POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist Athletics Department and second-year head coach Katherine Lyn announced the 2012 women's soccer schedule on Tuesday The Red Foxes will look to defend their 2011 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship, the first in the program's history, with a 20-game slate that sees the Red Foxes playing nine contests on their home turf at Tenney Stadium.
Marist opens up with a home game when Wagner comes to Poughkeepsie on Tuesday, Aug. 21. The Seahawks took last year's matchup 1-0 on Staten Island. The Red Foxes went 6-0-1 in seven home games in 2011.
Three days later, on Friday, Aug. 28, the Red Foxes begin a five-game road trip with a game at NJIT in Newark, N.J. They close out the month of August with a Sunday afternoon matchup at Colgate on Aug. 26.
September begins with a game against Fordham in the Bronx on Sunday, Sept. 2. The road trip concludes with games at Connecticut on Wednesday, Sept. 5 and Pennsylvania on Friday, Sept. 7.
The Red Foxes return home to face Hofstra on Sunday, Sept. 9, ending a stretch of four games in eight days.
The team returns to the road, travelling to Lehigh on Friday, Sept. 14. Last season, Marist defeated the Mountain Hawks 2-1 in Poughkeepsie. The Red Foxes will then finish the weekend at Columbia on Sunday, Sept. 16.
Marist will conclude the non-conference portion of their schedule with two home games versus Binghamton on Friday, Sept. 21 and Temple on Sunday, Sept. 23. Their game with the Owls last season was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene.
MAAC play begins the following weekend with a trip to Buffalo to play Canisius and Niagara on Sept. 28-30. Last year at Tenney Stadium, the Red Foxes and Golden Griffins played to a 2-2 tie while Marist defeated the Purple Eagles 3-0.
A three-game home-stand kicks off October, starting with Siena on Saturday, Oct. 6. The Red Foxes beat the Saints 3-2 in overtime last year. Contests versus Fairfield and Iona close out the home-stand the following weekend Oct. 12-14. Marist defeated the Stags 1-0 in Fairfield last year, before beating them 3-2 on penalty kicks in the MAAC semifinals. They easily defeated the Gaels on the road, 4-1.
Trips to Manhattan, on Friday, Oct. 19 and Saint Peter's on Sunday, Oct. 21 make up the final road games of the regular season. The Red Foxes easily won both matchups last season, defeating the Jaspers 4-1 and the Peahens 4-0.
The regular season wraps up with two home games on the weekend of Oct. 26-28. On Friday, Loyola (Md.) visits for a rematch of last season's MAAC Championship game, which the Red Foxes won 1-0 on an Epstein goal. Marist also took the regular season matchup 1-0 in overtime. Rider comes to Tenney Stadium on Sunday for the final game. The Broncs were the Red Foxes' lone MAAC loss last year, coming away with 5-1 victory.
Marist will host the 2012 MAAC Tournament the weekend of Nov. 2-4 with all three games being held at Tenney Stadium. The two semifinals will take place on Friday, Nov. 2 and the championship game will be played on Sunday, Nov. 4.
"We feel that we have put together a more challenging non-conference schedule this fall that will test our team throughout" said Lyn. "After experiencing an ACC game last season at Boston College in the NCAA Tournament, we aimed to give the team a few more opportunities to play NCAA Tournament caliber opposition in the regular season. Facing these strong teams from powerful conferences early on should help us prepare for an always difficult slate of MAAC games in the second half of the schedule."
The Red Foxes went 13-6-2 in 2011, setting a program record for wins in a season. Lyn, the 2011 Anaconda Sports MAAC Coach of the Year, returns five postseason All-MAAC team members let by freshman Amanda Epstein (Jericho, N.Y.), who finished third in the NCAA with eight game-winning goals, was named Marist's first-ever MAAC Rookie of the Year. Also returning is senior defender Jessica Arabia (Naperville, Ill.) and junior midfielder Rycke Guiney (Naperville, Ill.), who were both named to the First Team last season. Senior Chelsea Botta (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and sophomore Marissa Mertens (Hicksville, N.Y.) both were selected to the Second Team on defense. Mertens also joined Epstein on the All-MAAC Rookie Team.
2012 Women's Soccer Schedule
Tuesday, Aug. 21 - WAGNER
Friday, Aug. 24 - at NJIT
Sunday, Aug. 26 - at Colgate
Sunday, Sept. 2 - at Fordham
Wednesday, Sept. 5 - at UConn
Friday, Sept. 7 - at UPenn
Sunday, Sept. 9 - HOFSTRA
Friday, Sept. 14 - at Lehigh
Sunday, Sept. 16 - at Columbia
Friday, Sept. 21 - BINGHAMTON
Sunday, Sept. 23 - TEMPLE
Friday, Sept. 28 - at Canisius*
Sunday, Sept. 30 - at Niagara*
Saturday, Oct. 6 - SIENA*
Friday, Oct. 12 - FAIRFIELD*
Sunday, Oct. 14 - IONA*
Friday, Oct. 19 - at Manhattan*
Sunday, Oct. 21 - at Saint Peter's*
Friday, Oct. 26 - LOYOLA (MD)*
Sunday, Oct. 28 - RIDER*
Friday, Nov. 2 - MAAC Championships (at Marist)
Sunday, Nov. 4 - MAAC Championships (at Marist)
Home Games in CAPS
*MAAC game
