ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany returns to the site of its thrilling 2022 America East semifinal for their latest showdown against Binghamton.
 
Game Info
September 28, 2023 at Binghamton (6:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany is 1-3-1 on the road this season; Binghamton is 2-1-1 at home
• Binghamton ranks fifth in the America East in scoring offense; UAlbany ranks sixth
• Binghamton ranks fifth in the America East in scoring defense; UAlbany ranks eighth
• The Bearcats have lost just once in their last 12 games against America East opponents

Scouting Binghamton
The Bearcats, America East runners-up in 2022, started the season 1-4-3 in non-conference play, including 0-3-1 in its first four games.  Since then, Binghamton has won two-straight, including their conference opener, at New Hampshire, a rematch of the 2022 America East title game.  In their last 12 games against America East opponents, including the postseason, the Bearcats are 8-1-3.  Three Bearcats, Lexi Vegoda, Lauren Clark, and Paige Luke, have scored three goals apiece, and the team also returns standout twins Olivia and Victoria McKnight to the 2023 roster.  UAlbany is 8-12-4 in 24 games against Binghamton, but the series is tied 4-4-3 in Vestal.
 
Last Time vs. Binghamton
November 3, 2022 | The Great Danes last took the field on the road at Binghamton in the America East semifinal round.  The Bearcats previously visited UAlbany during the regular season, coming away with a 3-1 victory in Casey Stadium just three weeks earlier.  In the rematch, Binghamton scored to take the lead in the ninth minute.  Joanna Van Royen scored an equalizer just after halftime, with Selma Elverum scoring to give UAlbany the lead just under 10 minutes of game time later.  Binghamton tied the game at two in the 80th minute to force overtime.  In the first overtime of two periods, Binghamton scored less than four minutes in only for Van Royen to tie the game in the 99th.  The game went into a penalty shootout, with the Bearcats advancing to the America East final 3-2 in PKs.
 
Last Time Out
The Great Danes hosted the first-place Maine Black Bears at Casey Stadium.  Maine entered the game unbeaten on the season, 6-0-3, and led the America East in both scoring offense and scoring defense.  The Black Bears won the game 3-0, scoring in the 12th, 60th, and 66th minutes, while outshooting the Great Danes 20-11.
 
Around the America East
Maine remains unbeaten overall this season, at 7-0-3 in 10 games, and shares the conference lead with Binghamton.  Both teams earned six points in the standings by winning their first two America East games.  UMass Lowell and New Hampshire each have three points, with the Wildcats playing one more game than the River Hawks.  Four teams, Bryant, NJIT, UAlbany, and UMBC, each have one point, and Vermont remains winless in-conference.
 
Thursday's America East Games

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

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 hosts defending America East champion New Hampshire on October 1.