Game 7: Howard (1-4-1) at Mount St. Mary's (1-3-1)
WHEN: Mon, Sept. 18, 2011, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Waldron Family Stadium, Emmitsburg, Md.
SERIES INFORMATION: Howard leads 9-4-5
LAST MEETING: Mount (2-0) 9-7-10
FIRST MEETING: Howard (5-1) 1958
LAST HOWARD WIN: (2-0) 9-18-09
IN EMMITSBURG: Howard leads 5-1-3
opening kick... Monday's match between Mount St. Mary's and Howard marks the 19th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1958 season. The Bison leads the series 9-4-5, but the Mount is 3-1-4 in the last eight matches in the series. The away team has won the last three contests. The Mountaineers took a 2-0 decision last season while Howard's last win was a 2-0 victory in 2009.
about the bison... Howard comes into the contest 1-4-1 after falling 4-0 to Liberty on Friday. Sophomore forward Mario Martin leads the team with two goals after scoring twice against Virginia Tech in the season opener. Freshman forward Akinbola Richardson and freshman midfielder Rahman Alarape rank second on the team with one goal and one assist for three points. Eric Hamilton leads the team with 16 saves, a 2.62 goals against average and a .516 save percentage.
last time we met... Chris Wheeler scored two goals to lift Mount St. Mary's past Howard 2-0 on Sept. 7. Wheeler scored in the 27th minute and again in the 54th minute for the only two scores of the night. Alex Ockford notched his first collegiate point by assisting Wheeler's first tally for the Mount while Eric Detzel registered his third assist of the season and 12th of his career. Chris Davis made three saves in his 13th career shutout. Larry Turner made three saves for the Bison in the loss.
last time out… Iona scored in the 97th minute to come from behind to defeat Mount St. Mary's 4-3 at the Lafayette Puma Soccer Classic on Sept. 11. Ian Hendrie had a hand in all three Mountaineers' goals after posting two tallies and an assist. Chris Wheeler notched his second goal of the year while Patrick Wheeler and Zoncher Dennis each dished out an assist. Peter Steve made a season-high five saves in the loss.
next on tap… Starting with the contest against Howard on Monday, the Mountaineers will play their next four games at Waldron Family Stadium and five of the next six matches. Along with the Bison La Salle (Sept. 24) concludes the non-conference slate for the Mount at home and then Central Connecticut State (Sept. 30) and St. Francis (N.Y.) (Oct. 2) start the Northeast Conference schedule at Waldron Family Stadium during the four-game homestand.
hendrie finding the twine… Senior Ian Hendrie leads the team with two goals and two assists for six points. The senior posted two tallies and an assist against Iona on Sept. 11. Hendrie, who has played in the Mount's defense in two of his four seasons, has six goals and two assists for 14 points.
preseason poll... The Mount St. Mary's men's soccer team has been tabbed to finish fifth according to the Northeast Conference (NEC) Preseason Coaches Poll. Monmouth, who is the two-time defending NEC Tournament champion winners of the last six NEC regular season crowns, was selected as the unanimous preseason favorite. Fairleigh Dickinson, Sacred Heart and Saint Francis (Pa.) were picked 2-3-4 while the Mount ended in a fifth-place tie with Long Island. Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, St. Francis (N.Y.), Central Connecticut State and Bryant rounded out the 11-team poll.
wheeling and dealing... Senior Chris Wheeler broke the Mount's Division I single-season goal record after scoring 13 times in 2010. The senior also became the program's Division I leader in career goals as a junior and now stands at 35 markers. Wheeler also ranks third on the Division chart with 75 points. Next on the list is Duncan Gladwin (77, 1996-99) in second place while Mark Southern (80, 1994-97) is the all-time leader for points in the Mount's Division I history. Wheeler is the program's all-time leader in shots (253) and could make a move on the all-time goal and points mark. The senior currently has 35 goals to sit fourth in program history, 10 away (John Tallarido, 45, 1979-81) from the all-time mark. In two of his first three seasons, Wheeler has scored at least 12 goals in a year. Next on the list is Tony Pasiakos (39, 1967-70) in second place. On the all-time points list, Wheeler has 75 career points to rank sixth and needs 26 points to Tallarido's all-time mark (101). Next on the list is Gladwin (77) in fifth place. Wheeler is also the seventh player in Division I history to notch a hat trick when he found the twine against Robert Morris on Oct. 10, 2008. He was named to the NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region first team in 2010 and earned a spot on the All-NEC first team for the second-straight year after earning NEC Rookie of the Year honors and a spot on the All-NEC second team in his freshman year.
local rivalries... The Mount will once again have a local flavor to its non-conference schedule, playing three of its seven non-conference matches against teams from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. The Mountaineers opened the season at UMBC on Aug. 27 (L, 0-1) and then traveled to Towson on Sept. 1 (T, 1-1) and will Howard on Sept. 19.
new to the mountain... Head coach Rob Ryerson has added 11 new players to his 2011 squad. Justin Connor, Dom De Aragao, Joshua De Aragao, Vlad Finn, Daniel Gill, Mauricio Navarrete, Will Pereira, Mark Plaisance, John Richards, Brett Smoot and Matthew Steele all joined the team for the 2011 season.
players from down under... Senior Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) and his brother Patrick Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) are the second and third players to play at the Mount from Australia. Chris Davis, the first Australian born player in Emmitsburg, graduated in May 2011.
foreign flavor... Along with the Chris and Patrick Wheeler, who hail from Australia, junior Will Jagger (England), sophomore Koudzo Komlan (Togo) and freshman Zoncher Dennis (Ivory Coast) also came to the Mount from abroad.
the family continues to grow... Head coach Rob Ryerseon has coached six of the nine brother combos in Mount men's soccer history. Senior Chris Wheeler and sophomore Patrick Wheeler and junior Alex Ockford and sophomore Jimmy Ockford will play together for the second-straight season. In 2011, the brothers of Dom and Joshua De Aragao joined the squad to become the ninth set of brothers to play men's soccer at the Mount.
home sweet home emmitsburg... Under head coach Rob Ryerson, Mount St. Mary's is 37-30-4 at home, including 4-2-1 in 2000 (Ryerson's first season) and 5-1 in 2003.
waldron family stadium... Mount St. Mary's is 18-16-2 at the Waldron Family Stadium. The squad moved into the state-of-the-art 1,000-seat Waldron Family Stadium for a full season in 2007. The Mount played three games in the venue in 2006, posting a 2-1 record. The Mountaineers lost their inaugural match at the stadium to Monmouth 3-0 on Oct. 15, 2006 before ending the season with wins against Sacred Heart (2-1) and Northeast Conference Tournament bound Fairleigh Dickinson (1-0 2OT).
friday night lights... Mount St. Mary's played its first two night games at Waldron Family Stadium in 2009 and have posted a 3-3 mark under the lights. The Mount will host Howard (Sept. 19) and Saint Francis (Pa.) (Oct. 28) at night in 2011.
in the league... The Mount is 74-87-27 in Northeast Conference matches. The Mountaineers are 36-50-15 under head coach Rob Ryerson in the NEC and 7-2-2 in the conference opener, including back-to-back NEC opening wins in 2008 and 2009. The Mount is 11-9-2 in the last three seasons in the league.
about the coach... Head coach Rob Ryerson is entering his 12th season at the helm of the men's soccer team at the Mount, posting a career record of 64-108-24. He has led the Mount to a 36-50-15 mark in NEC regular season games. Ryerson was named the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Mountaineers to a 9-10-1 overall mark and a 5-4 record in league play and the squad's first NEC Tournament appearance since 1999 in the 2008 campaign.
