Blue Demons Close Regular Season on the Road
10/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S SOCCER
DePaul at Rutgers
Friday, Oct. 26 | 7 p.m. ET
Yurcak Field | Piscataway, N.J.
DePaul at Seton Hall
Sunday, Oct. 28 | Noon ET
Owen T. Carroll Field | South Orange, N.J.
CHICAGO - The DePaul women’s soccer team closes the regular season with games at Rutgers and Seton Hall this weekend. DePaul enters the weekend at 5-11-1 overall and 2-7-0 in league play while Rutgers is 8-7-2 overall and 3-4-2 in BIG EAST action. Seton Hall stands at 7-7-2 and 3-5-1 in BIG EAST action and hosts Notre Dame on Friday.
Following this weekend, the 2007 BIG EAST Championship starts Nov. 1 with the top five teams from each division qualifying for the tournament. Entering the weekend, DePaul is in the eighth spot with six points, but trail fourth-place Rutgers by just five points.
Noting the Blue Demons: Each of the last eight matches have been decided by one goal... DePaul’s 2-1 double-overtime win at Cincinnati was the first overtime win since the 2004 season... the Blue Demons defeated Louisville by a 2-1 score on Oct. 8, 2004... the five goals scored against IPFW on Sept. 23 were the most since a school-record six against Northern Iowa on Sept. 17, 2004... the 2004 squad posted 6-1 victories over Northern Iowa and Liberty that season to set match records... the five goals against the Mastodons marked the third-highest single-game total in school history... Jennifer Dyer’s two goals against IPFW were her first multi-goal match... she is now second all-time with 15 career assists, fourth all-time with 39 points and tied for sixth all-time with 12 goals... Shannon Williams entered this season with one goal and has scored seven in 17 games this season... she is currently tied for 11th all-time with 18 points on eight goals and two assists... the win over Ohio to start the 2007 campaign ended a 12-match winless streak (0-11-1)... head coach Erin Chastain is in her first season at DePaul and the third coach in program history... she is the first coach in program history to win the first match... the 2007 season is the 12th year of women’s soccer as a varsity sport at DePaul University... the Blue Demons are 25-22-3 in the last five-plus seasons in matches at Wish Field... on the flip side, the program is 18-30-8 on the road in that same span.
Undefeated Start Just Second All-Time: The 2-0 start for the Blue Demons is just the second undefeated beginning to a season in program history. The 2001 squad holds the best start to a season at 5-0-0 in the program’s 12 years while the Blue Demons are 4-8 all-time in season-opening matches.
Chastain in First Season at DePaul: Following five seasons at Santa Clara as an assistant coach, Erin Chastain was named DePaul’s third head coach on Mar. 1, 2007. While at Santa Clara she helped the Broncos claimed four West Coast Conference titles and a pair of NCAA Championship National Semifinal appearances. The 2002 team finished second in the NCAA Championship while in 2004 Santa Clara reached the national semifinals followed by a quarterfinal appearance in 2005. Prior to Santa Clara, Chastain served as an assistant coach at Northwestern and played collegiately at Minnesota where she was a two-time All-Big Ten honoree. The Chastain name is familiar to soccer fans as Erin’s sister-in-law, Brandi, led the United States to the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Scouting Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights stand at 8-7-2 overall and 3-4-2 in BIG EAST play... they sit in fourth in the American Division with 11 points... Rutgers knocked off Syracuse and St. John’s last weekend with a pair of shutouts... Gina Demaio leads the team with 12 points on five goals and two assists... head coach Glenn Crooks is in his seventh season at Rutgers. The Series: The two teams have split the two previous meetings... both sides have won on the opposing field.
Checking on Seton Hall: The Pirates enter the weekend at 7-7-2 overall and 3-5-1 in league play... Seton Hall hosts Notre Dame on Friday night and are in a three-way tie for fifth place in the American Division... last weekend, they suffered a pair of shutout defeats to Syracuse and St. John’s... Alli Donofrio leads the team with 11 points on five goals and an assist... head coach Kazbek Tambi is in his first season with the Pirates. The Series: The teams have played to a tie in each of the two all-time meetings.
2007 BIG EAST Championship: The semifinals and championship of the 2007 BIG EAST Women’s Soccer Championship will take place in Morgantown, W. Va., on the campus of the West Virginia University. The first round and quarterfinal matches will be hosted by the higher-seeded team on Nov. 1 and Nov. 4. The champion receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship.