West Chester, Pa. – The No. 17 Mercyhurst women’s soccer team will face No. 21 College of Saint Rose (N.Y.) Sunday at noon in the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Championship Quarterfinal Round, hosted by West Chester.
This is the first meeting between the two programs, but both teams have faced West Chester this season, with St. Rose defeating the Golden Rams 1-0 Oct. 13 and the Lakers going 2-1 against West Chester during the season.
Mercyhurst, the Atlantic Division champion as a No. 2 seed, made it to the NCAA quarterfinals by defeating Slippery Rock 3-0 in the second round Sunday, Nov. 16, and then beating West Chester 1-0 Friday. The Lakers have not allowed a goal in 180 minutes of NCAA tournament play in 2008. Sarah Powell leads the Lakers in NCAA tournament scoring with two goals and four points in two contests. Karla Vogt and Jenna Tutolo have each scored a goal in this year’s national tournament, while Taylor Hilinski, Jamie Laturell, Christine Rehnert and Jamie Schroter have added one assist each during NCAA postseason play. Rebecca Heintzman has recorded two playoff shutouts thus far.
The Mercyhurst senior captains look forward to the opportunity that awaits tomorrow against Saint Rose. They feel confident and ready to play a tough opponent.
Lisa Melander said, “One of our biggest strengths is our strong team unity. We get along well together. If we play our game and keep our focus, we’ll come out on top. We’re actually peaking right now, which is one of the best things we can do. It’s important to be playing well right now.”
For the season, Powell leads the Lakers with 23 goals and seven assists for 53 points. She is rated No. 10 in the nation in points per game and 11th in the country in goals per game. Hilinski has added 14 goals and six assists for 34 points, while Schroter has a team-leading 14 assists (7th in the nation) to go with five goals for 24 points. Rehnert is tied with Powell for second on the team with seven assists. Heintzman has posted four shutouts overall and a 1.07 goals against average.
Powell said, “It’s exciting. We’re one game away (from the final four). We know we’re going to have a week off regardless, so we’re going to play as hard as we can. We want to win. We know we can do it, but we definitely have to show up to play. Let’s do this!”
Saint Rose claimed its first-ever East Region title Friday by beating Bridgeport 3-1. The Golden Knights feature a balanced scoring attack and a stingy defense, as the team allows only 0.65 goals per game while scoring 2.21 goals per match itself. The team was rated third in the East Region and defeated Georgian Court 2-0 in the first round before trouncing No. 10 Franklin Pierce 4-0 to make it to Friday’s East Region Final. The Golden Knights beat Bridgeport 3-1 Friday to set up the matchup with Mercyhurst Sunday. Saint Rose has had eight different goal scorers in their three NCAA tournament contests so far, and is led in playoff scoring by Jazmine Farrell, who has contributed one goal and four assists for six points.
The Golden Knights are rated in the top 20 in NCAA Division II in GAA, shutout percent and win-loss-tie percent. Keeper Shannon Murphy boasts an 0.52 GAA (13th in the nation) and eight shutouts. Saint Rose has six players with double-digit points and five with between six and eight goals on the season. Farrell leads the team with 21 points on seven goals and a team-high seven assists. Christina Cuffari is next with eight goals and four assists for 20 points.
Mercyhurst and Saint Rose have both been on excellent runs lately, as the Lakers are 8-0-1 in their last nine games while the Golden Knights have gone 14-0-1 in 15 contests since dropping a 5-0 decision at Merrimack Sept. 27.
Senior captain Christine Rehnert said, “We’re ready for a really tough round against a really tough team. We’ve been playing really well lately. We have a positive mental attitude. We need to stick to our game, play to our strengths and I think we’ll be good.”
The winner of Sunday’s match qualifies for the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Championship Semifinals, held in Tampa, Fla. Dec. 5, where they will play the winner of Columbus State vs. West Florida.