ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany women's soccer team hosts its penultimate home game of the 2023 regular season, welcoming UMBC to Casey Stadium on Thursday.
 
Game Info
October 12, 2023 vs. UMBC (7:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Int'l Stream | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany is 2-3-0 at home this season; UMBC is 1-4-1 on the road
• UAlbany ranks seventh in the America East in scoring offense; UMBC ranks eighth
• UAlbany ranks eighth in the America East in scoring defense; UMBC ranks ninth
• UMBC's Meghan McKye ranks tied for third in the America East in goals scored
• UMBC's Abbey Cowles leads the America East in total saves
• Thursday is UAlbany's annual Spread Respect game
• Thursday is also UAlbany's Throwback Game, and the team will distribute scrunchies to the first 50 fans

Scouting UMBC
The Retrievers, like the Great Danes, have accumulated two points in the 2023 America East standings through five games, with each team notching two draws.  UMBC's 10 defeats on the season overall lead the conference's eight teams, with the last victory coming on September 21, 2-0 against Iona.  Since, the Retrievers have gone 0-3-1, with losses at Binghamton and against NJIT and Vermont, but a draw against still-unbeaten Maine on the road, 2-2.  Meghan McKye leads the Retrievers with a total of 11 points behind five goals and one assist, while two other Retrievers have scored two or more goals.  UAlbany is 12-7-1 in the Division I era against UMBC, and has won each of the last seven.
 
Last Time vs. UMBC
October 9, 2022 | UAlbany played the second leg of its long road trip that saw visits to the team's two most distant opponents in the conference, Maine and UMBC, against the Retrievers.  UMBC scored first, late in the first half, to take a 1-0 lead into the break despite UAlbany holding a big advantage in shots taken.  The Great Danes rallied to score twice in the second half, first from Sahara Zingano and next from Marisa Tava, to earn the 2-1 victory and keep pace in the America East standings.
 
Last Time Out
The Great Danes visited Bryant for the first time as conference opponents, and fell to the Bulldogs 2-0.  Bryant scored once in each half, first in the 35th minute and later in the 66th. Despite the loss, the Great Danes outshot Bryant 19-10.  UAlbany forced Bryant goalkeeper Kathryn McNeill into making two big saves in the final 18 minutes, but the Great Danes were unable to get on the board.
 
Around the America East
Binghamton has overtaken Maine for the top spot in the conference standings, accumulating 11 points in five games.  The Black Bears are one point behind the Bearcats, with 10 points in four games.  Bryant has climbed into third with eight points, followed by New Hampshire with seven and Vermont with six.  NJIT and UMass Lowell share a tie for sixth place with four points each, while UAlbany and UMBC round out the standings, each having accumulated two points.  Vermont and Maine each have eight victories this season, and the Black Bears remain unbeaten at 8-0-4.
 
Thursday's America East Games

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

Common Opponents

• NJIT
  • UAlbany: 9/17 at NJIT, T, 1-1
  • UMBC: 9/28 vs. NJIT, L, 1-2
• Maine
  • UAlbany: 9/24 vs. Maine, L, 0-3
  • UMBC: 10/1 at Maine, T, 2-2
• Binghamton
  • UAlbany: 9/28 at Binghamton, T, 2-2
  • UMBC: 9/24 at Binghamton, L, 1-3
• Bryant
  • UAlbany: 10/8 at Bryant, L, 0-2
  • UMBC: 9/17 vs. Bryant, T, 2-2

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 42-21-8 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 visits Cornell on October 17.