ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany women's soccer team returns home one final time this season to host Senior Night against Vermont in the team's 2023 finale.
 
Game Info
October 26, 2023 vs. Vermont (7:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Int'l Stream | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany is 3-3-0 at home this season; Vermont is 3-4-0 on the road
• Vermont ranks second in the America East in scoring offense; UAlbany ranks eighth
• Vermont ranks sixth in the America East in scoring defense; UAlbany ranks eighth
• Selma Elverum has scored five goals in her last six games
• Elverum ranks tied for third in the America East in goals scored
• Vermont's Kate Bossert ranks second in the America East in goals and total points

Scouting Vermont
The Catamounts, two years removed from their first-ever America East title, are in seventh place in the America East standings with one game to go.  They remain in contention for the final spot in the playoffs with Bryant, trailing the Bulldogs in the standings by one point.  Vermont has lost each of its last two games, but ranks second in the conference this season with eight overall victories.  Kate Bossert leads the Catamounts' offense, with nine goals scored and 20 overall points, both of which rank second in the America East.  UAlbany has not beaten Vermont since the spring 2021 season, going 0-2-1 against the Catamounts over the previous three games.  Overall, in 28 games in UAlbany's Division I era, Vermont narrowly leads the series 13-12-2.
 
Last Time vs. Vermont
October 27, 2022 | UAlbany closed the 2022 regular season at defending America East regular-season and tournament champion Vermont.  The Catamounts had struggled in their 2022 campaign and had not recorded a victory over an America East opponent.  UAlbany, who had clinched its spot in the 2022 America East Tournament, needed to win and have UMass Lowell tie or lose in order to secure the four-seed and hosting privileges in the quarterfinal round.  Sahara Zingano scored off a corner kick early in the game, in just the sixth minute, but Vermont rallied to tie the game at one in the 75th.  The game ended with the same score, 1-1, and UAlbany locked into the five-seed.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany played its final road game of the 2023 season at UMass Lowell, their quarterfinal opponent from the 2022 America East Tournament.  The River Hawks scored first, in the 39th minute just before halftime, but Selma Elverum tied the game with her sixth goal of the season in the 54th minute.  Eight minutes later, UMass Lowell took the lead for good, and claimed a 2-1 victory.  The loss, combined with other results across the conference, eliminated UAlbany from postseason contention.
 
Around the America East
Five of the six spots in the 2023 America East Tournament have been secured, with the final spot to be decided between Bryant and Vermont.  UAlbany and UMBC have been eliminated from postseason contention.  With one day remaining in the regular season, Binghamton has the inside track for the top overall seed with 15 points, followed by Maine with 14 points.  New Hampshire has 12 points and UMass Lowell has 11, while NJIT has 10.  Bryant holds a one-point lead over Vermont, 8-7, in sixth and seventh place.
 
Thursday's America East Games

• New Hampshire at Maine, 6:00 pm
• Vermont at UAlbany, 7:00 pm
• UMass Lowell at Bryant, 7:00 pm
• Binghamton at NJIT, 7:00 pm

Common Opponents

• Boston University
  • UAlbany: 8/27 at Boston University, L, 2-3
  • Vermont: 8/17 at Boston University, L, 0-1
• NJIT
  • UAlbany: 9/17 at NJIT, T, 1-1
  • Vermont: 10/22 vs. NJIT, L, 3-2
• Maine
  • UAlbany: 9/24 vs. Maine, L, 0-3
  • Vermont: 9/17 at Maine, L, 3-2
• Binghamton
  • UAlbany: 9/28 at Binghamton, T, 2-2
  • Vermont: 10/15 at Binghamton, L, 0-2
• New Hampshire
  • UAlbany: 10/1 vs. New Hampshire, L, 1-2
  • Vermont: 10/12 vs. New Hampshire, T, 1-1
• Bryant
  • UAlbany: 10/8 at Bryant, L, 0-2
  • Vermont: 9/28 vs. Bryant, L, 0-1
• UMBC
  • UAlbany: 10/12 vs. UMBC, W, 4-0
  • Vermont: 10/8 at UMBC, W, 3-0
• UMass Lowell
  • UAlbany: 10/22 at UMass Lowell, L, 1-2
  • Vermont: 10/1 vs. UMass Lowell, W, 6-1

Seniors
Before the team's 2023 finale, the UAlbany women's soccer program will recognize the eight members of their 2023 senior class: Iola Cotter, Megan Hart, Erin Kennelley, Ashley Ladner, Brooke Pickett, Olivia Piraino, Devon Schmitt, and Charlotte Takacsy.
 
Late Push
Sophomore forward Selma Elverum has separated herself as the Great Danes' leading scorer in 2023.  Of her six goals this season, five have come in the team's last six games.  After being held to one goal through the team's first nine games, Elverum went off for two goals in the final five minutes against Binghamton, kicking off her five-goals-in-six-games run to close the 2023 season.
 
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's season ends Thursday.  The 2023 America East Tournament begins October 29.