Akron Women's Soccer Set To Kick Off The 2019 Campaign

Friday, August 23

Akron, Ohio

7 PM

University of Akron

Charlotte

Akron Women's Soccer Set To Kick Off The 2019 Campaign

August 22 | Women's Soccer

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Akron vs. UNC Charlotte Gamenotes (PDF)

Akron (0-0-0) vs. UNC Charlotte (0-0)
Friday, August 23
Akron, Ohio • FirstEnergy Stadium • 7:00 p.m.
Live Stats: GoZips.com
Watch: GoZips.com
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Akron vs. Cleveland State Gamenotes (PDF)

Akron (0-0-0) vs. Cleveland State (0-0)
Sunday, August 25
Cleveland, Ohio • Krenzler Field • 1:00 p.m.
Live Stats: GoZips.com

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What's Ahead
After a 10 month hiatus from the pitch, the Akron women's soccer team is set to kick off the 19th season of Zips soccer and the 2019 campaign on Friday, Aug. 23, when Akron hosts UNC Charlotte in its home opener under the lights of FirstEnergy Stadium at 7 p.m. The Zips are back in action two days later as Akron heads to Cleveland State on Sunday, Aug. 25, for its first road match of 2019 against the Vikings.

Scouting the 49ers
The Charlotte women's soccer team is looking to improve upon their 2018 record in which the 49er's finished 8-9 overall and 4-6 inside the Conference USA standings. Charlotte is set to begin its 26th season as a program against the Zips.

The 49ers roster is composed of 17 returners, 15 letterwinners, and seven newcomers in 2019. Charlotte's eight deep in its senior class, the largest senior class in recent history, who also boast a pair of preseason All-Conference selections in Megan Greene and Riley Orr. In 2018, Green was the top goal scorer for the 49er's tallying eight goals along with five assists for a total of 21 points. Orr ended the year tied for the most assists on the team (5) with Greene. The duo started all 17 games and combined to play 1,768 minutes of action.

In net, Abby Stapleton returns in the net for Charlotte after starting all 17 contests in her sophomore season. In 1,540 minutes of work, Stapleton allowed 22 goals, garnered a 1.29 goals-against average, and made 68 saves en route to an 8-9-0 record and five shutouts.

Scouting the Vikings
In the 2019 Horizon League preseason poll, Cleveland State was predicted to finish third overall following its 11-7-1 record and 6-2-1 league ledger in 2018. The Vikings return 17 letterwinners from last year's squad, including six starters and two of CSU's top scoring threats in Ja'Maya Ward and Essence Canady.

Ward, a 2018 All-Freshman team selection led the Vikings in scoring with four goals and four assists to finish with 12 points. Canady registered three goals on eight shots. The Vikings offense did lose three players from last season who scored 11 of the 30 goals in 2018.

The Vikings keeper, Stevie Holbrook, returns between the pipes following a tremendous 2018 season which included a 0.81 goals-against average, 63 saves, and just 14 goals allowed.

Series History
Akron's scheduled contest against Charlotte for the second consecutive season is just the second time the two teams will meet on the pitch. The Zips fell to the 49ers in 2018, 1-0, in Charlotte, N.C.

Akron and Cleveland State have a storied past with the Zips holding the advantage over the Vikings. In nine matches since the first meeting in 2005, Akron owns a 7-2 mark against CSU including a perfect 4-0 record at Krenzler Field.

Coaches
Charlotte: John Cullen is in his 11th season at the helm of the 49ers program. Cullen led the Charlotte program to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2016 and back-to-back C-USA Tournament title games (2016-17). In his tenure, Cullen owns a 107-78-17 overall record.

Cleveland State: Dallas Boyer enters his third season at the helm of the Cleveland State program. Boyer led the Vikings to their best season in program history in 2018 as CSU's 11 wins and 6 conference wins were single-season highs. CSU also competed in its first-ever Horizon League Tournament championship contest.

Akron: Noreen Herlihy is in her fifth season on the sidelines as the head coach of The University of Akron's women's soccer program. She owns a 20-47-12 record leading the Zips since taking over the program. Since taking over the program in 2015, Herlihy has led Akron to the Mid-American Conference postseason tournament twice and advanced to the semi-final round for the first time in program history in 2015. Herlihy has coached seven All-MAC honorees, 25 student-athletes have been named to the Academic All-MAC team, and her team has been recognized as a Collegiate Team Academic Award winner by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) for four straight seasons.

Zips Tidbits

The Zips roster consists of seven players from Ohio, eight from Pennsylvania, one from Kentucky, two from Germany, two from England, one from Minnesota, and one from Ireland.
The Zips roster consists of one student-athlete who is a dual-citizen Kat Costa (Germany).
Lexie Kolano competed for The University of Cincinnati in her freshman season before transferring to Akron for a fresh start. Kolano scored one goal in 14 games for UC and four goals in her first season at Akron for a total of five collegiate goals scored.
The Zips return its starting defensive backline from 2018 including senior Ashley Amato (Pittsburgh, Pa.), junior Abigail Brown (Batavia, Ohio), junior Ryley Watt (Irwin, Pa.), and freshman Kayleigh Penton (Vermilion, Ohio). The quartet played a combined 6,774 minutes of action and aided in the Zips five shutouts.
Junior Anya Donelan (Warrington, England) competed at Monroe college for two seasons (2017-18), scored two goals and eight assists in her career. Donelan and Monroe College captured the 2018 National Junior College Athletic Association championship and went undefeated.
The six international student-athletes are the most on an Akron roster in program history.
Lucia Lobato is the first Irish student-athlete to compete on a Zips women's soccer squad in program history.

A Look Back at 2018
The 2018 Akron women's soccer team etched its name into the history books of the 18-year old program as just the fifth Zips team to qualify for the Mid-American Conference Tournament after one of the most exciting final stretches of a season winning four consecutive games and securing their spot in the postseason.

Akron finished the season with an 8-10-2 overall record while going 5-5-1 in league play. The Zips eight wins in the 2018 season are the most wins since 2009 and their overall record ended as the fourth-best record in program history. The five MAC wins are also the most conference wins in a season since 2010. The 2018 Zips are one of just three teams to surpass five or more MAC wins in a single-season.

After struggling to find the back of the net over the course of the last two seasons, the Zips offense exploded in 2018 which played a large part in the team's success. After scoring just 14 goals in 2017, Akron nearly doubled its goal count one year later, 27, that came courtesy of 12 different Zips. The Zips 12 goal scorers were tied for the third-most individual goal scorers across the NCAA. Akron ended the season tied with Auburn, Florida State, Stanford, TCU, Texas A&M, and Virginia. Not only did the Zips have several players tally a goal on the year, but six student-athletes posted multi-goal seasons for the Akron offense.

The Akron offensive efforts were led by Worthy who turned in a spectacular rookie campaign upfront for the Zips. The freshman garnered a team-best six points and 14 points to go along with 27 shots, 18 shots on goal, one game-winning goal, and is just the fifth player in program history to tally a hat trick with three goals against Youngstown State.

The defensive backline made up of Amato, Brown, Penton, and Watt started a combined 76 games for the Zips out of a possible 80 matches totaling 6,774 minutes of play. The four defenders helped lead the defense to five shutouts and allowed just one goal or less for the opposition on 12 different occasions, despite some of the results. While holding down the back of the field, Amato and Watt also impacted the offensive third for the Zips scoring a combined 4 goals and registering two assists for 10 points. All four defenders notched 54 combined shots, respectively.

Up Next
The Zips return to action over the Labor Day weekend with a pair of matches against Niagara and Morehead State. Akron hosts the Purple Eagles at FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m. Then, the Zips head back on the road on Sunday, Sept. 1, to Morehead, Ky., as Akron takes on Morehead State at 1 p.m.