The Emory University men’s soccer team, ranked 12th in
Division III, will hope for a little bit of help earlier in the
weekend to set-up a University Athletic Association (UAA)
Championship-deciding match in the Eagles' regular-season finale at
Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday at 1:30 PM.
Around the UAA
Entering the weekend, Emory is tied with Washington University
(Mo.) for second in the UAA with a 3-1-2 conference record, just
one point behind first-place New York University (3-0-3). Case
Western Reserve University also has an outside shot at the
conference title, with a current record of 3-3-0 in UAA matches.
NYU will win the UAA with a victory at home over Brandeis
University on Saturday at 1:30 PM. Should NYU lose, Emory and
Washington can win the UAA Championship with a victory, and force a
tie with NYU with a tie (a Case win at the University of Rochester
at 7:30 PM on Sunday, combined with an NYU loss and ties by Emory
and Washington would force a four-way tie for the Championship. A
tie by NYU would eliminate Case, and require Emory and Washington
to win in order to claim the conference championship. Washington
hosts the University of Chicago at 2:30 PM on Saturday.
Coverage
Sunday's game will be webcasted at
http://www.cmu.edu/athletics/fanzone/video/webcast.html. There will
also be live-updating statistics for the game, available at
http://www.enrollment.cmu.edu/athletics/msoccer/xlive.htm.
Emory University Eagles
Emory will enter the weekend with a 14-1-2 overall record this
season, including a record of 2-1-2 in road games. The Eagles are
currently the sixth-ranked team in the latest D3Soccer.com poll,
and the 12th-ranked team in the NSCAA poll. In addition, Emory is
ranked first in the Atlantic South Region in the NCAA poll, and
second in the NSCAA poll. The Eagles' leading scorer this season is
sophomore Andrew Natalino, who has 11 goals and
four assists for 26 points this season, including a team-best five
game-winning goals. Defensively, Trenton Spindler
ranks first among all NCAA Division III goalkeepers with a 0.194
goals against average and a 0.959 save percentage, while the Emory
backline has matched a program record with 13 shutouts this season.
Emory is led by head coach Sonny Travis, who is 58-10-5 during his
four seasons with the team.
- Emory by the Numbers (Division III Rank in Parenthesis
– as of 10/31)
Goals per game – 3.06 (5th)
Total Goals – 52 (14th)
Goals-Against Average – 0.230 (3rd)
Shutout Percentage – 0.760 (4th)
Won-Lost-Tied Percentage – 0.882 (6th)
Save Percentage – 0.952 (1st)
Carnegie Mellon University Tartans
Carnegie Mellon will enter Sunday's contest with an overall record
of 10-4-1, including a mark of 4-3-0 in home matches. The Tartans
are ranked 16th in the latest D3Soccer.com poll, and ninth in the
NSCAA Great Lakes Region poll. Carnegie is led offensively by
freshman forward Max Tassano, who has team-bests with six goals and
13 points, while goalkeeper Zach Stahl has started 13 games for the
Tartans, notching a 9-3-1 record with a 0.77 goals against average.
Carnegie is led by third-year head coach Arron Lujan, who is
41-10-3 with the squad.
- Carnegie Mellon by the Numbers (Division III Rank in
Parenthesis – as of 10/31)
Goals per game – 2.07 (93rd)
Total Goals – 31 (153rd)
Goals-Against Average – 0.830 (73rd)
Shutout Percentage – 0.400 (105th)
Won-Lost-Tied Percentage – 0.700 (80th)
Save Percentage – 0.822 (82nd)
Matchup History
Last season, Emory used a thrilling come back to force a 2-2
tie with Carnegie Mellon University at the Woodruff P.E. Center.
With Carnegie Mellon ranked 11th in the nation at the time,
Jake Graetz and Alex Scott each
scored goals for the Eagles in the final nine minutes of
regulation, eventually leading to the draw. Emory is 10-10-3 all
time against Carnegie Mellon, but have struggled as of late against
the Tartans, going just 1-8-2 against them since the 1999 season.
The Eagles are 3-7-1 all time on the road against Carnegie, and
have not won a game in Pittsburgh since 1998.
Emory Notes
Emory has one loss through its first 17 games for the fifth
time in the programs history... The previous times occurred in
1984, 1985, 2003, and 2008... Sonny Travis has presided as head
coach during two of the five seasons... Emory's defense will be
playing for its school-record 14 shutout of the season on Sunday...
Seniors Adam Waxman and Michael
Scannapieco were each named to the ESPN the Magazine
Academic all-District first team earlier in the week... Waxman,
along with junior Nao Masuda, were also named the
UAA Athletes of the Week for Men's Soccer... Waxman was part of an
Emory defense that recorded two shutouts in as many games against
UAA opponents last weekend... Masuda scored a hat trick against
Rochester on Friday, the first in a UAA game since 2004... The hat
trick was the second in as many games by an Emory player (Natalino
recorded a hat trick against Maryville College the week before),
making the first time since 2006 that the Eagles have had hat
tricks in back-to-back games.