Eighth-Ranked Emory Aims to Extend Winning Streak on Saturday

The Emory University women’s soccer team, ranked eighth among NCAA Division III teams, will look to build on a three-game winning streak this weekend, as the Eagles will host Berry College on Saturday at 6:00 PM.

Coverage
Saturday’s game will be webcasted at http://go.emory.edu/Webcasts/WSoccWebcast.html. RealPlayer version 10 or newer is needed to watch the webcast, and can be downloaded for free at www.real.com.  Live-updating statistics for the game are available at http://go.emory.edu/LiveStats/WSocc/XLIVE.HTM.

Emory University Eagles
After shutting out University Athletic Association (UAA) opponents New York University and Brandeis University on the road this past weekend, Emory has improved its record to 11-1-2 this season.  The Eagles are 5-1-0 at home this season.  Emory is ranked eighth in the latest NSCAA Division III poll, and 12^th in the D3Soccer.com poll, both of which were released on Tuesday.  The Eagles are also the top-ranked team in the South Atlantic Region.  Emory currently has four players (Lauren Smith, Melanie Levy, Sara Belsole and Clare Mullins) who are tied for the team lead with 10 points apiece.  Defensively, goalkeeper Erica Stein has five straight scoreless appearances to lower her goals against average to 0.56, while goalkeeper Kaele Leonard has split time with Stein, going 7-1-2 with a 0.40 goals against average.  Emory is coached by Sue Patberg, who has a 73-20-14 during her six seasons leading the squad.

• Emory by the Numbers (Division III Rank in Parenthesis – as of 10/17)
  Goals per game – 2.21 (127^th)
  Goals-Against Average – 0.475 (22^nd)
  Shutout Percentage – 0.50 (64^th)
  Won-Lost-Tied Percentage – 0.857 (19^th)
  Save Percentage – 0.865 (45^th)

Berry College Lady Vikings
Berry, currently in its second year of a transition to a NCAA Division III program, has a record of 6-4-2 this season, including a 3-3-1 record in road matches.  The Lady Vikings are coming off a 1-0 win at Rhodes College on Saturday, and have gone 5-1-2 since dropping their first three games of the season.  Berry’s leading scorer in 2010 is  freshman Annelyse Barker, who has notched five goals and 10 points this season, while senior Rebekah Bullock has played the entirety of the season in goal for the Vikings, recording a 1.05 goals against average with a .739 save percentage.  Berry is led by head coach Lorenzo Canalis, who has a record of 229-79-25 with the team.

Matchup History
Emory has struggled throughout its history against Berry, going 1-8-0 all time against the Lady Vikings, although just three of the matches have taken place since 2004.  The Eagles are 1-3-0 all time against Berry at the Woodruff P.E. Center.  Last season, the Eagles lost 2-1 at Berry, with Meghan McMahon scoring the only Emory goal off an assist from Lee Bachouros.  The only Emory win in the series came on a second-overtime ‘golden goal’ on September 28^th, 2008, the last time the two teams met in Atlanta.

UAA Update
Emory currently has a 2-1-1 record in UAA play, good for a third-place tie with the 24^th-ranked University of Rochester in the conference standings.  The University of Chicago is currently in first place with a 3-1-0 UAA record, followed by the 2-0-2 Bears of Washington University (Mo.).  Brandeis University (2-2-0), New York University (2-2-0), Case Western Reserve University (1-3-0) and Carnegie Mellon University (0-4-0) make up the bottom half of the conference standings.

Emory Notes
Emory freshman Kelly Costopoulos was named the UAA’s Offensive Player of the Week for women’s soccer, after scoring two goals and assisting on another during two games last weekend… Costopoulos became the first Emory player to earn the league’s offensive honor this season, and the fourth Eagle overall… She is the second freshman on the team this season to be named an Athlete of the Week, joining Clare Mullins… Sophomore goalkeeper Kaele Leonard is ranked 14^th among Division III players with a 0.909 save percentage and 15^th with a 0.399 goals against average… Sophomore Erica Stein has a 0.56 goals against average and a.789 save percentage, but is not ranked by the NCAA because she has played less than 50% of the team’s total minutes in goal… This is the sixth time in the program’s history that the team has just one loss through its first 14 games… Six different Eagles have recorded game-winning assists this season, led by Lee Bachouros who has three… Seven different Emory players have scored game-winning goals, led by Lauren Smith, Melanie Levy, Clare Mullins and Emily Rubin with two apiece… Rubin, Costopoulos, and Veronica Romero are the only three Eagles to have both a game-winning goal and a game-winning assist this season.