ALBANY, N.Y. – After a late-game thriller at Binghamton, the University at Albany women's soccer team returns to Casey Stadium to host defending America East champion New Hampshire.
 
Game Info
October 1, 2023 vs. New Hampshire (1:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Int'l Stream | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany is at home this season; New Hampshire is on the road
• New Hampshire ranks fifth in the America East in scoring offense; UAlbany ranks sixth
• New Hampshire ranks third in the America East in scoring defense; UAlbany ranks eighth
• The Wildcats' Sally Rainey leads the America East with five shutouts

Scouting New Hampshire
The Wildcats have earned four points through three games in America East play, defeating Bryant, losing to Binghamton, and, most recently, playing UMass Lowell to a scoreless draw.  New Hampshire opened the season 3-1-0, but have since gone 1-3-2.  Last season, New Hampshire outlasted top-seed Binghamton on the road to win the America East Tournament for the second title in program history.  Regulation ended 4-4, and New Hampshire advanced 3-2 in penalty kicks.  Meghan Guarante leads the Wildcats four goals, three assists, and 11 total points in 2023, while goalkeeper Sally Rainey has recorded five shutouts in 10 appearances.  UAlbany is 10-11-2 in the Division I era against New Hampshire, but 3-0-1 in the last four.
 
Last Time vs. New Hampshire
September 18, 2022 | The Great Danes opened their 2022 America East schedule at New Hampshire.  The Wildcats advanced to the conference title game in 2021, and had played UAlbany to a 1-1 draw during the 2021 regular season.  In their 2022 meeting, Olivia Piraino scored twice, once in each half, to power the Great Danes to a 2-1 victory, for the team's first road win of the season.
 
Last Time Out
Returning to the site of their thrilling 2022 America East semifinal round, the UAlbany women's soccer team faced off against Binghamton for their third conference game of the 2023 season.  The Bearcats built a 2-0 lead into the second half, and held the lead with time winding down.  Selma Elverum scored twice in the final four minutes, including with three seconds remaining on the clock, however, to force a tie and steal a point in the conference standings.
 
Around the America East
With their tie against UAlbany, Binghamton has jumped Maine for the top spot in the conference standings with one additional game played.  The Bearcats' seven total points slightly edge the Black Bears' six.  Behind the top two, UMass Lowell, Bryant, NJIT, and New Hampshire each have four points.  UAlbany is currently seventh with two points, followed by UMBC with one and Vermont with zero.  Maine remains unbeaten overall at 7-0-3.
 
Sunday's America East Games

• Binghamton at Bryant, 12:00 pm
• UMBC at Maine, 12:00 pm
• New Hampshire at UAlbany, 1:00 pm
• UMass Lowell at Vermont, 1:00 pm

Common Opponents

• Boston University
  • UAlbany: 8/27 at Boston University, L, 2-3
  • New Hampshire: 9/10 at Boston University, L, 1-2
• Binghamton
  • UAlbany: 9/28 at Binghamton, T, 2-2
  • New Hampshire: 9/17 vs. Binghamton, L, 0-1

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 42-20-8 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 Bryant on October 8.