EMPORIA STATE SOCCER CONTINUES NCAA TOURNEY PLAY AGAINST BEMIDJI STATE

Women's Soccer | 11/20/2021 9:49:00 PM

Game 23
NCAA Central Regional
#17 Emporia State Hornets (19-2-1, 9-2-0 MIAA)
vs. #6 Bemidji State Beavers (18-1-3, 13-0-2 NSIC)
Sunday, Nov. 21 • 2:00 p.m. • ESU Pitch • Emporia, Kan.
Series Record: First Meeting Last Meeting: First Meeting
Internet (Video): themiaanetwork.com/esuhornets
Live Stats • Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: winner advances to Regional Championship vs Minn. State or Central Mo.
Friday, Dec. 3 • TBA • GVSU Soccer Field • Allendale, Mich.

HISTORY MAKING
Emporia State plays host to Bemidji State in the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.

LAST TIME OUT
Playing without two starters in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against a team they had already played twice this season, Emporia State Hornets defeated Northwest Missouri 2-0.
The Hornets were able to get on the board in the 18th minute of action.  Ashlyn Lakin delivered a flip throw in from the right side that the Bearcats appeared to clear. Aislinn Hughes was able to step in front of the clearing pass and sneak a shot on the ground past the keeper. It was one of only two shots in the first half for Emporia State, who was out-shot 4-2 in the opening 45 minutes.
With the wind at their back Emporia State was able to outshoot the Bearcats 8-2 in the second half with a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks and got an insurance goal in the 79th minute off of one of those corners. Hannah Woolery delivered the corner from the left side and Alexis Cole was able to get a foot on a deflection to give Emporia State a 2-0 lead.  It was Cole's first career goal in her first start of the season.
Jillian Patton and the Emporia State defense posted their fourth straight shutout of the postseason.
 
THE COACHES
Bryan Sailer is 94-74-25 in his tenth year at Emporia State and is the winningest coach in program history and seventh winningest coach in MIAA history. He has a career record of 153-97-27 that includes coaching four years at the community college level. He has led the Hornets to eight straight .500 or better regular seasons, four straight MIAA Tournaments and their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. This is his first meeting with Bemidji State.
Jim Stone is 218-126-34 in his 20th season at Bemidji State. This is his first meeting with Emporia State.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS
MIAA Tournament Champion Emporia State is 18-2-1, 9-2-0 in the MIAA, ranked #17 in the nation, and are the #2 seed in the NCAA Central Region. They are ranked 15th in the nation in scoring offense at 2.68 goals per match while ranking 83rd in the nation and third in the MIAA in goals against at 0.977 with four straight shutouts in the post season. The Hornets are  Mackenzie Dimarco is third in the nation in total goals, fourth in game winning goals, fifth in shots on goal per game, sixth in goals per game, seventh in total points, and ninth in shots per game.

ABOUT BEMIDJI STATE
The NSIC regular season champion Beavers are 18-1-3 overall, 13-0-2 in the NSIC, ranked #6 in the nation and are the #3 seed in the NCAA Regional. Bemidji State is 28th in the nation in goals against average at 0.660 while ranking 32nd in scoring at 2.23 goals per match. Sara Wendt is second in the nation in game winning goals and ranks fifth in total goals and seventh in total points. Alyssa Stumbaugh is 11th in the nation with ten shutouts.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the first meeting between the schools.

COMPARING NCAA TOURNEY HISTORY
Emporia State is now 1-1 all-time in their second NCAA Tournament while Bemidji State is 1-1-2 in their third Tournament, with the ties resulting in a win and a loss in shoot outs.
 
UP NEXT
The winner will advance to the third round against either Central Missouri or Minnesota State. The regional championship match will be played at Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich. on December 3.

MIAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Emporia State is 6-6-1 all-time in the MIAA Tournament with wins in each of the last three tournaments. They won their first MIAA Championship after making three straight trips to the semifinals. Emporia State has played six road, four neutral site and three home matches in their previous 13 MIAA Tournament match-ups and they are undefeated on the ESU Pitch in MIAA Quarterfinal action.

IN THE RANKINGS
Emporia State is ranked #17 in the United Soccer Coaches Association National Poll.
The Hornets ended up ranked second in the NCAA Division II Central Region. The MIAA has four of the eight teams in the regional tournament with three of them in Emporia this weekend.

REGIONAL RANKING CRITERIA
The following criteria go into the regional rankings:
 ? In-region winning percentage.
 ? Division II winning percentage.
 ? Division II strength of schedule (opponents' average winning percentage and opponents' opponents' average winning percentage).
 ? Division II head-to-head competition.
 ? Results versus Division II common opponents.
 ? In-region non-conference won-lost record.
 ? In-region strength of schedule (opponents' average winning percentage and opponents' opponents' average winning percentage).
 ? Performance indicator.

BUILDING BLOCKS
Emporia State's 19 wins is a school record for the most wins in a season. It is the third straight season the Hornets have posted double figure victories. They have been in the MIAA Tournament five straight seasons and are making their second appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons. Emporia State has finished the regular season with at least a .500 record for eight straight seasons.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Emporia State players have earned eight MIAA Soccer Athlete of the Week awards this season.
Mackenzie Dimarco has picked up three Offensive Player of the Week awards, first on September 14, again on September 28 and on November 2 for the final week of the season.
Joanie Westcoat has twice been named the Defender of the Week, first on September 14 and most recently on October 12.
Ashlyn Lakin was named the MIAA Defender of the Week on September 21.
Hannah Woolery was named MIAA Offensive Player of the Week on September 21.
Jillian Patton earned Goalkeeper of the Week honors on September 28.

RECORD BOOK
Since 2018 Emporia State has set seven individual single season school records and moved into the top five in three other categories.  Hornets have also set nine individual career records. They have also set an MIAA record
Mackenzie Dimarco tied the MIAA single season goals scored record. She holds Emporia State single season records for points, points per game, goals, goals per game, game winning goals, shots attempted, and shots per game.  She is the career record holder for goals, game winning goals, points per match, goals per match, shots, and shots on goal.
Jillian Patton has the Emporia State career record for shutouts and wins in goal.
Hannah Woolery has tied the career record for assists and ranks second in single season assists, third in single season assists per match and shots.
Ashlyn Lakin is third in career assists and fourth in single season assists.
Aislinn Hughes is third in single season and career game winning goals.
Joanie Westcoat is fifth in single season assists.

THE MARC
Forward Mackenzie Dimarco (So./Pleasant Hill, Mo.) was a First-Team All-MIAA selection at forward. She is leading the MIAA in goals, game winning goals and shots this season and is ranked second in total points and fourth in shot on goal accuracy. She is third in the nation in total goals, fourth in game winning goals, fifth in shots on goal per game, sixth in goals per game, seventh in total points, and ninth in shots per game. She had her second career hat trick against Neb.-Kearney on the way to the second of her three MIAA Offensive Player of the Week awards. Her three Offensive Player of the Week awards were tied for the most in the MIAA this season. She has tied the MIAA record of 20 goals in a season set by Jada Scott of Central Missouri while playing in 23 matches in 2018. Her 41 points rank ninth in MIAA history.
She was the MIAA Offensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-Central Region selection in 2019.  She had a school record 18 goals and 40 points scored on her way to MIAA Freshman of the Year honors as well.  She also has the Emporia State single season records for points per game, goals per game, shots attempted and shots per game as well as the career mark for game winning goals, shots and shots on goal.
She is a three-time MIAA Offensive Player of the Week this season and earned the honor one time during her record setting freshman campaign.
Off the pitch she was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District performer with a 3.69 GPA in rehabilitation.

FLIPPING OUT
Defender Ashlyn Lakin (Jr./Wichita, Kan.) was a First-Team All-MIAA selection. She is third in the MIAA in assists this season with seven, six of them on flip throw ins. She scored her first career goal against Rogers State.
She earned second-team All-MIAA and All-Central Region honors as a sophomore in 2018 before sitting out the 2019 season with a knee injury.
She was named MIAA Defender of the Week on September 21 of this season.
She is third in career assists and fourth in single season assists at Emporia State.

WOOLY BULLY
Midfielder Hannah Woolery (So./Overbrook, Kan.) earned First-Team All-MIAA honors this season. She is second in the MIAA in assists, third in shots on goal, fourth in points, fifth in shots, while ranking fifth in goals and seventh in shot on goal accuracy this season. She had a goal and two assists against Central Missouri and has two multiple goal games this season, most recently scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory over Washburn.
She holds the Emporia State career record for assists and ranks second in single season assists, third in single season assists per match and shots..
She was an honorable mention All-MIAA performer as a freshman in 2019.
She was named MIAA Offensive Player of the Week on September 21 following her two goal effort against the Ichabods.
Off the pitch she was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District performer with a 3.93 GPA in English.

WARM COAT
Defender Joanie Westcoat (So./Lee's Summit, Mo.) was named Third-Team All-MIAA this season. She is tied for fourth in the MIAA and on the Emporia State single season assist list with six this year. She has scored three goals on the season. She helped lead a Hornet defense that allowed an MIAA low 7.9 shots on goal per match this year, a full two shots fewer than the second place team.
She was twice named Defender of the Week in the MIAA this year.
She returns to action after missing the first round match after accumulating two yellow cards in the MIAA Championship match.

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
Midfielder Aislinn Hughes (Jr./McPherson, Kan.) was named third-team All-MIAA after earning honorable mention in 2019.  She is second in the MIAA with six game winning goals and is fourth with 11 total goals this season.  She had the game tying and game winning goals in Emporia State's 4-3 double overtime win against Central Missouri and then scored the game winner in the MIAA Championship match against the Jennies.

CORR MUSCLES
Defender Kailey Corr (Grad./Wichita, Kan.) was named honorable mention All-MIAA this season. She helped lead a Hornet defense that allowed an MIAA low 7.9 shots on goal per match this year, a full two shots fewer than the second place team. She was named honorable mention All-MIAA on defense in 2019.

PATTON PENDING
Keeper Jillian Patton (Jr./Olathe, Kan.) is second in the MIAA in goals against average at 0.93 and shutouts with seven while ranking 11th in saves on the season.  
She was a second-team All-MIAA selection as a freshman in 2018. She holds the Emporia State record with 38 career wins between the pipes and 20 career shutouts.  Her seven shutouts both this season and as a freshman rank second on the Emporia State single season list.
She was named the MIAA Goalkeeper of the Week on September 28 after posting 135 minutes without allowing a goal including the first half against Neb.-Kearney and a full shutout of Fort Hays State.

ALL-MIAA HONORS
In addition to the already mentioned athletes, three other current Hornets have earned All-MIAA honors in their career. Sydney Martens (Jr./Wichita, Kan.) was an honorable mention All-MIAA defender as a freshman in 2018 before earning third-team honors as a sophomore in 2019.

IN THE CLASSROOM
Emporia State had a total of 18 of the 23 student-athletes on their roster named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll for their work in the classroom this year, highlighted by three Hornets being named MIAA Scholar-Athletes.  
Four of the players on the roster have yet to complete two semesters at Emporia State and are not yet eligible for the honor.

MIAA NOTES
This year was the first time in MIAA history that both participants in the Tournament Championship Match were nationally ranked in the Top 25.

HOME SWEET HOME
Emporia State has a 27 match home pitch unbeaten string with a 12 match home pitch winning streak. The last loss on the ESU Pitch for the Hornets was a 3-0 loss to Washburn on October 27, 2017 with the last tie coming on October 20, 2019, a 1-1 decision against Newman.

CLEAN SHEATS
The Hornets four consecutive shut outs ties the school record of four set in 2013 (2-0 over WU, 2-0 over Newman, 1-0 over SBU, 0-0 tie with UCM)