ALBANY, N.Y. – First-year head coach Leigh Howard finally sees her Great Danes take the field when women's soccer opens its 2021 spring season Sunday at St. John's.
 
Game Info
Sunday, February 21 at St. John's (2:00 pm)
Live Stats | Live Audio
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany returns five of eight players to earn All-Conference honors in 2019
• Jada Colbert was UAlbany's leading scorer last season, scoring five goals with three assists
• UAlbany also returns goalkeepers Andrea Leitner, who went 14-6-2 with seven shutouts in 2018, and Sophia Chen, who went 9-3-3 with five shutouts in 2019
• St. John's returns the reigning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, Zsani Kajan
• UAlbany is playing this spring in a unique two-division system in the America East, featuring Binghamton, UMBC, NJIT, and Stony Brook

 
Scouting St. John's
St. John's returns eight players from their 2019 squad, including reigning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year Zsani Kajan, who scored 11 goals with one assist last season.  Kajan was also named Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, a TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Top-100 selection, and earned a spot on the MAC Hermann Award Preseason Watch List.  The Red Storm when 5-12-1 in 2019, including 4-4-1 at home.  Their last victory was October 24, 2019 at Villanova.  St. John's was picked to finish fifth in the BIG EAST East Division this season.  UAlbany is 0-2 lifetime against St. John's, and has been outscored 5-0.
 
Last Time vs. St. John's
UAlbany last played St. John's during the 2016 season, falling on the road to the Red Storm 3-0 in only the teams' second meeting.  Playing in a downpour, the Great Danes trailed the Red Storm 1-0 at halftime.  St. John's scored quickly after halftime and once more in the 78th minute to claim their victory.  The Red Storm defense held UAlbany without a shot in the second half, while St. John's took 12, for an overall attacking advantage of 17-3.
 
Last Time Out
The Great Danes last played in the 2019 America East semifinal round, falling to Hartford at home 3-2.  It was only UAlbany's second home defeat of the season.  Hartford took a 2-0 lead within the first 16 minutes.  Leah Pais put UAlbany on the board in the 31st, and Meghan Cavanaugh tied the game at two just after halftime.  In the 70th minute, Hartford broke through again to clinch the game 3-2 and advance to the title game.
 
Around the America East
One America East team has started their season already, with New Hampshire kicking off the 2021 spring schedule with a 1-0 home victory against Northeastern.  Sunday will see five games featuring America East institutions, each of which will play their season opener.
 
Sunday's America East Games

• Stony Brook at Hofstra, 11:00 am
• Drexel at NJIT, 12:00 pm
• Maine at Merrimack, 1:00 pm
• UAlbany at St. John's, 2:00 pm
• Northeastern at UMass Lowell, 2:00 pm

 
Picked Second
The UAlbany women's soccer team was picked to finish third in the Spring 2021 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll, after finishing in a tie for first in the 2019 regular season.  The Great Danes earned 58 points in third place, falling in behind unanimous favorite Stony Brook, with 81 points and all nine possible first-place votes, and second favorite Hartford, who drew 70 points and the one remaining first-place vote.
 
Long Overdue
Leigh Howard was hired as UAlbany's new head coach on February 18, 2020.  She will make her debut on the sidelines in a game for the first time this weekend, since the fall season was postponed due to COVID-19.  Her first game comes 369 days after her initial hiring.
 
Colbert Connection
Twice in their careers, twin sisters Jada and Jasmine Colbert connected on a goal.  Jasmine set up Jada for the first goal of the 2019 game against UMass Lowell.  Earlier in the 2019 season, against St. Francis Brooklyn, the twins connected for the first time in their UAlbany careers, when Jada set up Jasmine to put UAlbany up 2-0 right after halftime.
 
Home Field
The Great Danes finished the 2019 regular season unbeaten at home, going 6-0-2, before falling at home in the America East semifinals.  UAlbany went 8-1-1 at Casey Stadium in 2018, including quarterfinal and championship victories in the America East Tournament.  The Great Danes let up just eight goals in 10 games at home last year, and just two in the last five.  Dating back to the 2015 season, the year of the program's first America East title, the Great Danes are 31-10-4 at home.
 
Co-Champs
In 2019, for the second time in program history, UAlbany won a share of the America East regular-season title.  A late victory at Vermont, combined with a tie between Stony Brook and Hartford, landed both the Great Danes and Seawolves with 19 points and matching 6-1-1 conference records. For Stony Brook, it was their second-straight season sharing the regular season title, and second-straight season as the top overall seed in the America East Tournament, by virtue of holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over UAlbany.
 
Next: UAlbany hosts UMass on February 24.