Sports News: Fall 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008

MORAVIAN WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM TO HOST JUNIATA COLLEGE IN A LANDMARK CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL MATCH

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College women’s soccer team is the top seed in the 2008 Landmark Conference Championship Tournament and will host fourth seed Juniata College for a semifinal match on Wednesday, November 5th at 2:00 p.m. on the HUB Quad.

The Greyhounds, who are 12-5-2 overall and posted a 4-1-1 mark in Landmark Conference regular season action to tie for first place, are making their sixth postseason appearance in the 14th year of the program.  The Eagles come to Bethlehem with an overall record of 9-5-1 and a Landmark Conference mark of 3-3. Juniata won the regular season meeting 1-0 in Huntingdon on September 27th.

Wednesday’s other semifinal match features third seeded The University of Scranton traveling to second seed The Catholic University of America for a 2:00 p.m. match.  The winners of the semifinal contests will meet on Saturday, November 8th for the Landmark Conference Championship match at the highest remaining seed.

Moravian head coach Eric Lambinus has the Greyhounds in the postseason for the sixth time in his ten seasons at the helm of the program.  Lambinus, who has coached both Moravian’s soccer programs the last ten years, surpassed the 100-win plateau last year with the women and enters the Landmark Conference Championships with an overall record of 119-57-14.  He has also led the program to two NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament berths including one last fall.

Senior forward Tracy Fitzpatrick (Wantage, NJ/High Point Regional HS) leads Moravian in scoring with 11 goals and six assists for 26 points.  She has moved into third in school history with 33 goals, 19 assists and 85 points in her career.  Freshman forward Arielle Caldas (Cherry Hills, NJ/Cherry Hills West HS) has added nine goals and three assists for 21 points, and she has netted four game-winning goals while sophomore forward Jenelle Mirro (Bath, PA/Notre Dame HS) has six goals and four assists for 16 points with a pair of game-winning goals.

Junior forward Alessandra Valdetara (Butler, NJ/Butler HS) has five goals and four assists for 14 points including two game-winning goals this season for the Greyhounds while sophomore midfielder Shannon McEvoy (Lafayette, NJ/High Point Regional HS) has contributed two goals and three assists for seven points this year, and she has one game-winning goal.  Valdetara, Fitzpatrick and Caldas have each missed at least one match this fall due to injury with Fitzpatrick missing four contests.

Sophomore forward Amanda Friedman (Randolph, NJ/Randolph HS) has two goals and one assist for five points while junior midfielder JeriAnne Weiss (Allentown, PA/Salisbury HS) has netted two goals for four points.  Freshman midfielder/defender Diana Feldman (York, PA/Central York HS) has a goal and two assists for four points in her debut season while senior defender Katelyn Killea (Chatham, NJ/Chatham HS) has posted one goal and one assist. 

Freshmen midfielder Kim Gogel (Whippany, NJ/Whippany Park HS) has added four assists this year while freshman defender Elizabeth Brundage (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights HS) has a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds.  Junior midfielder Brittany Deiling (Chews Landing, NJ/Triton Regional HS), junior defender Terri Roberts (Danville, PA/Danville HS) and freshmen defender Kim Mogg (Stanford, CT/West Hill HS) have each found the back of the net once this year for Moravian while senior defender Alexandra Frascella (Chatham, NJ/Chatham HS) has three assists while senior goalie Caitlin Corrigan (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge HS) has an assist. 

Also contributing for the Greyhounds have been junior defender Kathleen Wise (Ardsley, PA/Abington HS), sophomore midfielder Emily Rodriguez (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty HS) and sophomore midfielder Tara Alberse (New Providence, NJ/New Providence HS), the only three Greyhounds regulars to have not registered a point this fall.

In goal for Moravian, Corrigan, this week's Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Week, has posted a 0.79 goals-against average, with 76 saves, six shutouts and a 12-5-2 record in 1,603 minutes of action.  Corrigan is the school's all-time leader in goalie victories with 49, and she holds the school mark for career shutouts with 32.  Corrigan needs just one save to become the fourth goalie in school history to reach 300 career saves.  Sophomore goalie Sarah Halpin (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West HS)  has six saves in 121 minutes of action while freshman goalie Mikki Ruvolis (Allentown, PA/Saucon Valley HS) has seen 66 minutes.

Juniata is coached by Scott McKenzie, who is in his ninth season with an overall record of 64-84-12.

Leading the Eagles this season is sophomore forward Caitlin Bigelow, who has nine goals and two assists totaling at 20 points. Junior forward Shannon Pierce also has found the back of the net this season with five goals and one assist to give her 11 points, while freshman forward Aimee Radic has four goals and two assists for ten points.  Erin Eddinger has three goals and an assist for seven points this season.

Freshman forward Nikki Hakinson and freshman midfielder Emily Pendleton have each found the back of the net twice this season to go with an assist, while junior midfielder Laura Goodlander has scored one goal and leads Juniata with four assists.  Sophomore forward Katie Young has also added two goals this season for four points.

Junior forward Maura Collins has contributed a goal and two helpers while junior forward Sarah Ruggiero and sophomore defender Christine Schott each have a goal and an assist.  Sophomore forward Elizabeth Van Blarcom and junior defender Melissa Johnson have each tallied a goal for the Eagles while junior midfielder Amanda Broadwell has added two assists.  Junior midfielder Sarah Stebbins has one assist this season.

Holding the defense this season are sophomore goal keepers Kristen Penska and Lauren Auster-Gussman. Auster-Gusmann has 30 saves on the season four shutouts and a 0.88 goals-against average in 720 minutes of action, while Penska has 21 saves, two shutouts and a 0.67 goals-against average in 669 minutes in goal.