SCHENECTADY,
N.Y.-Both the men and women's soccer teams at Union College have qualified for
the Eastern College Athletic Conference postseason tournament and will host
opening-round games on Wednesday, November 10, on the new turf at College Park.
The 16-2-1 Dutchwomen are their tournament's top seed and
will host No. 8 Vassar at 4:30 p.m. The
10-7-1 Dutchmen, who are seeded sixth, will host No. 3 Brockport at 7 p.m. Union will host the game because of a scheduling
conflict at Brockport.
This marks the sixth consecutive year that the women's team
has qualified for postseason tournament.
It is also the eighth time that the Dutchwomen have been to postseason
under head coach Brian Speck, who brings a record of 145-35-13 into the
tournament. Speck, who has guided his
Dutchwomen into four New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association
tournaments (including back-to-back championships in 1999 and 2000), piloted
Union into five-straight NCAA tournaments from 1999 through 2003.
Union's only other ECAC invitation came in 1991, which
capped the first winning season in the history of the program, which began in
1983.
Forwards, senior Brittany Cressman and junior Cassandra
Mariani each have scored 41 points for the Dutchwomen while junior Erika
Eisenhut (24), sophomore Jenna Ondash (14) and freshman Caitlin Cuozzo (13)
have all reached double digit scoring.
On the defensive side of the field, junior Julie Gawronski
comes into the game having allowed just four goals in 1,620 minutes while
posting a single-season record 14 shutouts.
Among those blankings was a 5-0 whitewash over Liberty League rival
Vassar.
The Brewers come into the game with an overall record of
10-7-1 and are coming off a 1-0 victory over RIT last Saturday in the
championship game of the NYSWCAA tournament.
A win by Union would keep the tournament at College Park
this weekend for both the semi-final and championship. The Dutchwomen would play in the noon game
on Saturday with the second semi-final set for 3:30. The title showdown is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Dutchmen are making their first postseason appearance
since 1993. Eighth-year head coach Jeff
Guinn's team has put together a string of four consecutive winning seasons for
the first time since 1983, '84, '85, and '86.
Freshman forward Chris Poey leads the team with seven goals
and 14 points while senior midfielder Mike Carey has also contributed 10 points
on three goals and four assists.
Junior goaltender Matt Mayerhofer goes into the game with a
record of 5-4-1 with five shutouts.
A win by the Dutchmen would send them to meet No. 2
Plattsburgh on Saturday at 2:30 at the University of Rochester, which is the
top-seeded team. Both the Cardinals and
the Yellowjackets received first-round byes in this six-team event. The Dutchmen, who are participating in their
12th postseason event since 1973, captured the ECAC championship in
both 1975 and '80.