SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The American International College women's soccer team makes a return trip to the Northeast-10 Championship Tournament after finishing outside the top eight last season.
AIC finished the regular season in third place after going 10-3-1 in the conference collecting 31 points. They will host the sixth seeded Assumption Greyhounds who ended with 24 points after going 8-6 in the NE-10.
BY THE NUMBERS: The Yellow Jackets have allowed just 13 goals in 18 games this season or 0.71 per contest which is good for second in the conference only trailing Adelphi (0.60). Assumption is near the opposite end as they have allowed double the amount of goals than AIC and are giving up 1.52 scores per game. However, the Hounds are scoring more than the Jackets with 38 goals placing them third in the league only behind Saint Rose and Adelphi. American International has scored 27 goals this season tying them with Bentley for sixth.
"As a defensive whole we are just a really cohesive unit" mentioned Edgin. "From everyone in the back up through the midfield and even the forwards, it really is defense as a team."
THE REMATCH: AIC dropped Assumption 2-0 on the Greyhounds home turf back in September during regular season play as graduate student Rachel Edgin (Whitesboro, N.Y.) returned to Worcester to record nine saves and shutout her former team. Senior Alyssa Werbicki (Chicopee, Mass.) potted the game-winning tally and assisted on the insurance goal to give the Jackets the road victory.
WHAT'S AT STAKE?: The winner of this contest will play the winner of the #7 New Haven at #2 Saint Rose match-up and that game will be contested at the site of the higher remaining seed. That game will take place on Friday with the winner moving onto the Championship to be held on Sunday with times TBA.
NCAA TOURNAMENT BOUND?: AIC looks to make a return trip to the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament, but will need a strong showing this week. As they stand the Jackets sit sixth in the East Region with only six teams receiving a bid. The ECC, CACC and NE-10 each get the auto bid for winning the conference and then three teams earn an at-large bid. SNHU sits in fifth place and hold a victory over the Jackets so an early exit for the Penmen would benefit AIC and could secure at the least and at-large bid for AIC with a victory over Assumption.
HISTORY REPEATED?: Almost exactly two years to the day the Yellow Jackets defeated the Greyhounds 5-0 in this exact game the Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinals on November 5, 2013. Since 2011 AIC is 5-1 against the Hounds with the only setback being a 2-1 victory Assumption secured last season.
"You can expect high pressure and them to work hard, but us to work harder" commented Edgin. "We are going to come out and be ready to go, we will work harder than we did last time because this is playoffs if you lose you go home."
