matching Erbach for the league-lead in goals scored. After posting her third hat trick of the season, she has 14 goals for the year, matching Erbach for the lead among BIG EAST players and ninth most in NCAA DI for total goals.
Combined with four assists, Hansson has 33 points on the season, trailing only Erbach among BIG EAST players and ranking 11th among all DI players. She also ranks second in the league and 14th in NCAA DI with 1.83 points per game. Hansson, who was ranked No. 37 in TopDrawerSoccer's Midseason Top 100 Players list, ranks 12th in the nation in shot accuracy (0.630). This is Hansson's first post-season honor from the BIG EAST. She was named CSC Academic All-District following the 2024 season, and was a two-time SAC Offensive Player of the Year and all-conference selection at Lenoir-Rhyne.
Regan Dancer, a senior from South Lyon, Mich., picked up All-BIG EAST Second Team honors for a second time in her career after collecting a career-high 16 points during the regular season. Dancer started in all 18 matches for Xavier during the regular season, playing 1,277 minutes for the Musketeers. Her 16 points come on three goals, including the game-winner at Creighton, and a career high 10 assists. Dancer's assist total trails only Erbach among BIG EAST players and is the 10th most in NCAA DI. Eight of her assists have come during BIG EAST play, matching for the league-high during conference action. This is the third All-BIG EAST honor of Dancer's career, earning Second Team honors in 2024, and All-Freshman honors in 2022.
Emma Flick, a senior from Streetsboro, Ohio, earned all-conference Second Team honors for a second-straight year after collecting 18 points for the season. Flick has starting in all 17 matches she's played in, totaling over 1,200 minutes. She has a career-high seven goals for the year, seventh most among league players. Among her goals are three game-winners, at Cincinnati, against SEMO and at Seton Hall. Flick has also dished out four assists for the season. This is the second all-conference honor of Flick's career, also earning All-BIG EAST Second Team in 2024.
Maria Galley, a senior from South Windsor, Conn., earned a spot on the All-BIG EAST Third Team after making all 18 starts in-goal during the regular season. Galley has six complete shutouts, and has been a part of all nine of Xavier's shutouts for the season. She's allowed only 18 goals in over 1,457 minutes of action and has 13 wins and two draws for the year. Galley has five shutouts in conference play, tied for the second most in league. This is the fourth all-conference selection of Galley's career, earning All-BIG EAST Second Team honors in 2024, 2023 and 2022. She was also named to the All-Freshman Team in 2022.
Peyton Kohls, a redshirt sophomore from Loveland, Ohio, picked up All-BIG EAST Third Team honors after collecting 20 points through the regular season. The forward has a career-best six goals on the year, including the game-winner at DePaul, and has eight assists for the season. Kohls' point total ranks third on the team and sixth in the conference, while her assists rank fourth in the BIG EAST and 35th in NCAA DI. This is the first all-conference selection of Kohls' Xavier career.
Brooklynn Miltenberger, a junior from Middletown, Ohio, earned a spot on the All-BIG EAST Third Team after playing in 17 matches, including making 15 starts, on defense for the Musketeers. Miltenberger played 964 minutes for the Xavier backline that has only allowed 18 goals on the season, and only 13 goals over the last 16 matches. She's helped the Musketeer defense to nine shutouts for the year. This is the first all-conference selection as a Musketeer for Miltenberger.
Reese Slater, a junior from Northville, Mich., picked up All-BIG EAST Third Team honors from the league coaches. She's played in all 18 matches this season, starting in 17, to total over 1,200 minutes in the Xavier midfield, playing the full 90 minutes in three matches. Slater has a career-high 10 points on a pair of goals and six assists, including scoring the game-winner at Butler. Her total assists rank sixth in the conference and in the top 100 of NCAA DI players. This is the first all-conference selection for Slater during her time at Xavier.

BAIN CALLED UP to U-23 USA National Team Training Camp

Defender Natalie Bain was named to the Provisional U-23 Women's National Team Roster for the upcoming Domestic Training Camp. She was the only collegiate student-athlete among the 24 players who have been called up to the U.S. Under-23 Women's National Team training camp outside of Philadelphia, Pa. that ran from Oct. 20-28.
From Oct. 20-23, the camp ran concurrently with the U.S. Women's National Team's time in Philadelphia so U.S. head coach Emma Hayes and her staff could observe trainings. The U-23s also attended the USA vs. Portugal match on Oct. 23 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa. The U-23s stayed in Philadelphia area to train after the USWNT left for Connecticut and then Kansas City to finish its October slate of matches.
Bain, a senior from Alexandria, Ky., has started in 16 matches for the Musketeers this season, playing over 1,200 minutes to help Xavier to 12 wins, including nine shutout victories, in games she appeared in. Bain has helped the Xavier defense limit opponents to just eight goals over the last 14 matches she played in, with the Musketeers going unbeaten through that stretch. Offensively, she has a career-high 10 points on three goals and four assists so far in 2025.
For her career, Bain has played in 80 matches for the Musketeers, starting in all 80. She has totaled over 6,900 minutes for the Xavier backline, helping the Musketeer defense to 43 shutouts during her time at Xavier.
This was Bain's first call up to the U.S. Women's National Team. The reigning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Bain was selected as the league's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and was ranked No. 8 on TopDrawerSoccer's National Top 100 players list ahead of the 2025 season. Bain, who was a MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist in 2024, was also named to the Preseason Watch List for the 2025 season.
Bain became the first Musketeer in program history to earn USC All-American honors twice in her career after being named to the USC All-America Second Team following the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Bain has also earned All-BIG EAST honors following each of her three seasons at Xavier, picking up All-Freshman Team and Second Team accolades in 2022, and First Team honors in 2023 and 2024.

LAST TIME OUT

Xavier topped Marquette, 7-1, on Saturday evening at Corcoran Field, marking the Musketeers' seventh win in a row and extending their unbeaten streak to a program-record 15 matches. The Musketeers moved to 13-2-2 overall and remained unbeaten in BIG EAST play at 8-0-1 with the win.
Xavier took the lead in the first 15 minutes, after Elin Hansson scored from Peyton Kohls off a free kick from Reese Slater. The Musketeers held the 1-0 lead into the final minutes of the first half, limiting the Golden Eagles to just two shots in the opening half. In the 39th minute, Regan Dancer found Presley Pennekamp, who scored for a second-straight match to make it a 2-0 Xavier lead. Less than minute after Pennekamp scored, Dancer dished out another assist, this time to Emma Flick, to make it a 3-0 lead at the half. Xavier held an 11-2 advantage on shots in the first 45 minutes, led by three each for Hansson and Samantha Erbach.
Shortly after the half, Hansson scored her second of the game, off assists from Erbach and Dancer, to push Xavier's lead out to four, and then less than five minutes later Erbach notched a goal, from Hansson and Nastassja Garrett, to make it a 5-0 lead in the 54th minute Hansson completed her third hat trick of the season just minutes later, after Dancer served the ball to Kohls in the penalty box. Kohls sent the ball to Hansson where she tapped it in for the six-goal lead. Marquette cut the advantage back to five after scoring on a free kick from just outside the box in the 59th minute. The Musketeers got the goal back and set the final score at 7-1 in the final 10 minutes of the match, after Erbach struck again, off the assist from Sara Parker.
Elin Hansson finished with a career-high seven points after scoring her third hat trick of the season and picking up an assist on Samantha Erbach's first goal. She now has 33 points on 14 goals and five assists. Her 14 goals match Erbach to lead the BIG EAST.
Samantha Erbach finished with five points on a pair of goals and an assist, her fifth multi-goal game of the season. She matches Hansson to lead the BIG EAST with 14 goals for the season, and added to her NCAA-leading and school-record assist total, now standing at 14. She leads the conference and ranks among the top three in the country with 42 points.
Presley Pennekamp notched the game-winner for a second-straight match. She has seven points on two goals and three assists for the season.
Emma Flick knocked in her career-high seventh goal of the season. Combined with four assists, she has 18 points.
Regan Dancer had a career-high three assists for the game, giving her 10 for the season. Combined with three goals, she has a career-best 16 points for the year.
Peyton Kohls picked up a pair of assists, giving her eight for the year. Combined with six goals, she has 20 points for the season.
Reese Slater had her sixth assist of the season, combining with two goals for 10 points for the year.
Xavier defense limited the Golden Eagles to three shots overall, matching Marquette's season low, and just two looks on-frame.
Maria Galley made the start in goal, finishing with a save and a goal against. Taylor Thomas played the final 31 minutes.

RETURNING MUSKETEERS

Xavier returns 14 letterwinners, including seven starters, from 2024's 15-win team. The Musketeer returnees accounted for over 60 percent of Xavier's 51 goals scored last season, the most goals scored by the program since 1984.
Among the returnees are 2025 All-BIG EAST Preseason selections Natalie Bain, Samantha Erbach and Regan Dancer.
Erbach, the 2024 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and All-BIG EAST First Team selection, was named to the USC Forwards to Watch list and came in at No. 51 on the TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Players to Watch list. Erbach started in all 21 matches for the Musketeers during her rookie season. She wrapped up last season with a team-high 11 goals and dished out five assists to finish with 27 points, second most on the team. Among her goals were a team-best four game-winning goals, including the game-winners in the Musketeers' win at Butler and in the win over DePaul in the BIG EAST Semifinals.
Dancer, a 2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection, started in all 21 matches for the Musketeers in 2024, finishing the season with a career-high 14 points on a career-high six goals and two assists, matching for third most goals on the team and fourth most points. Among her goals were three game-winners, including at BIG EAST opponents Villanova and Marquette, tying for third in the BIG EAST for game-winning goals.
2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection Emma Flick, who was named to USC's Midfielders to Watch list, started all 21 matches for the Musketeers. She collected a career-high 20 points on six goals and a team high-matching eight assists, setting new career-highs for goals and assists. Among her six goals were three game-winners, tying her for third in the BIG EAST for game-winning goals last season. Flick's eight assists were tied for first in the BIG EAST and tied for 64th in NCAA DI following the 2024 season.
Senior goalkeeper Maria Galley was also a 2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team Selection after starting in all 21 matches in-goal for the Musketeers, finishing the campaign with 15 wins, the second most in a single season in school history. Galley's 15 wins in 2024 give her a school-record 43 wins for her Xavier career. Galley collected 51 saves and finished with nine complete shutouts, giving her a school-record 32 shutouts as a Musketeer. She ranked No.1 in the BIG EAST and 26^th in NCAA DI for shutouts following the 2024 season.

2024 SEASON

The 2024 Musketeers posted a 15-4-2 overall record, the third most wins in program history, in Dean Ward's first season as head coach.
In conference action, Xavier posted a 7-2-1 record in BIG EAST play, earning the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Championship.
The 2024 Musketeers also earned the highest-ranked road result in program history, at 2-2 draw at No. 4 Michigan State.
On offense, the Musketeers finished the season with 51 goals, the second most in program history and the most by a Xavier team since the 1984 season, and collected 139 points, the most by the Musketeers in over three decades.
The Musketeer defense collected 10 shutouts, only allowing 18 goals on the season.
Following the season, three Musketeers earned BIG EAST awards, with Natalie Bain being named Defender of the Year, Samantha Wiehe earning Midfielder of the Year, and Samantha Erbach picking up Freshman of the Year honors.
Bain and Wiehe were both named USC Second Team All-American, marking the first time in program history that two Musketeers earned All-America honors.

BIG EAST COACHES POLL

BIG EAST Preseason Women's Soccer Coaches' Poll
(first-place votes)
1. Georgetown - 100 (10)
2. Xavier - 87 (1)
3. UConn - 86
4. Butler - 72
5. Creighton - 64
6. Providence - 53
7. DePaul - 39
8. Villanova - 33
9. Marquette - 28
10. St. John's - 25
11. Seton Hall - 18

Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year
Chioma Okafor, UConn, Sr., F

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

Preseason BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Cara Martin, Georgetown, Sr., GK

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Amelie Darey, Butler, Sr., D
Talia Sommer, Butler, Sr., F/M
Maja Lardner, Georgetown, Gr., F
Cara Martin, Georgetown, Sr., GK
Natalie Means, Georgetown, Sr., F
Ella McBride, Providence, Sr., D
Anaya Johnson, UConn, Jr., M
Chioma Okafor, UConn, Sr., F
Natalie Bain, Xavier, Sr., D
Regan Dancer, Xavier, Sr., M
Samantha Erbach, Xavier, Sr., F