Pirates Travel to Marist for 2014 Opener
8/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Seton Hall Women's Soccer Notes 
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's soccer team officially kicks-off the 2014 campaign tomorrow, August 22, when the squad travels to take on Marist in the season opener.
The contest will be the first for The Hall under head coach Rick Stainton after the former Seton Hall assistant returned to South Orange in the winter following a highly successful season on the sidelines for Fairleigh Dickinson.
The Pirates were chosen to finish seventh in the BIG EAST Conference in a preseason poll of the league's coaches but Stainton has iterated throughout the preseason that he believes the pieces are in place for his side to improve on last season's 5-11-2 mark.
As part of his first preseason at the helm, Stainton conducted a four -day training camp at his alma mater Green Mountain College in Vermont, hoping to help his team jell heading into the upcoming season. The expedition was just part of a revamped training regimen that appears to have born rapid results as the Pirates played at a consistently high level over two exhibition contests last week.
Seton Hall got its first taste of competitive soccer during a trip to Central Connecticut State which saw the Pirates control the pace of play. Freshman Katie Landes (Stony Point, N.Y.) staked The Hall to a 1-0 lead with an unassisted strike from outside the area, an advantage they would hold until the final minutes of the match before eventually finishing level at 1-1.
In the final exhibition, the Pirates again dominated the run of play against visiting Wagner as junior Amanda Gulli (Toms River, N.J.) tallied an early score to give the home side an edge it would not relinquish. Junior D'Yonna Riley (Washingtonville, N.Y.) added a goal of her own in the opening stages of the second half and freshman Morgan LaDuca (Toms River, N.J.) tacked on a third to power Seton Hall to a 3-0 win.
Sophomore Frankie Maier (Oradell, N.J.) assisted on the first two goals of the match and will be looked to as a focal point of the Pirates attack. In the meeting between The Hall and Marist last fall, Maier tallied a pair of helpers including one on the overtime game-winner that helped the Pirates move to a perfect 3-0-0 all-time in the series.
That result came at home however and on Friday, the Pirates will make their second-ever trip to Poughkeepsie to take on a Red Foxes squad that was pegged to finish fourth in the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference in 2014.
Preseason All-MAAC selection and top returning scorer Amanda Epstein figures to be at the center of the Marist offensive charge but the Red Foxes will be forced to contend with a Pirates' back line that returns several key contributors from a unit that surrendered more than one goal just twice in the final 10 matches last fall.
Kick-off between the Pirates and Red Foxes is scheduled for 7 p.m. Don't forget to follow @SetonHallSoccer on Twitter for updates on the action.
- - -
GET IT STARTED
Seton Hall opens the 2014 season with a pair of contests against squads representing the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference, first traveling to visit Marist on Friday, Aug. 25 before hosting Rider three days later. The Pirates downed the Red Foxes in overtime in the 2013 non-conference finale to stretch their home unbeaten streak against teams outside the BIG EAST to 13 - a run that dates back to the 2010 campaign. The Hall and Rider did not officially meet last fall but SHU did score a 5-1 win in the final tune-up prior to last year's regular season. All told, the Pirates have defeated Marist in each of the three all-time meetings and also own a perfect 2-0 record against Rider with the last encounter coming in 2002.
STAINTON RETURNS
The third head coach in the 21-year history of the program, Rick Stainton opens his tenure at The Hall this weekend. Stainton returns to South Orange where he helped lead the Pirates to a postseason victory as an assistant in 2011 after guiding Fairleigh Dickinson to an 8-8-4 record and the #2 seed in the NEC Tournament in 2013. He replaces Kazbek Tambi who led The Hall for seven seasons.
TURNING THE PAGE
Along with a new head coach, the 2014 version of the Pirates will feature a different look than the squads of recent years after the Pirates graduated six seniors who totaled 418 appearances in their respective careers. The Hall returns six starters from last season including senior Kristina Meier, juniors D'Yonna Riley and Melissa Blevins and two of the team's top-five scorers from last fall in Sarah Cortes and Frankie Maier. Cortes and Maier are joined in the sophomore class by 2013 Third Team All-BIG EAST honoree Cathy Chukuka.
WELCOME ABOARD
LaDuca and Landes are of six newcomers the Pirates added for the upcoming season. They are joined by Empire State product Laura Dramis, a goalkeeper from St. John Vianney, a pair of New Jersey prep standouts in Lauren Hall and Jackie Saint John as well as native Canadian Andrea Palermo.
STEERING THE SHIP
Two members of the Class of 2016 were selected to share captains' duties for the Pirates this season as defenders D'Yonna Riley and Emily Hansinger will share the responsibilities. Riley has been a mainstay in the starting lineup over her first two seasons while Hansinger made a career-high 12 appearances last fall.
