LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Women's Soccer continues it's challenging non-conference slate when the Saints return to the Capital Region to host reigning America East Champion New Hampshire Thursday at 4 p.m. at Hickey Field.
Siena (0-3-1) returns home from its southern swing last week still in search of its first win, but with a lot to build off from their trip to Kentucky and Tennessee. The offense came alive down south, with the Saints registering their first four goals of the season spanning the past three halves of action, which helped yield the squad its first point last Thursday at Western Kentucky.
The youth movement continued to be on full display in the Bluegrass State and in Music City. Freshmen
Megan Stowell (one goal, one assist),
Abby Daly (two assists), and
Julia Dening (one goal) combined for seven points last week, with Stowell's performance earning her MAAC Rookie of the Week honors Monday. Stowell is the first Siena freshman to earn the award in five years, dating back to Ashleigh Sarafin on Oct. 15, 2018.
The Saints are hopeful that the progress made down south will translate to the home pitch against another challenging foe. Siena opened against five-time defending Northeast Conference Regular Season Champion Central Connecticut and Atlantic Coast Conference foe Syracuse, before traveling to Conference USA squad Western Kentucky and perennial Atlantic Sun contender Lipscomb.
Now the Saints turn their attention to a New Hampshire (2-1) squad fresh off the program's second America East Championship last fall. The Wildcats were predicted to finish second (nine teams) according to the America East Preseason Poll, just one point behind Binghamton which, like UNH, received four first-place votes. New Hampshire holds home wins over Stonehill (1-0) and MAAC foe Manhattan (2-0), while suffering a road setback at Big Ten opponent Minnesota (4-0) so far on the young season.
Siena and New Hampshire meet for the eighth time, with all matchups having come since 2009. The Saints lead the all-time series, 4-2-1, after going undefeated over the first five matchups (4-0-1) while outscoring the Wildcats by a combined 10-3 margin. UNH has prevailed each of the past two seasons by a goal in both tilts.
"The Voice of the Saints" Emmanuel Berbari and Madison Jones have the call of the action on ESPN+, which can be viewed by clicking the corresponding link. Fans can also follow along via the live stats and on-site social media updates through the Siena Women's Soccer twitter account @SienaWSoccer.
