Game 7: La Salle (1-5-0) at Mount St. Mary's (2-3-1)
WHEN: Sat, Sept. 24, 2011, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Waldron Family Stadium, Emmitsburg, Md.
SERIES INFORMATION: First ever meeting between the two schools
opening kick... Saturday's game between Mount St. Mary's and La Salle marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Mount is 2-1 against teams from the Atlantic-10 after defeating Richmond in 1993 and Saint Joseph's in 2006. The Mountaineers lost to Temple in 2002.
about the explorers... La Salle comes into the contest 1-5-1 after ending in a scoreless result against Lehigh on Tuesday. Sophomore midfielder Jason Plumhoff leads the team with two goals and one assist for 11 points. Junior forward Kameron Teel and junior midfielder Jeff Pio each have one goal this season. Sophomore goalkeeper John McCarthy has 19 saves, a 1.58 goals against average and a .760 save percentage.
last time out… Patrick Wheeler registered assists on two goals to lift Mount St. Mary's past Howard 2-0 on Monday night. Wheeler, who leads the team with three helpers on the year, served a perfect ball to Zoncher Dennis in the 10th minute and then had another nice serve to Kyle Patrick in the 43th minute. The sophomore has posted six assists in his last nine games and notched his second-career two assist performance. Peter Steve made one save for the Mount in his first collegiate shutout. Ian Hendrie dished out a helper on Dennis' goal and Jimmy Ockford added an assist on Patrick's tally.
next on tap… The Mount continues its four-game homestand by opening up Northeast Conference play against Central Connecticut State on Sept. 30 and St. Francis (N.Y.) on Oct. 2 at Waldron Family Stadium.
hendrie finding the twine… Senior Ian Hendrie leads the team with two goals and three assists for seven 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 three assists for 15 points.
mom always liked you best: Senior Chris Wheeler has been one of the best players in program history, but sophomore Patrick Wheeler is starting to make a name for himself. The younger has three assists this season, including two helpers against Howard on Sept. 19. Patrick has six assists in his last nine matches. He has dished out two assists in a contest twice this season.
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 hosted Howard (W, 2-0) 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 38-30-4 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 19-16-2 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 4-3 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 65-108-24. 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.
