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Women’s Soccer | 10/1/2025 9:00:00 AM
Thursday, October 2 | New Haven | West Haven, Conn. | Kathy Zolad Stadium | 4 p.m. | LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
OPENING PITCH VS NEW HAVEN
Saint Francis girls’s soccer will journey to Connecticut to face convention opponent, New Haven, Thursday at 4 p.m at Kathy Zolad Stadium. This is first assembly between the 2 groups within the all-time collection.
THE WORD ON THE CHARGERS
New Haven enters Thursday’s matchup 0-3-0 in NEC play and 0-8-0 general. In most up-to-date convention matchups, the Chargers have been defeated by CCSU 1-0, fell to FDU 5-2, and misplaced to Stonehill 3-1. Emma Mitchell leads New Haven in objectives with three, whereas Antonia Henao and Grace Simpson every have one.
NEXT TIME OUT
Next up, Saint Francis shall be again in Loretto, Pa. for a double-header, Sunday at 12 p.m., taking up convention opponent CCSU, adopted by a males’s sport at 3 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
Saint Francis hosted Delaware State Sunday at Stokes Soccerplex in Loretto, Pa. The Red Flash fell to the Hornets 2-1, in a tough fought match. The Hornets bought at early lead over the Red Flash 2-0, after a Delaware State participant drove previous the Saint Francis protection. Thirty seconds later, a handball name within the field by a Saint Francis participant gave the Hornets one other alternative to attain with an executed penalty kick. Delaware State shut out the Red Flash for the remaining 42 minutes of the half. The Red Flash had a number of alternatives the place they crossed the ball in entrance of the objective, however no participant was capable of end the remainder of the play. During the second half, a fast contact from Angelina Kasak and a give and go from Caterina Schiavo to Riley Kerr, put the Red Flash on the board and brought the score deficit down to only one. The rest of the half remained scoreless for both teams.
NEC HONORS
Kerr was named NEC Rookie of the Week September 29th and September 2nd. It is the second time in her career that he has earned this weekly conference honor. Kerr made an immediate impact for the Red Flash this past week, scoring in back-to-back matches. In Thursday’s NEC matchup against LIU, Kerr outran two defenders before slotting home a left-footed finish to give Saint Francis its first goal of this conference game. She followed up that performance on Sunday against Delaware State, finishing a well-executed sequence that started with a quick touch from Kasak and a give-and-go from Schiavo to cut the score deficit to one. In her high school career, Kerr had 122 goals. Kerr is the third player for Saint Francis women’s soccer, dating back to 1997, to win this the weekly conference honor.
Kaitlyn Dempster was named NEC Rookie of the Week September 15th. Dempster, along with her first goal, had her first collegiate assist for the Red Flash for Kerr’s goal in the 1-all draw against Cleveland State. Dempster marks the fourth time a Saint Francis women’s soccer player has been named NEC Rookie of the Week under head coach Brian Diaz. Dempster, Kerr, Anouk Landgraff, Korpics, all a part of the current women’s soccer roster, have won this honor to this distinction.
Emma Sawich was named NEC Prime Performer of the Week September 8th. Sawich was outstanding in goal for the Red Flash, turning in a career performance against Bucknell. She racked up a personal best of 16 saves in the match. This is her second double-digit save game this season and the third of her college career. Sawich has been a steady force in goal lately too. In six of the last seven games, now her fifth in a row, Sawich has recorded at least eight saves.
PRESEASON POLL
Saint Francis was picked seventh in the NEC Preseason Poll. Howard, the defending NEC Tournament Champions, picked up seven of the 12 first-place votes to garner preseason favorite honors. FDU earned four votes for second and Wagner earned the final vote to rank third in the poll. CCSU, Stonehill, LIU, Saint Francis, Mercyhurst, Le Moyne, New Haven, Chicago State and Delaware State rounded out the poll.
RETURNERS TO TALK ABOUT
Korpics returns for her final year as the team’s top returning scorer after posting three goals and an assist for seven points. Mercedez Paino also registered two goals for four points last season. Sawich returns in between the pipes after posting 98 saves, a 1.24 goals against average, and a .824 saves percentage that was tops in the NEC in 2024. Lauren Persichetty, 2023 NEC Defensive Player of the Year, made her return to the field and starting lineup after suffering a preseason injury in 2024.
WELCOME TO THE LO’
In the season opener at Maryland, four Dukes earned their first collegiate starts: Meredith Artz (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township), Hayden Barry (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West), Kaitlyn Dempster (Oakland Township, Mich./Rochester Adams), and Hayley Smith (Bargersville, Ind./Center Grove). Off the bench, Riley Kerr (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic), Ashlyn Fetterman (Hollsopple, Pa./Conemaugh Township), and Angelina Kasak (Lemont, Pa./Pennsylvania Charter) also made their collegiate debuts in College Park.
In addition, junior Lucia Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Eastern Michigan) made her Saint Francis starting debut. Johnson almost has a six-degrees of Kevin Bacon story. The first time she played a college soccer game was an exhibition game on the Stokes SoccerPlex with the Zips on August 8, 2023. Johnson has played 23 games in her first two seasons with 10 shots. She registered her first collegiate assist against her former Akron team in Ohio as a member of Eastern Michigan on October 31, 2024, for the decisive score. Johnson was a two-time all-conference and all-region player at Turpin High School in Cincinnati.
Also joining the team is assistant coach Clare Crossley and graduate assistant Ioannis Giannikakis.
ABOUT THE COACH
Brian Diaz begins his second season in Loretto. The team doubled its win total from the previous campaign in his first season and helped the team to its best defensive season since 2012. Diaz brought four years of head coach experience from the Division II level, 17 years as an assistant coach (13 years at Division I and four years at Division II), and one year as the Director of Coaching for the Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soccer. In his career, he has coached 54 all-conference selections and 21 all-region honorees.
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