Zips Conclude Regular Season Against Buffalo

Thursday, October 26

Akron, OH

3 pm

University of Akron

Buffalo

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

October 25 | Women's Soccer

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Match Notes (PDF)

Akron (2-13-3, 1-7-2 MAC) vs. Buffalo (7-8-2, 5-4-1 MAC)
Thursday, Oct. 16
FirstEnergy Stadium - Cub Cadet Field • 3 p.m.
Live Stats: GoZips.com
Watch: ESPN3

Whats Ahead

The 2017 regular season comes to a close with the season finale at FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field when the Zips meet Buffalo in an afternoon affair on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 3 p.m.

ESPN3

The match between the Zips and Bulls will be aired live on ESPN3 and the WatchEspn app with Dave Bacon calling the play-by-play, and Otto Orf providing color commentary.

Scouting the Bulls

Heading into the final regular season match of the year, Buffalo sits in third place in the Mid-American Conference East division with a league record of 5-4-1, while posting an overall record of 7-8-2. If the postseason were to start today, the Bulls would be the fifth seed in the MAC tournament.

Buffalo's offense has scored 23 goals on 237 shots through 17 matches. The Bulls hold the advantage against their opponents in goals per game (1.35-to-1.18), shot percentage (.097-to-0.78), assists (26-to-22), and corner kicks (65-to-64). Individually, Carissima Cutrona and Julia Benati have each scored six goals on the year on a combined 114 shots, 52 shots on goal, and four game-winners. In addition to Cutrona and Benati, seven other Bulls players have tallied a score. Within the league, Cutrona and Benati rank inside the top-seven players in shots (third and T-fifth), shots per game (fourth and fifth), points (T-fifth and seventh), points per game (fifth and seventh), goals (sixth), and goals per game (seventh).

Laura Dougall returns in the net for Buffalo as a four-year starter. Dougall has made all 17 starts for the Bulls between the pipes en route to recording 1,585 minutes, a 1.14 goals against average, 91 saves, a .820 save percentage, surrendered 20 goals, and garnered a shutout in six of the Bulls' seven victories. Inside the MAC, Dougall ranks first in saves per game (5.35), second in saves, third in shutouts, fourth in shutouts per contest (0.35), fifth in save percentage, and sixth in goals against average.

Series History

In the all-time series history between the Zips and the Bulls, Akron holds the edge over Buffalo with an 8-7-0 record in 15 contests between the two programs.

Coaches

Buffalo: Shawn Burke is in the midst of his fourth season at the helm of the Bulls women's soccer program and has reached the MAC tournament in every season thus far. Burke has compiled a 41-26-13 record as the Buffalo head coach, which is the best record to begin a career in program history.

Akron: Noreen Herlihy is in her third season on the sidelines as the head coach of The University of Akron's women's soccer program. She owns an 12-37-9 record leading the Zips since taking over the program. In her first year in charge of the program, Herlihy and her staff led the 2015 Akron Zips to the Mid-American Conference tournament for the first time since 2009 and advanced to the semi-final round for the initial time in program history.

2017 Zips Tidbits

Akron was predicted to place fifth in the MAC East in the 2017 preseason poll
Eight freshmen earned their first career start in the Zips 2017 season opener; Amani Jiu (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Abigail Brown (Batavia, Ohio), Erin Babcock (Liberty Township, Ohio), Annamarie Alfery (Cheswick, Pa.), Angela Boyce (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Ryley Watt (Irwin, Pa.), Rylie Howman (Ashland, Ohio), and Ally Brown (Batavia, Ohio).
Amani Jiu notched her first career clean sheet against Milwaukee, 0-0, and her first career victory with a 3-0 shutout over Green Bay.
Erin Babcock notched her first career goal and first game-winning goal against Green Bay with a header off a corner kick.
Eliese LaCourt (Rockford, Mich.) tallied her first collegiate assist against Milwaukee and scored her first career goal against Loyola.
Rachel Baughman (Alliance, Ohio) and Catie Corrigan (Avon Lake, Ohio) each scored their first goal of the 2017 campaign against Green Bay with each tallying their second career goal.
Erica Schrader's (Blacklick, Ohio) assist to Babcock against Green Bay off a corner kick was the juniors' first of the season and second career assist.
Akron has been called for five yellow cards in 2017
Ashley Amato (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made her first start of the season after returning from a preseason injury against Duquesne (9/8). In her first start, the sophomore quickly impacted the game scoring her first two goals of the season and her first multi-goal game of her career.
Akron needs one win to reach the 100-win milestone in program history.
Ashley Amato posted her second multi-goal game of the year in a 4-2 loss at Toledo (10/13)
Raechel Eck (Sterling Heights, Mich.) scored her first goal since Aug. 21, 2015, after battling two season ending injures and nagging injuries to start the 2017 season.
Amani Jiu and the Zips defense recorded back-to-back shutouts twice in 2017 for the first time since 2011 and first back-to-back shutouts over a MAC opponents for only the second time since 2011.

Where They Rank In The MAC

Ashley Amato ranks sixth in the conference in shots per game (3.00) and goals per contest (0.38), tied for eighth in goals (5), and 10th in points per game (0.91).
In the net, Amani Jiu is rated first in the conference in saves (92), third in saves per game (5.11), tied for sixth in shutouts (2), and tied for eighth in shutouts per game (0.22).
Ally Brown now ranks tied for 10th in the league with her four assists

Where They Rank In The Country

Amani Jiu ranks 19th in the NCAA in goalie minutes played (1,671), is tied for 33rd with 92 total saves, and is tied for 73rd in saves per game (5.11),
Where they rank in the Program
Ally Brown's four assists on the season rank ninth in a single-season for an Akron player, while Erica Schrader's three assists on the year are tied for 10th on the list.
Amani Jiu's 92 saves are the most saves in a single-season by an Akron goalkeeper and are the seventh-most saves in a Akron keeper's career. Her four shutouts are also the seventh-most in one season.
Ashley Amato's two multi-goal and two four-point game performances are the first in a season since 2014.

Where They Rank In The Program

Ally Brown's four assists on the season rank ninth in a single-season for an Akron player, while Erica Schrader's three assists on the year are tied for 10th on the list.
Amani Jiu's 92 saves are the most saves in a single-season by an Akron goalkeeper and are the seventh-most saves in a Akron keeper's career. Her four shutouts are also the seventh-most in one season.
Ashley Amato's two multi-goal and two four-point game performances are the first in a season since 2014.

Jiu Earns MAC Co-Defesive Player Of The Week Honora

The Zips goalkeeper, freshman Amani Jiu, was named the Mid-American Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week for her performance this past weekend, the league announced on Oct. 24.

Additionally, Jiu earned her second nomination as the Summa Health Student-Athlete of the Week honor from Akron Athletics.

Eck's First Half Goal Earns Zips 1-0 Win Over Miami

Redshirt junior Raechel Eck scored her first goal of the season and first in two years in the 33' of the match, as the Akron women's soccer team took down Miami 1-0 at FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field on Oct. 19.

Jiu And Zips Shutout Ball State

After 110 minutes of aggressive back-and-forth soccer, the Akron women's soccer team shutout the reigning Mid-American Conference champion, Ball State, that resulted in a 0-0 double-overtime draw on Oct. 22 at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field.