Soccer Closes 2022 Season at Miami Thursday

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com)  – The Eastern Michigan University soccer team is set to take the field for the final time in 2022 as the Eagles will travel south to Bobby Kramig Field in Oxford, Ohio, to meet Miami University on the final day of the regular season, Thursday, Oct. 27. The match between the Eagles (3-11-3, 2-7-1 MAC) and RedHawks (8-4-5, 4-2-4 MAC) is set to kickoff at 3 p.m.

 

QUICK KICKS:

» Eastern Michigan is wrapping up its 28th varsity season and sports a 248-234-63 overall record and stands 142-109-31 in Mid-American Conference play.

» Head Coach Scott Hall is currently in his 24th season at the helm of the program and holds an all-time record of 209-203-60 (131-105-29 MAC) during his time in Ypsilanti.

»  Eastern is 13-12-1 in its regular season finale and 1-1-0 when playing Miami in that match. The last time the two met in the regular season finale was Oct. 29, 2004, a 2-1 MU win in Oxford.

»  Eastern is coming off a weekend in which it dropped a 2-0 match at Northern Illinois University (Oct. 20) and 7-1 home defeat to Bowling Green State University (Oct. 23).

»  Meagan Lukowski netted the team’s lone goal last week to give her 10 total points on the year, joining Maddie O’Farrell as the second Eagle to record double-digit points this year. The duo are the first EMU teammates to post 10+ points in a season since Eastern had four in 2019.

»  Sophia D’Ambra collected the assist on the Lukowski goal, the first of her collegiate career.

»  With the points accumulated, the sophomore class has now tallied 14 goals, 11 assists and 39 points after recording three goals, five assists and 11 points as freshmen last year.

»  Additionally, the sophomores this year have outscored the team as a whole from last year with 14 goals to 13, 11 assists to eight, and 39 points to 34.

»  Overall as a team, the offense showed a massive improvement over the 2021 season with an increase of eight goals, nine assists, and 25 points with one match to play.

»  Against Bowling Green Sunday, Oct. 23, Meghan Oliver earned her first career start, making her the eighth different rookie to earn a place in the Starting XI in 2022.

 

PLAYING THE SPOILER?: Although the Eagles have been eliminated from MAC postseason contention, they can still play the role of spoiler in Thursday’s match at Miami. Ahead of the match, Miami is currently fifth on the league table with 16 points while Western Michigan University (14) and Ohio University (13) are ranked sixth and seventh respectively. A result (win or tie) in Oxford could play a role in shifting the seeds and which teams play host to playoff matches Sunday. The top six teams in the final standings earn berths into the MAC Tournament.

 

CLOSING IT OUT: Eastern enters Thursday’s match at Miami with a 13-12-1 all-time record in its final regular season match of the season after dropping the last two, both by 2-1 scores, on the road at Ball State University (April 11, 2021) and home to Central Michigan University (Oct. 28, 2021). The Eagles will close the regular season against the RedHawks for the third time in program history after dropping a 2-1 decision in Oxford, Oct. 29, 2004, after winning a 3-1 home decision Nov. 1, 2001. Since the loss in 2004, it has been rare the Eagles would finish their regular season slate with a non-Michigan team with this year’s match just the fourth in that span (12 vs. CMU, 2 vs. WMU, 2 vs. BGSU, and 1 vs. Ball State).

 

SCOUTING MIAMI: The final regular season match day sees the RedHawks enter with an 8-4-5 record and a 4-2-4 MAC record for 16 points and fourth place in the league standings. A 1-0 winner at home over Northern Illinois University Oct. 20, Miami is led by a pair of players with 10 points on the year, including Makenna Morrison with five goals and Camber Hayes with one goal and eight assists. Defensively, Izzie Vaccari is the only goalkeeper the RedHawks have used this year as the has allowed just 11 goals in 17 matches (0.65 goals-against average) while making 60 saves.

 

IN THE SERIES – EMU vs MU: Eastern trails in its all-time series with Miami, 11-15-2, and has fallen in two consecutive matches, including a 2-1 setback in the last meeting, Sept. 26, 2021. Overall, the Eagles are 4-7-1 when playing in Oxford and have dropped two in a row as the visitors, including a 3-1 score Sept. 27, 2019. All told, through 28 matches played, the two teams have combined to each score 42 goals with both sides shutting out the other six times each.

 

WEEK IN REVIEW: Eastern fell in both its matches played last week, dropping a 2-0 decision at Northern Illinois University Oct. 20, before falling at home to Bowling Green State University, 7-1, Oct. 23. The match with the Falcons marked the final home appearance for a pair of EMU seniors in Sarah Ash and Kylie Frantz.

 

POST-MATCH NOTES – NORTHERN ILLINOIS:

» Eastern fell to 3-10-3 (2-6-1 MAC) on the year while NIU improved to 6-6-4 (3-4-2 MAC).

» Lukowski fired a team-best four shots in the match with a team-leading three coming on goal while both Sophia D’Ambra and Vittoria Greco each registering two.

» Rebecca Przybylo, one match removed from recording a career-high nine saves at Western Michigan, Oct. 16, stopped five of the seven shots she faced.

» EMU is now 20-6-3 all-time in its series with Northern Illinois.

» The Eagles’ six-match winning streak against the Huskies came to an end with the loss.

» In the 29 meetings in the series, the Oct. 20 match marked just the fifth time the Eagles had surrendered multiple goals to NIU with the last coming Sept. 25, 2016, in a 2-1 loss in DeKalb.

» EMU lost for only the third time in the 29 meetings Eastern was unable to score against NIU.

 

POST-MATCH NOTES – BOWLING GREEN:

» Eastern fell to 3-11-3 (2-7-1 MAC) on the year while BGSU improved to 7-5-4 (5-2-3 MAC).

» Lukowski netted her fourth goal of the season to bring her point total to 10.

» Lukowski and O’Farrell (5-3-13) give the Eagles multiple players with double-digit point totals for the first time since four players accomplished the feat in 2019 (Kristin Hullibarger Nason with 18; Lindsey Shira with 16, and both Amanda Cripps and Sabrina McNeill with 15 each).

» D’Ambra recorded the first assist of her career and is the sixth Eastern player this year to record at least one goal and one assist.

» Freshman Meghan Oliver made her first career start. She is the eighth different freshman to earn a place in the Starting XI in 2022.

» EMU fell to 15-14-2 all-time against the Falcons and have dropped two in a row in the series.

» The last time Eastern surrendered seven goals was Aug. 28, 2015, a 7-0 loss to DePaul University.

» The seven goals scored by Bowling Green are the most for either team in the 31-match series, surpassing the six scored by Eastern in its 6-4 win at home Oct. 1, 2010, and is the most by the Falcons since scoring four in that same match.

 

ONE UP: Last year, the Eagles finished their campaign with a 2-13-3 record and were 1-8-1 (4 points) in MAC play while this year’s side currently stands 3-11-3 overall and 2-7-1 (7 points) in conference. The 2-1 road win at Western Michigan Oct. 16, gave the Eagles more wins overall and in MAC play from last year and Eastern could add one more to each total with a win Oct. 27 at Miami.

 

ANNUAL GROWTH: With one match to play, the Eagles have already surpassed their offensive totals from one year ago with the current sophomore class also exceeding the team’s totals from 2021 on their own. Overall, the 2022 edition of the Eagles has tallied 21 goals, 17 assists, and 59 points, which are eight goals, nine assists, and 25 points more than the 2021 squad. Additionally, this year’s team has seen nine different players score at least one goal, 10 add at least one assist, and 13 total players record at least one point. Comparatively, the 2021 squad had nine different players scored goals (even), six record assists (-3), and 12 players (+1) tally at least one point.

 

CLASS ACT: Speaking of the sophomores, six members of the class have led the charge this year on offense as the group of Maddie O’Farrell, Meagan Lukowski, Vittoria Greco, Sophia D’Ambra, Jamie Lefebvre, and Ashley Schneider have combined to score 14 goals, add 11 assists and tally 39 points. Those totals, compared to the entire 2021 team sees this year’s group have one more goal, three more assists, and five more points. O’Farrell currently leads the team with five goals and 13 points and is tied for the lead with three assists while Lukowski is tied for second in goals (four), second in points (10), and fourth in assists (two).

 

DOUBLE UP: Maddie O’Farrell and Meagan Lukowksi have accumulated 13 and 10 points, respectively, this year. The only Eagles to reach double digits in points so far in 2022 – Hannah Thompson has nine and Vittoria Greco seven with one match to play – the duo is the first with 10 or more points each in a campaign since four players accomplished the feat in 2019. That year, Kristin Hullibarger Nason led the way with 18 points, Lindsey Shira had 16, and both Amanda Cripps and Sabrina McNeill each had 15.

 

SPREADING IT AROUND: Of the 13 players that have recorded at least one point in 2022, 10 are freshmen and sophomores, including four freshmen. Through the Oct. 23 match with Bowling Green, the sophomores lead the way with team highs in goals (14), assists (11), and points (39), while the freshmen have chipped in the second-highest totals in all three categories, including six goals, four assists and 16 points. When breaking it down further, the freshmen and sophomores account for 95.2 percent (20-of-21) of the team’s goals scored, 88.2 percent (15-of-17) of assists, and 93.2 percent (55-of-59) of points tallied.

 

CHECKING IN: In the match with Bowling Green Oct. 23, freshman Meghan Oliver became the eighth different true freshmen to earn a place in the Staring XI in 2022 for the Eagles. Oliver logged a career-high 82 minutes after earning a then-career-high 55 minutes off the bench three days earlier at Northern Illinois, Oct. 20.

 

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE UPDATE: Former Eagle Kaylin Williams (2015-18) helped her team, KFF Vllaznia, the nine-time running Albanian champions, earn a berth into the UEFA Women’s Champion League with the first Group Stage appearance by an Albanian club in the event’s history. The first matches of group play were held Oct. 20, with Williams impressing against Spanish giants Real Madrid, limiting one of the top teams in the world to a 2-0 score. For her performance in just her third professional match, Williams was selected to the UWCL Round 1 Team of the Week. Next up for Williams and Vllaznia is a trip to England and a match with Chelsea Oct. 27.

 

UP NEXT: The 2022 season has ended for the Eagles.