WSOC Heads to #24 Notre Dame
10/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
• Seton Hall trails the all-time series with the Fighting Irish, 1-17-0.
• Notre Dame defeated Seton Hall, 2-0, last season in South Orange.
• Seton Hall topped the second-ranked Fighting Irish, 3-2, at home on Oct. 18, 1998. It is the only win over a No. 2 team in program history.
DE PAUL SERIES NOTES
• Seton Hall and DePaul have met just seven times in their program histories, with the Blue Demons holding a slight lead in the all-time series, 3-2-2.
• The Pirates picked up a 3-1 win over DePaul last season on Senior Day.
• This weekend's contest is just the fourth trip to DePaul in program history.
RITTER TALLIES FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON
Junior forward Katie Ritter picked up two points and scored her first goal of the season at Syracuse on Friday, Sept. 28. With assists from junior Brittney Albrecht and Marie Klemme, Ritter scored from the right side into the top-left corner.
ALBRECHT NOTCHES FOURTH ASSIST
Junior forward Brittney Albrecht picked up her fourth assist of the season on classmate Katie Ritter's goal at Syracuse on Sept. 28. Albrecht is enjoying her most productive season in a Seton Hall uniform, tallying six points on a goal with four assists while starting in 13 of 14 games played. She ranks second on the team and 116th in the country with four assists and has recorded at least one point in four different contests.
HAVING A BREAK THROUGH
Junior midfielder Marie Klemme is having a breakout season offensively for Seton Hall. Entering the 2012 season with one point from an assist during her freshman campaign, she is currently tied for second on the team with nine points (three goals, three assists). She has scored a point in six different games this year.
RITTER RISING
Junior forward Katie Ritter is steadily climbing up the Seton Hall career ranks in points and goals scored. She recently moved into a tie for eighth place in school history with 31 points by virtue of a goal at Syracuse. She is also tied for fifth all-time with 14 goals to her credit. She is now just two strikes of the ball away from moving into a tie for fourth place with Carley Piagentini on the goal-scoring list. Ritter is only one point behind Frauke Dittel for the seventh highest career point total.
HALL OF FAMER
Assistant coach Rick Stainton was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at his alma mater, Green Mountain College, on Friday, Sept. 28. A two-sport athlete at Green Mountain, Stainton played lacrosse and men's soccer, leading the soccer team to an NAIA Regional Championship in 1997.
HITTING THE ROAD
Seton Hall is on the second leg of a four-game road trip, its longest since the 2010 season. That trip featured the same four opponents, although in a different order, as SHU is facing Notre Dame and DePaul this weekend after heading to Syracuse and St. John's last week.
ON THE DOUBLE
Stephanie Soma came off the bench to provide instant offense for the Pirates against Villanova, doubling her delight by accounting for both goals in the 2-0 victory. After the first multi-goal performance of her career, she was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll (9.17). Soma enters the weekend as SHU's leading scorer with four goals this season and is just two points and two goals shy of cracking the school's all-time top-10 list for each category.
PICKING ‘EM OUT
Junior midfielder Ashley Clarke has proven a knack for finding her teammates in goal scoring position. With a team-high six assists so far in 2012, she ranks fourth on the program's all-time single-season list, just two shy of the Kelly Smith's record. Her career tally now sits at 10 assists, matching the fifth highest total in Seton Hall history. Additionally, her six assists currently are tied for 26th-most in the NCAA.
VIEW FROM THE FRONT
Seton Hall has had no problem playing with a lead this season, winning five of six matches in which they struck first on the scoreboard. Only La Salle has come back to defeat the Pirates this season, spoiling an early goal from Stephanie Soma who had given SHU the advantage just two minutes into the action.
CLARKE AND RUHE ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Junior midfielders Ashley Clarke and Amie Ruhe were named to the Villanova Classic All-Tournament Team on Sept. 10. Clarke registered her team-leading fifth assist of the year on a Stephanie Soma goal against La Salle on Sept. 7, while Ruhe started at midfield in both games of the tournament, playing a full 90 minutes against William & Mary.
ROLL CALLS
On the heels of wins over Monmouth and Delaware, Seton Hall landed two players on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll (9.3). Ashley Clarke was joined by senior defender Taylor Mims in receiving the honor. Clarke tallied four points in the two matches and Mims has asserted herself as a defensive stalwart in 2012, playing every minute for a Pirate defense that yielded just one goal in the two matches.
TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Seton Hall head coach Kazbek Tambi put together a number of early season tests for his squad as they prepared for BIG EAST play. Four of Seton Hall's eight non-conference foes were NCAA Tournament teams last year: LIU Brooklyn, William & Mary, La Salle and Army.
HISTORY AT THE HALL
Now in its 19th year, Seton Hall got off to the best start in program history, recording wins in its first five contests for the first time. It was also just the second time the Pirates have remained unbeaten through their first five contests. In 1998, SHU posted a 4-0-1 start before suffering the first setback of the season.
0H S0 G00D
The Hall left each of their opponents with a 0 on the board as their scoreless streak to start the year reached a record mark of four-straight matches. With the 3-0 shutout win against Monmouth (8.28), the Pirates surpassed the previous high mark of three-straight clean sheets to start a season which had previously been achieved twice, first in 1996 and again in 2004.
D'YONNA GETS DEFENSIVE
Freshman D'Yonna Riley has quickly established herself as an imposing force on the Pirates' backline, playing all 90 minutes in each of the five shutouts SHU has posted in 2012. Riley, who also tallied her first career point with an assist in the win at Lehigh, was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week (8.27) for her efforts.
KELLY SHINES IN DEBUT
The Monmouth match marked the first appearance in the SHU net for transfer Alyssa Kelly. Kelly, who joined the Pirates after playing three years at Vermont, she followed three-straight shutouts by freshman Gina Maiorana with a clean sheet of her own, making six saves to keep the Hawks at bay.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Thus far this season, the Pirates have utilized a balanced attack to support their offensive effort. Eight different players have combined to account for SHU's 15 goals through 14 matches. Senior forward Stephanie Soma has found the back of the net four times to lead the squad. Marie Klemme has emerged to score three times while Ashley Clarke and Kristina Meier have two apiece. The Pirates have also tallied 20 assists so far, which is tied for the fifth-highest total in the BIG EAST.
FIRST STRIKE
A pair of Pirates recorded landmark achievements in contributing to wins over Lehigh and Monmouth. Junior midfielder Marie Klemme made her first goal as a Pirate a game-winner with a second half score at Lehigh. Sophomore Angie Shehaj also scored for the first time in her collegiate career, putting the result out of question by adding the Pirates third against Monmouth.
2011 MILESTONES
Seton Hall finished last season with a 9-8-3 overall record, advancing to the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament. The Pirates achieved a number of milestones last year:
• Seton Hall's nine victories were the most for the program since 1999.
• SHU finished fourth in the BIG EAST National Division with a 4-6-1 overall record, qualifying for the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 2006.
• The Pirates defeated St. John's, 1-0, in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament for their first postseason win since 1999.
• Senior Taylor Wilson and sophomore Katie Ritter each earned Third-Team All-BIG EAST honors, marking the first time since 1999 Seton Hall saw a pair of student-athletes receive all-conference accolades.
ALL EYES ON RITTER
Seton Hall junior forward Katie Ritter was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com BIG EAST Preseason Top-20 watch list. After leading the Pirates in scoring with six goals last season, Ritter earned Third-Team All-BIG EAST honors. TopDrawerSoccer ranked her as the No. 16 player in the BIG EAST Conference and the No. 5 forward.
SHEHAJ THE WORLD TRAVELER
Seton Hall sophomore Angie Shehaj got some international playing experience under her belt when she played a pair of exhibition games with the Albanian National Team during the offseason. Shehaj, who was born in Albania and moved to the United States when she was five, suited up for her national team against Macedonia and Montenegro last May. For SHU last season, she saw action in 13 games and ranked second in the team with three assists.
KEEPING GOOD COMPANY
Junior forward Katie Ritter earned Third-Team All-BIG EAST accolades following her sophomore season, after being named to the conference's All-Rookie Team in 2010. She is just the second player in program history to go on to earn All-Conference recognition after being named to the All-Rookie Team; the only other is SHU Hall of Famer Kelly Smith.
KEEPING BUSY OVER THE SUMMER
The Pirates saw several of its student-athletes play for the USL W-League this summer. Senior Cristina Barthel, senior Taylor Mims, junior Ashley Clarke, junior Meghan Hayes and assistant coach Christina Reuter all competed during the offseason. Clarke scored seven goals to go along with four assists for the North Jersey Valkyries to earn All-Eastern Conference honors. Additionally, junior Amie Ruhe played for the Maryland Capitals in the WPSL.
HALL ADDS TRANSFER IN NET
Seton Hall welcomes graduate student Alyssa Kelly to South Orange for the 2012 season. Kelly, a New Jersey native, played for three seasons at the University of Vermont before graduating last spring with a business administration degree. She started in 16 contests during her sophomore season at Vermont, stopping 109 shots, the ninth-highest single-season total in school history.
BIG EAST PRESEASON POLL
Seton Hall was picked to finish sixth in the National Division in the 2012 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Pirates,who return nine starters and 18 letterwinners from last year's squad, finished fourth in the division last season with a 4-6-1 record.
CLASS OF 2016
Head coach Kazbek Tambi and the women's soccer program brought in six freshman this offseason to make up the Class of 2016. Joining the Pirates on the field this fall will be goalkeeper Gina Maiorana (Street, Md.), defender Melissa Blevins (Laurel Springs, N.J.), forward Christie Cherup (Wayne, N.J.), defender Emily Hansinger (Mount Laurel, N.J.), defender D'Yonna Riley (Washingtonville, N.Y.) and defender Alexis Urbanski (Aberdeen, N.J.).
NEW ASSISTANT COACH
Seton Hall added a new volunteer assistant coach during this offseason in former SHU men's soccer standout Jerrod Laventure. Laventure, who suited up for the Pirates from 2001-04, was a First-Team All-BIG EAST selection and an NSCAA All-American. Following his collegiate career he played for the NY/NJ MetroStars in the MLS.
2012 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2012 BIG EAST Women's Soccer Championship will be hosted Friday and Sunday, Nov. 2 & 4, at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn. BIG EAST Tournament first round action will take place at campus sites on Thursday, Oct. 25, and the quarterfinals will be played on Sunday, Oct. 28.
