POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - With the conclusion of the 2011 NCAA Women's Soccer season in which Stanford defeated Duke 1-0 to earn the Cardinal's first-ever title, the NCAA recently released its final statistical rankings. The Marist women's soccer team finds itself prominently featured in the Division 1 rankings due to the number three position of freshman Amanda Epstein in game-winning goals. She is joined by sophomore Rycke Guiney and junior Caitlin Landsman as individual Red Foxes, who are ranked in the top 80 of differing categories.
Following a fantastic debut season, in which she was named the MAAC Rookie of Year and tied the all-time Marist single season mark for total points, Epstein (Jericho, N.Y.) finished ranked in three final NCAA statistical categories: Game-Winning Goals, Points Per Game and Goals Per Game. Her eight game-winning tallies placed her third-best in the nation. She trailed just Milwaukee's Sarah Hagen, who notched 11 game-winners in her senior season and sophomore Maya Hayes of Penn State, who had nine.
In both the Points Per Game and Goal Per Game categories, Epstein finished 71st in Division 1. In 21 games and 19 starts, her final stat-line was 11 goals and six assists for 28 total points; when averaged that came out to 1.33 points per game and .524 goals per game.
An All-MAAC First Team honoree, Guiney (Naperville, Ill.) is ranked for her prowess in setting up goals. The new holder of Marist's all-time single season assists record with nine, Guiney finished with the 45th-best assists per game ratio in Division 1 with .43 helpers per game.
Landsman (Burke, Va.) is the third Red Fox, who is recognized amongst the nation's best. The junior goalkeeper set the Marist all-time single season goals against average with a 0.94 GAA in her 16 appearances in the 2011 season. The 0.94 GAA statistic placed her 79th in the end-of-year rankings.
As a team, Marist finished with the 54th-best Winning Percentage out of 330 Division 1 teams at .667 on the strength of a program record 13 wins. They were 13-6-2 overall.
The Red Fox offense is also highly-ranked as they finished 89th out of all 330 Division 1 programs with 1.67 goals per game average.
