Women's Soccer | 9/5/2019 10:12:00 AM

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Following an exciting first victory achieved on home turf, the Robert Morris University women's soccer team will play its next two matches away from the North Athletic Complex, starting with a Friday trip to our nation's capital to tangle with a frequent opponent in Howard.

ROBERT MORRIS (1-2-1) at HOWARD (1-1-0)
Friday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m.
Greene Stadium, Washington, D.C.
LIVE STATS | NO LIVE VIDEO

LAST GAME
Robert Morris earned its first win of 2019 with a three-goal second-half rally against Canisius on Labor Day. Freshman forward Sheridan Reid scored twice in the 3-1 win at the North Athletic Complex, raising her season goal total to three in her first four NCAA matches. Senior midfielder Nicolette Casarcia nailed the game-winner from distance, her first career RMU goal. Junior keeper Sydney Bruckner stopped five shots in relief of an injured Julia Schmid.

KNOW BOBBY MO
• Reid's three goals to this point have her on pace to challenge an RMU record. The most goals scored by a Colonials freshman is 10, by Kathleen Caggiano '10 during the 2007 season, while Ayana Davis '12 and Katie Dugan '02 had nine and eight goals, respectively, in their first seasons on campus. Dugan (first), Davis (second) and Caggiano (fourth) are all among the top goal-getters in team history.

• The Colonials return a pair of All-NEC selections in senior forward/midfielder Kristina Kelley (Second Team) and sophomore defender Allie Ball (All-Rookie). RMU will look to replace the outstanding attack production of the graduated Jane Schleicher, who won 2018 NEC Offensive Player of the Year and First Team honors after a 13-goal senior season.

• With a goal in the season opener at Bucknell, Kelley continues her climb up the program's all-time scoring chart. The senior from Halifax, Pa., has 12 career strikes in an RMU uniform, tying her with Kelly Haggard '96 and Hilary Nellis '06 for the eighth-most in team history. Three more goals this season would put Kelley in RMU's all-time top five.

• Of the 11 players who started 10 games or more last year, RMU returns seven of those, plus six more who appeared in at least 10 matches in 2018. Senior Ontario native Megan DiNatale and Bridgeville's own Ball anchor the back line, while locals Bailey Farabaugh (Bethel Park), Nicolette Casarcia (Murrysville), Brittany O'Connell (North Huntingdon), Courtney Hurey (Imperial) and Taylor Burkley (North Hills) bring experience in the midfield.

• Reid is one of eight newcomers to the RMU fold, including seven freshmen in all. Sophomore transfer Devon Noll arrives from Long Island, where she started twice and appeared eight times overall in 2018. Five of the newcomers are from Pennsylvania, with New Jersey and the nation of Norway (Sofie Lien Fagereng) also represented.

• Schmid stood out in the record books last season, stopping 87.3 percent of the shots she faced to set the all-time program single-season mark, previously held by Becky Schoenecker '15. Schmid, a native of Germany, stopped 62 of 71 shots on target in 2018, making the most of her nine appearances (six starts).

• The Colonials added one of their own to the coaching staff, with Alexa Sarsfield '15 joining the team as an assistant. A former All-NEC defender, the native of Springdale, Pa., started 62 of her 71 total matches for RMU from 2010-13. She coached at the youth level with QuickSkillz Soccer from 2016-19.

HISTORY LESSON
This is the 10th straight season the Colonials will face Howard, and the 13th time overall since the series started in 2006. RMU has a 6-5-1 mark against the Bison, but dropped last September's showdown by a 3-1 score in Moon Township. Then-freshman Keli Rosensteel scored the Colonials' goal in that one, but Kelley has the best individual history against Howard, with a one-goal, two-assist performance under her belt from 2017's 3-2 road victory.

OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Howard is coming off one of its best seasons in program history, as the Bison went 13-7-1 in 2018, including a Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament title and resultant NCAA tourney appearance. Two all-SWAC honorees -- defender Kendall Macauly and keeper Alayah Hightower -- return for 11th-year head coach Brent Leiba, whose team has a 1-1 record so far. Howard defeated RMU rival Mount St. Mary's in its Aug. 23 opener, with sophomore Arianna Morgan netting the overtime winner.

THE KOWALSKI FILE
A 2000 inductee into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame, coach John Kowalski returns for his 18th season. The native of Miłków, Poland, led the RMU men's soccer team to four NEC regular-season championships and two NEC Tournament titles before taking over the women in 2002. In 2015, he led the women's team to its lone NEC tourney appearance to date, for which he was named league Coach of the Year.

Kowalski has just about done it all in his coaching career, from managing the U.S. Men's National Team in 1991 and our nation's international futsal (five-a-side) squads for 10 years, to heading up the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer and Pittsburgh Riverhounds of what was then called the A-League. Kowalski was inducted into the Riverhounds' inaugural hall of fame class this summer, the fifth hall of fame he belongs to.

MARCH WITH THE COLONIALS
In addition to reports and videos on RMUColonials.com, check out Twitter and Instagram for news and updates throughout the season.

NEXT UP
The Colonials will stay on the road for next week's lone match, a meeting next Friday, Sept. 13, with Ohio of the Mid-American Conference. Kickoff against the Bobcats is set for 4 p.m.