Lady Pioneers to Make 4th Straight Trip to USCAA Nationals

The Alfred State women's soccer team has earned the #8 seed and will make their 4th straight trip to the USCAA National Championships. The Lady Pioneers will head to Virginia Beach, VA with an 8-7 overall record.

The tournament features four pools of three teams. Each team will play the other two teams in their pool with the top record from each pool moving on to the national semifinals.

Alfred State was placed in Pool A with #1 Maine Fort Kent and #12 SUNY Delhi. Maine Fort Kent, the two-time defending champion, enters the tournament with a 17-0 record while Delhi enters with a 8-6-1 mark.

The Lady Pioneers defeated SUNY Delhi 4-1 on the road during the opening weekend of the season. Alfred State and UMFK have only met once all-time. The meetingcame in the 2013 USCAA National Semifinals with the Bengals earning a tight 2-1 victory.

Alfred State will battle Maine Fort Kent at Noon on Thursday, November 10th on Princess Anne Field 1. Fort Kent and Delhi will play at Noon on Friday and Alfred State will battle Delhi at Noon on Saturday. The top team in the pool will advance to the semifinals on Sunday. The championship match will take place on Monday afternoon.

Pool B features #3 Albany College of Pharmacy (10-5-1), Florida College (11-3-1), and Washington Adventist (9-4-1). Pool C features #2 SUNY ESF (12-2-1), #7 NHTI (15-1), and #11 Johnson & Wales (7-8). Pool B has #4 Bryant & Stratton (9-4-1) battling #5 Cleary University (10-3), and #9 PSUAC Champion.

A pair of freshmen lead the offensive attack for the Lady Pioneers. Brooke Geibel (Arkport) leads the team with 30 points (11 goals and 8 assists) while Melissa Mineti (Livonia) has 25 points. Sophomore Michayla Salatel (Geneseo) has netted nine goals and has 23 points on the year.

In front of junior goalie Allison Danielak (Brockport), Nicole Gilbert (Watertown), Stormi Kruger (Medina), and Chloe Cox (Tuscon, AZ) have been key contributors. The Lady Pioneers have recorded seven shutouts and are allowing 1.07 goals per game.

Kylie Newman (Waverly), Jocelyn Brittingham (Hornell), Dannielle O'Buckley (Ansbach), Julia Yanarella (Roy Ketcham) have been key to the success of the team.