ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany women's soccer team hits the road for the first time in 2023, taking on three-time defending Ivy League champion Brown.
 
Game Info
August 25, 2023 at Brown
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany went 3-5-2 on the road in 2022; Brown went 7-1-1 at home
• Brown plays its season opener against UAlbany for the second-straight season
• Brown ranked fifth nationally in 2022 in scoring offense
• Brown returns two players from 2022, Brittany Raphino and Ava Seelenfreund, who scored 10 goals each

Scouting Brown
The Bears won their third-straight Ivy League title in 2022 behind the fifth-ranked scoring offense in the country that averaged nearly three goals per game.  Defensively, Brown allowed less than one goal per game.  The tandem forward duo of Brittany Raphino and Ava Seelenfreund combined to score 20 goals and record five assists last season.  Raphino has been named to the 2023 Preseason MAC Herman Award Watch List, and spent time with Team USA's U-23 squad during the spring.  UAlbany is 0-2-0 in two Division I-era meetings against Brown.
 
Last Time vs. Brown
August 26, 2022 | UAlbany hosted its home opener against reigning Ivy League champion Brown, who was playing in its season opener, on Friday.  The Bears defeated the Great Danes 2-0 after scoring two goals in the first 18 minutes and holding UAlbany to just two shots, and none on target, after halftime.  The game was originally scheduled to start at noon but was delayed until 5:30 pm due to inclement weather.
 
Last Time Out
The Great Danes played their second-straight game at home to start the 2023 season in a 1-0 defeat against Atlantic-10 opponent La Salle.  UAlbany played the Explorers to a scoreless tie at halftime, despite suffering a 4-1 deficit in shots.  In the 55th minute, Tiffany Bernot prevented a goal, guarding the near post on a corner kick.  But in the 60th minute, La Salle broke through off a shot off the post to take a 1-0 lead.  The Explorers' defense held and UAlbany suffered its first defeat of the new season.
 
Around the America East
Through the first two games of the season, three teams, Maine, Bryant, and NJIT, remain unbeaten, led by the 2-0-0 Black Bears.  The Bulldogs and Highlanders are each 1-0-1.  Behind the top three is a four-way tie between New Hampshire, UAlbany, UMBC, and Vermont, each at 1-1-0.  Seven of nine teams will play their third games on Thursday before UAlbany plays Friday.
 
Friday's America East Games

• UAlbany at Brown, 2:00 pm

 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 41-19-8 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 Boston University on August 27.