After four consecutive trips to the NCAA championship tournament, national attention is nothing new for the women's soccer team. For the men's ice hockey team, however, the only other time they were mentioned in the same breath as Boston College, University of New Hampshire, and University of North Dakota, was in the early portion of the 2000-01 season. The Dutchmen, who were celebrating their 10th season as a member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Division I league, broke into a couple of polls. They were ranked as high as 11th before an 0-4-2 spin dropped the Dutchmen from national attention.
Union's first-ever ranking found the Dutchmen 14th in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and 15th in the USCHO.com poll. The Dutchmen were 5-1 overall at the time of those rankings, which equaled their best start since 1994. They were 3-0 in the ECAC. After winning their first three games this season, another “first” for the program, the Dutchmen received three votes in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine national poll released on Monday, October 20.
Sophomore forward Scott Seney leads the ECAC in overall scoring with four goals and eight points. In fact, Seney is one of four Dutchmen in the top 10. Junior Joel Beal (2-2-4), sophomore Matt Vagvolgyi (1-3-4) and classmate Jon Poirier (2-1-3) are the other three Dutchmen among the conference's top 10.
One of the main reasons the Garnet is off to such a tremendous start is their special teams play. Union is ranked seventh in the country on the powerplay, scoring on five on 19 opportunities (26.3%). As for the Dutchmen's ability to kill off penalties, Union is tied with Army and Clarkson for first place nationally. The Garnet has not allowed a goal in 19 man-down situations and has scored three shorthanded goals.
First-year head coach Nate Leaman will take his team to Bowling Green this weekend for a pair of games.
Meanwhile, the women's soccer team has been ranked most of the year and earned the No. 5 spot nationally thanks to their 13-0 start. The Dutchwomen saw their record suffer its first blemish on Tuesday (October 20) when visiting Elmira held Union's power packed offense to just one goal in a 1-1 overtime tie. The Golden Eagels' goal was the first given up by the Dutchwomen in seven games, and only the sixth allowed all year. Union has outscored the opposition by a 61-6 margin.
Sophomore Erika Eisenhut, who leads the team with 15 goals and 34 points, is one of six players who have scored in double digits. Senior Teran Tadal, who has come off the bench in all 14 games, is seventh on the team in scoring with three goals and nine assists. In between Eisenhut, who has five game-winning goals, and Tadal are junior Brittany Cressman (10-11-31), sophomore Cassandra Mariani (9-4-22), seniors Corinne Hennessy (7-3-17) and Stephanie Mole' (4-3-11) and sophomore Marissa VanWoeart (3-4-10).
Union's defensive players have allowed just 47 shots on goal (the Dutchwomen's offense has produced 189 shots on the 14 opposing goaltenders). Sophomore goaltender Julie Gawronski has been the benefactor of the defense in front of her as she not only has a 13-0-1 record for the year, but has a goals against average of 0.47 and a save percentage of .865 while facing just 37 shots on net.
The team will have its hands full this weekend as it travels to William Smith (Friday at 4:00) and Hamilton (Saturday at 2:00). The Dutchwomen, who have difficulty winning on the Herons' home field, will be facing a William Smith squad that is 10-3-1 overall and, like the Dutchwomen, are 5-0 in the UCAA. The game is critical for both teams as the winner will more than likely finish as the regular-season champion and earn the right to host the
Last season Union defeated William Smith, 1-0, on Garis Field during the regular season and then beat the Herons, 1-0, in the tournament's championship game. To see the complete poll, visit:
www.nscaa.com/scripts/runisa.dll?m2:gp::14028+rank/list+D3W+0+10/20/03+Y