Emmanuel Tops GNAC Women’s Soccer Pre-Season Poll

The 2009 GNAC Championship runner up, Emmanuel College, have been chosen as the 2010 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer preseason favorite in a vote conducted by GNAC coaches.   Simmons College, 2009 GNAC Champions, came in second place while St. Joseph’s of Maine rounded out the top three teams in the 2010 preseason poll. 

Finishing up in the top eight teams of the 2010 preseason poll are fourth seed Lasell College, fifth seed Emerson College, sixth seed St. Joseph College of Connecticut, seventh seed Norwich University, and eighth seed Albertus Magnus College.

1. Emmanuel (135)

2. Simmons (128)

3. St. Joe's ME (120)

4. Lasell (103)

5. Emerson (95)

6. St. Joseph CT (93)

7. Norwich (78)

8. Albertus (69)

#1 Emmanuel

The Emmanuel Women's Soccer Team wrapped up another successful season in 2009, reaching the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship game and making the program's second Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament appearance. The Saints finished as the second place team in the GNAC with a 9-2-1 regular season ledger. Receiving the #2 seed in the GNAC post-season tournament, Emmanuel cruised past 7th-seeded Albertus Magnus and 6th-seeded Saint Joseph (CT) with back-to-back shut out wins. Emmanuel was upset in double-overtime in the GNAC Championship game by 5th-seeded Simmons College, 2-1.

The Saints have a solid core of 19 veterans for the 2010 campaign. Returning this season is senior forward Amber Di Nucci, an all-conference selection for three years. In 2009, she led both Emmanuel and the GNAC in play-making with an incredible 17 assists. Her season assist total set an Emmanuel program record. Di Nucci also scored 9 goals last season, ranking her the second leading scorer for the Saints in 2009.  Starting goalkeeper Jessica D’Ottavio will also be back to mind the net for the Saints. D'Ottavio started for the Saints in all 22 games in 2009. She posted a 14-7-1 record with 7 shutouts and a 1.58 goals-against-average. Rookies Elizabeth Blasser and Meghan Zerba were solid for Emmanuel offensively, accounting for 7 and 6 goals, respectively. Sophomore Taylor Whitehill was key for the Saints on defense starting in 20 of 21 games played last season.

The 2010 Emmanuel women’s soccer season opens away on Wednesday, September 1 with a non-conference game against Babson.

#2 Simmons College

Simmons Soccer wrapped up the 2009 season on Saturday, after competing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. Led by Great Northeast Athletic Conference Soccer Coach of the Year, Erica Mastrogiacomo, the Sharks earned a national bid after capturing the 2009 GNAC Championship as the tournament’s fifth seed. The Sharks had a successful season finish to the regular season going 9-5-3 overall, 7-2-3 GNAC.

Starting senior Brook MacKenzie will be returning for her final season after an impressive fall in 2009. MacKenzie led the team in scoring with 13 goals, 2 assists and 107 shots on goal.  She was also named to the GNAC All-Conference First team.  Team captain and senior Katie Foley was also named first team all-conference this past season.  Top scorers Anna Stella, Allie Megna and Lindsey Butler are back for their senior season along with veteran defender Brittany Staszowski.

The 2010 Simmons women’s soccer season opens away on Saturday, September 4 with a non-conference game against MIT.

#3 St. Joseph’s of Maine

St. Joseph’s rounded out the season with a 12-6-2 overall record and went 9-1-2 in GNAC contests in 2009 under sixth-year head coach Michael Bolanz.  Earning the #1 seed for the GNAC tournament, but fell to eventual GNAC champion Simmons College. 

The Monks come into the 2010 season with senior co-captain Mikayla call at the reins.  Call, led the team with 8 assists was second on the side with 18 points.  The 2009 MVP is in position to reach some of the most coveted program career records this upcoming season.  Senior, Jessica Needham, will be on board to potentially top the leading scorer’s board once again.  Veterans Whitney Linindoll and Elizabeth Theberge return to the backline along with junior co-captain and 2009 GNAC Defensive Player of the year Sharon Fitzgerald.

The 2010 St. Joseph’s women’s soccer season opens home on Saturday, September 4 with a non-conference game against Thomas.

#4 Lasell College

The 2009 season was a success under Coach Vito LaFrancesca, seeing the Lasers conclude the season with a 9-6-2 overall, and 8-2-2 GNAC slate, a spot in the GNAC tournament and two All-Conference awards.   

Seniors Allyson Bushey and Kaitlyn Fields are back after an impressive 2009 season tacking on 6 points each.  Veteran players Rachel Greene, Olivia Tsakiris, Meghan Moore will return to mind the backline during their senior season.  Junior Elizabeth Stickley finished the 2009 season with a 9-6-2 record, playing nearly 1,500 minutes in the net as Lasell's primary goalkeeper.   Stickley has made 172 career saves, produced a 1.39 career goals against average, and earned a 14-8-3 record to date.  Meredith Hessler, a junior, was honored by the GNAC, for the second time, with an All-League award in 2009, having been selected to the first team as a freshman.   She was also selected as a member of the GNAC Sportsmanship team for Lasell for the second consecutive year. 

The 2010 Lasell women’s soccer season opens away on Friday, September 3 with a non-conference game against St. Lawrence.

#5 Emerson College

Following a 10-8-1 record in 2009, former Emerson men’s associate head coach Dave Suvak is now taking the reins of the women’s program in 2010 and Suvak’s experience and knowledge of the players on the women’s team are expected to be great assets for the team as it moves forward.

Returning is first-team all-conference senior forward Lindsay D’Andrea.  D’Andrea was one of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference’s top scorers in 2009 with 19 goals and nine assists and had the game winning goal in half of Emerson’s wins.  She was also an ESPN: The Magazine Academic All-District selection. D’Andrea is not the only Lion who can find the net.  Amy Gutierrez had six goals and a pair of assists, while Lisa Viccione scored two goals with two assists in only 11 matches.

Kara Pantano had a great first year on defense, being named to the GNAC All-Conference second team despite being limited to 13 games due to injury.  When healthy, Pantano was regularly assigned the task of marking the opposing team’s top offensive threat.  Captain Meghan Foehl hopes to avoid the injury bug that limited her to five games on defense in 2009.

The 2010 Emerson women's soccer season opens away on Saturday, September 4 with a non-conference game against Curry College.

#6  St. Joseph of Connecticut

Head Coach Chris LeGates returns for his 14^th season at St. Joseph’s this fall after leading his team to an overall record of 11-6-3 and 7-3-2 in the conference, reaching the semifinal round of the GNAC tournament.

Junior mid-fielder Stacey Rutledge, second team all-conference, led the team with 23 points, 11 goals and 1 assist.  She led the GNAC with six game-winning goals and had a stretch of four game-winners in four games from Oct. 10-20. Senior forward Eva Peart and Caitlin Hogan return this fall to the forward line.  Peart tallied 5 goals and 4 assists in 2009 and was named to the GNAC all-tournament team.

The 2010 St. Joseph’s women’s soccer season opens home on Wednesday, September 1 with a non-conference game against Coast Guard.

#7 Norwich University

The Cadets finished up the 2009 season with an overall record of 8-10-1 and a conference record of 5-6-1.  Norwich fell to the top seeded St. Joseph’s (ME) after a well fought match during quarterfinals of the GNAC tournament.

Sophomore Brittany Casey returns this season after a great showing during 2009 with 11 goals and 5 assists.  Senior goal keepers Alecia Wright, .736 save%, and Nicki Hunsicker, .796 save%, are back to try and shutout the conference. Sarah Reuschel, a junior midfielder, earned second-team laurels after scoring three goals and dishing out one assist in 18 games. It marks the second straight year that Reuschel has been selected to the all-conference squad, after picking up third-team honors last season. Nikki Szczepanski, who listed second on the team in goals (eight) and points (18), earned second-team accolades for the second year in a row.

The 2010 Norwich women’s soccer season opens away on Sunday, September 5 with a non-conference game against Husson.

#8  Albertus Magnus

The Women’s Soccer team made it to the GNAC tournament for the second time in the past three years ending a strong season for the Lady Falcons. The Lady Falcons finished 9-6-3 on the season while setting several team records in the program’s 6th season of existence. Nearly every offensive category saw records broken including goals scored. The Lady Falcons were 2nd in the GNAC in points, goals scored, goals per game, total assists, and shutouts. They received a very balanced scoring attack with three players with nine goals or more including team leader junior forward Samantha Gigliotti (Wilton, CT) with 14 goals and sophomore Krystal Quinones (Bridgeport, CT) with 13 goals. Freshman DJ Figueroa (Bridgeport, CT) had nine goals while leading the team with eight assists. Gigliotti (Wilton, CT) was named 2nd Team All-Conference along with converted sophomore forward turned defender Sarah Boudreau (Pascoag, RI). 

Senior goalkeeper Christina Oddo (East Haven, CT) and senior midfielder Jenna Riccio (North Branford, CT) have been chosen to lead the largest roster in the history of the Women's Soccer program this season.  Oddo is a three year starter and 2008 All GNAC performer who was also named 2008 Albertus Magnus College Female Athlete of the Year.  Riccio is also a three-year starter that will continue to solidify the mid-field this season.   

The Lady Falcons open their season at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 1st at 6:30 pm.