ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany women's soccer team kicks off its final road swing of 2023, starting with a visit to its last non-conference opponent of the regular season, Cornell, on Tuesday.
 
Game Info
October 16, 2023 at Cornell (5:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Int'l Feed | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany is 1-4-2 on the road this season; Cornell is 2-1-3 at home
• UAlbany ranks sixth in the America East in scoring offense and eighth in scoring defense
• Cornell ranks sixth in the Ivy League in scoring offense and seventh in scoring defense
• Selma Elverum ranks tied for third in the America East in goals scored
• Elverum has scored nine points in her last four games

Scouting Cornell
Cornell is 3-3-6 in 2023 so far, and 0-3-2 against Ivy League opponents.  The six draws represent a new single-season program record, upending the previous record of five set last year.  Big Red goalkeeper Erica Fox has posted a .806 save percentage over her last six appearances, but Cornell has only one victory to show for her efforts in that time.  Offensively, five Big Red players have scored two or more goals, led by Mia Gonzalez's three.UAlbany is 2-3-3 in eight meetings against Cornell since 2005, and has not lost to the Big Red since the 2013 season.
 
Last Time vs. Cornell
September 7, 2022 | UAlbany hosted a Purple-Out in their game against Cornell, and wore their traditional road purples at home.  Olivia Piraino, the team's leading returning scorer from 2021, scored her first goal of the season off a rebound from a shot from Selma Elverum in the ninth minute to put UAlbany up 1-0 early.  Cornell scored an equalizer after halftime and held firm despite UAlbany's continued pressure.  The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
 
Last Time Out
The Great Danes ended a six-game winless streak by shutting out UMBC 4-0 at Casey Stadium to claim their first America East victory of the season.  Selma Elverum powered UAlbany's offense, scoring two goals and recorded one assist for a career-high five points.  Brooke Pickett and Iola Cotter added individual goals of their own to bring UAlbany's total to four, the highest output in a single game in 2023, and since defeating Wagner on September 11, 2022.  Pickett was the 10th UAlbany player to score a goal in 2023, and following assists from Olivia Piraino and Madison Hnis, 14 players have scored at least one point.
 
Around the America East
Two teams, Binghamton and Maine, have clinched their spots in the 2023 America East Tournament.  The Bearcats hold a one-point lead over the Black Bears, 14-13, in the conference standings, through the Black Bears have regained the top spot in overall victories with nine after Vermont suffered a shutout defeat at Binghamton in their last game.  UMass Lowell and Bryant are tied for third with eight points each, followed by Vermont and NJIT with seven each.  UAlbany has five after beating UMBC, who rounds out the standings with three points.
 
Tuesday's America East Games

• UAlbany at Cornell, 5:00 pm

Common Opponents

• Binghamton
  • UAlbany: 9/28 at Binghamton, T, 2-2
  • Cornell: 9/13 vs. Binghamton, T, 2-2

Offensive Player of the Week
Selma Elverum scored a career-high five total points, two goals and one assist, in UAlbany's 4-0 victory over UMBC.  Her efforts against the Retrievers earned America East Offensive Player of the Week honors, the first weekly award from the conference for a Great Dane in 2023.  Elverum's first award was the first time a Great Dane was named Offensive Player of the Week since Olivia Piraino on September 19, 2022.
 
Spread the Wealth II
Three players recorded either their first goal or assist of the season in the Great Danes' victory over UMBC.  Brooke Pickett became the 10th player to score a goal in 2023, while the first assists of the season from Olivia Piraino and Madison Hnis brought the point-scorers total to 14.
 
To the Wire
Trailing 2-0 with just over four minutes remaining, Selma Elverum scored two goals, including one with three seconds remaining on the clock, to force a tie with Binghamton on the road and steal a point in the conference standings.  Elverum is the first Great Dane in 2023 to record more than one goal, and recorded the first multi-goal game for a single player of the season.
 
Uruguay U-19
Freshman defender Florencia Bartholomai stepped away from the UAlbany women's soccer team briefly to compete for her home country, Ururguay, in the U-19 Liga Evolución Tournament.  Uruguay was placed in a group with Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay, and would play each of the four countries from September 17-22.
 
Back Heavy
Through its first eight games of the 2023 season, eight of the UAlbany women's soccer program's nine total goals have been scored in the second half.  The Great Danes are, on average, scoring in the 62nd minute.
 
Spread the Wealth
In its first eight games of the 2023 season, the UAlbany women's soccer program scored nine goals.  Each goal was scored by a different player, including two goals from defenders Charlotte Takacsy and Devon Schmitt.  Takacsy is the early-season leader in total points as the only player to tally a goal and an assist.
 
First Time
In the first game of her senior-year season, the 42nd appearance of her career, defender Charlotte Takacsy scored her first career goal as a Great Dane.  Takacsy capitalized on a rebound following a serve from a corner kick to put UAlbany up 2-1 over Hofstra in the 71st minute of the season opener and clinch the game for the Great Danes.
 
Backloaded
During the 2022 season, UAlbany scored 26 total goals in 20 games, for an average of 1.30 goals per game.  However, the Great Danes were shut out in each of their first four games of the season, and subsequently scored their 26 goals in the final 16 games, for an average of 1.63 goals per game.
 
Rookie of the Year
After leading the Great Danes in scoring, freshman forward Emily Jozak was named the 2022 America East Rookie of the Year.  Jozak led UAlbany in 2022 with seven goals, ranking in a tie for third-highest total in the America East.  Jozak was also named America East Rookie of the Week three times, including after she tied the single-game program records with three goals and six points against Rider in the Great Danes' first victory of the season.  Jozak is UAlbany's seventh Rookie of the Year winner, following Teresa Boring (2007), Chelsea DeVerna (2009), Vivian Vega (2014), Meghan Cavanaugh (2016), Jasmine Colbert (2018), and Leah Pais (2019).
 
Mainstays
Since earning their first postseason berth during the 2009 season, UAlbany women's soccer has qualified for all but two postseason tournaments, missing out only in 2013 and in the COVID-affected 2020-21 season.  Overall, UAlbany is 13-7-2, in America East postseason matches, with three America East championships.
 
Picked Fifth
For the third-straight season, UAlbany was picked to finish fifth in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.  The Great Danes finished the 2022 regular season in fifth place and advanced to the conference semifinal round against top-seed Binghamton.  The Bearcats narrowly edged 2022 champion New Hampshire as the 2023 preseason favorite.
 
Home Field
UAlbany has been excellent within the confines of Tom & Mary Casey Stadium for the better part of the last decade, boasting a 43-21-8 record at home since the start of the 2015 season, the year of the program's first America East title.  The Great Danes went 4-3-3 at home in 2022, and between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, UAlbany was 14-1-3, including a 2019 season in which they gave up just eight goals at home while going 8-0-1 during the regular season.
 
Next: UAlbany visits UMass Lowell on October 22.