Senior Day and Non-Conference Finale On Deck For Akron Women's Soccer

Thursday, September 19

Akron, Ohio

7 PM

University of Akron

Robert Morris

Senior Day and Non-Conference Finale On Deck For Akron Women's Soccer

September 18 | Women's Soccer

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Akron vs. Robert Morris Gamenotes (PDF)

Akron (2-5-0) vs. Robert Morris (2-4-1)
Thursday, Sept. 19
Akron, Ohio • FirstEnergy Stadium • 7:00 p.m.
Live Stats: GoZips.com
Watch: GoZips.com

What's Ahead
The final contest of the 2019 Akron women's soccer non-conference schedule is on deck for the Zips as week six of the campaign looms. UA plays host to Robert Morris on Thursday, Sept. 19, at FirstEnergy Stadium to conclude the non-league slate at 7 p.m. Prior to the start of the match, the Zips will honor senior Ashley Amato (Pittsburgh, Pa.) on Senior Day for all of her accomplishments in her four-year career.

Scouting the Colonials
As Robert Morris approaches its final non-conference match against the Zips, the Colonials have recorded a 2-4-1 overall record through seven contests. After opening the campaign 0-2-1 with losses to Bucknell (1-2, 2OT) and Niagara (0-2) while playing to a 1-1 draw with Fort Wayne, RMU earned its first win of the season at home against Canisius (3-1). In their previous three contests, the Colonials have gone 1-2 with a victory against Ohio (1-0), that ended the Bobcats perfect record, along with a pair of losses to Howard (1-2) and Yale (1-2). When playing on the road, RMU posts a 1-2-0 mark.

A year ago, Robert Morris turned in a 6-12 overall mark while four of their six victories came inside Northeast Conference play. In the annual NEC preseason poll, the Colonials were tabbed to place seventh inside league play after missing the 2018 NEC postseason tournament.

As the Colonials head into the contest against the Zips, RMU has totaled eight goals as an offense with four players in the Robert Morris linuep tallying at least one goal. Sheridan Reid is the top scoring threat for the Colonials notching three goals on six shots in 381 minutes of action. The duo of Kayla Veloso-Lima and Kristina Kelley have each garnered two goals on a combined 29 shots while Veloso-Lima additionally owns a team-high two assists. Nicolette Casarcia rounds out the RMU goal scorers with one score, one game-winning tally, and five shots.

In net, Sydney Bruckner has seen the bulk of time in-between the posts for the Colonials logging 595 minutes of work. In her seven matches, Bruckner has made 51 saves and allowed nine goals to tally a 1.36 goals-against average and a .850 save percentage. In two appearances for Julia Schmid, the back-up keeper has made five saves and allowed one score in 77' of play.

Series History
Akron and Robert Morris have battled on the soccer pitch five times since 2001 in the inaugural season for the Zips. In five contests, Akron owns a perfect 5-0-0 mark against the Colonials. In 2001 and 2002, the Zips defeated RMU 1-0 in back-to-back seasons. Since 2014, Akron and RMU have competed three times in four years with the Zips coming out on top, 2-1, 5-2, and most recently a year ago, 3-1. When the two squads square off at FirstEnergy Stadium, Akron is 2-0-0.

Coaches
Robert Morris: John Kowalski, is in his 19th season at the helm of the Robert Morris women's soccer program. Kowalski has an illustrious resume as a soccer coach which has included time in professional soccer, interim head coach of the US Men's national team (1991), head coach of the RMU men's soccer program, and numerous postseason accolades.

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 22-51-12 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 and Aislinn Meaney are the first Irish student-athletes to compete on a Zips women's soccer squad in program history.
Seven Zips made their Akron debuts against Charlotte, including Aislinn Meaney, Vanessa Berlin, Lucia Lobato, Libby Harper, Anya Donelan, Bailee Bowers, and Emily Clopp.
Despite the two results, Akron registered 20 shots in its first two contests including nine shots on goal.
Redshirt sophomore Charley Kale scored her first career goal and the first goal of the season for the Zips against Cleveland State.
Freshman Lucia Lobato earned her first collegiate assist and registered the first assist of the season for the Zips in Akron's match with Cleveland State.
Despite the result, Akron outshot CSU, 15-9, and owned the advantage in corner kicks, 4-1.
Akron picked up its first win of the 2019 campaign against Niagara while also earning its first victory over the Purple Eagles in program history.
Senior Ashley Amato has scored a goal in back-to-back contests against Niagara and Morehead State.
Meaney scored her first Akron goal and game-winning score against the Purple Eagles.
Junior Anya Donelan notched her first Akron assist in the Zips lone goal against MSU.
Win #2 came in Youngstown, Ohio as the Zips took down Youngstown State, 1-0.
Freshman Bailee Bowers scored her first career goal and the first career game-winning goal in the Zips win over YSU.
Akron is 2-2 in its last four games and has tallied four goals by three different players in the two-week span.
Amato scored her third goal and second penalty kick score of the season against Eastern Kentucky.
Since the beginning of the campaign, Amato has jumped to fifth in career goals scored (15) and sixth in career points tallied (30).

Up Next
Are you ready for some MACtion? Ready or not, it's here. The non-conference portion of the schedule has come and gone, and the Akron women's soccer team has its sights set on the 2019 Mid-American Conference schedule. The Zips kick off the MACtion on the road in northwest Ohio squaring off against Bowling Green (Sept. 27) and Toledo (Sept. 29).