October 17, 2008

GAME 12: Monmouth (7-2-2, 1-0-1 NEC) at Mount St. Mary's (6-5-0, 2-0-0 NEC)
WHEN: Sat, Oct. 18, 2008, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Waldron Family Stadium, Emmitsburg, Md.

SERIES INFORMATION: Monmouth leads 11-6-3
LAST MEETING: Monmouth (4-0) 10-6-07
FIRST MEETING: Monmouth (2-1) 10-17-89
LAST MOUNT WIN: (2-1 ot) 10-26-03

OPENING KICK: Saturday's match between Mount St. Mary's and Monmouth marks the 21st meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1989 season. The Hawks lead the series 11-6-3, including riding a four-game unbeaten streak into the match. The Hawks took last year's matchup 4-0 in West Long Branch while the Mount's last win in the series was a 2-1 overtime decision on Oct. 26, 2003.

THE WORD ON MONMOUTH: The Hawks come into the contest 7-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in Northeast Conference play after ending in a 2-all standstill against Robert Morris on Sunday. Freshman M R.J. Allen registered a goal and an assist against the Colonials and ranks third on the team with a goal and four assists for six points. Sophomore F Ryan Kinne paces the team with seven goals and four assists for 18 points while sophomore F Chase Barbieri is second with seven tallies and an assist for 15 points. Sophomore GK Bryan Meredith has 35 saves, a 0.60 goals against average and a .833 saves percentage.

LAST TIME WE MET: Monmouth defeated Mount St. Mary's 4-0 on Oct. 6, 2007. Will Pike made four saves for the Mount in the final 45 minutes of play. Damon Wilson dished out two assists for the Hawks while Ryan Kinne, Michael Millar, Rob Larocca and John Castro each found the twine in the winning effort.

LAST TIME OUT: Freshman Kyle Patrick headed in the game-winner in the 66th minute to lift Mount St. Mary's past Saint Francis (Pa.) 1-0 on Sunday. Junior Eric Mullins tabbed the ball to sophomore Scott Phinith, who pushed the ball ahead to Patrick and the freshman headed the ball into the back of the left netting for his third goal of the season and help the Mount open the league slate with two wins for the first time since the 2005 season. Sophomore Chris Davis made four saves in the second half to earn his third-straight shutout and fifth of the season in the winning effort.

ON THE WEB: Live video streaming of every Mount St. Mary's men's soccer home game is available on the web through the Mount's subscription service, the Mount Corner. In addition, live stat updates are available on the website as well. This is a free service. Click on the links above to access these features on the Mount website, www.mountathletics.com.

IN THE LEAGUE: The Mount is 63-74-26 in Northeast Conference matches, The Mountaineers are 26-37-14 under head coach Rob Ryerson. The Mountaineers won the first league of the year for the first time since 2005. The squad has started 2-0 in the NEC seven times (1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2005, 2008).

THE YOUNG'INS COMING THROUGH: The Mount has scored 23 goals this season and all 23 tallies have come off the foot of a sophomore or a freshman and of the 22 assists this year only five have been from a junior or senior.

PARTY LIKE ITS 1999: Freshman Chris Wheeler has eight goals for 16 points while Eric Detzel has four goals and five assists for 13 points and sophomore Scott Phinith has three goals and five assists for 11 points, marking the first time the Mount has had three players with 10 points or more in a season since 1999 when Simon Hodkins (20 points), Duncan Gladwin (14 points), Jon Hooker (10 points) and Greg Forte (10 points) each had 10 points.

OFFENSE AFTER ELEVEN: The Mount has scored 23 goals in its first 11 games after scoring 12 goals in 2007 and 16 in 2006. The 23 goals are the most goals since the 2005 team also posted 23 tallies.

WHEELER ROLLIN': Freshman Chris Wheeler became the first Mount player to record a hat trick when he found the twine three times against Robert Morris on Oct. 10 since Simon Hodkin recorded three goals against Felician on Sept. 12, 1999. The freshman also became the first player to score a goal in four-straight games after finding the twine against UMBC, George Washington, Navy and Robert Morris since Hodkin accomplished the feat in 1997. Wheeler has the most goals in a season with eight since Brandon Scarfield posted eight goals in 2002.

NO SOPHOMORE JINX FOR THESE GUYS: Sophomores Eric Detzel and Scott Phinith have combined for seven goals and 10 assists for 24 points to start the season. Detzel has recorded a point in six of the 11 games this season, including a career-high two goals and an assist in a 5-0 win against Howard on Sept. 17. For his career, Detzel has seven goals and seven assists for 21 points. Phinith notched his first two collegiate goals in a 3-0 win against VMI on Aug. 29 and then tallied a goal and an assist against the Bison and two assists against Navy after not recording a point in his freshman campaign. It marks the second-straight season the Mount has had two players score twice in a contest. Last season, James Zabel recorded two goals against George Washington on Sept. 29, 2007 and Steve Cant found the twine twice against Robert Morris on Nov. 4, 2007.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST IN A HALF: Mount St. Mary's scored three goals in the first half against VMI, marking the first time the squad scored three times in a period since finding the twine three times against Rider on Aug. 30, 2003. The squad then repeated the feat with three goals in a 5-0 decision against Howard on Sept. 17 and again in a 6-0 decision against Robert Morris on Oct. 10. The Mount is 5-0 when it scores in the first half and the squad has registered 13 of its 23goals in the first period.

FIVE-GOAL OUTBURST: Mount St. Mary's has scored five goals in a game twice this season, marking the first time the squad has had two five-goal outbursts since the 1995 season when the Mount defeated UMES 8-0 and Bucknell 5-0. The Mountaineers defeated Howard 5-0 on Sept. 17 and then recorded six goals against Robert Morris on Oct. 10. It was the fourth time in the nine years under head coach Rob Ryerson the Mount has scored five goals in a game and the sixth time the squad posted at least four goals in a match in that span. It was also the 32nd time in program history Mount St. Mary's found the twine five times in a game and the 16th time since moving to Division I.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: The Mount won four non-conference games for the first time since the 2000 season.

IN THE RANKS: Mount St. Mary's was ranked ninth in the NSCAA/adidas North Atlantic regional poll, announced on Sept. 23. The Mount was ranked seventh for the week of Sept. 2, ninth for the week of Sept. 9, and 10th for the week of Sept. 16.

SHUTOUTS: The Mount recorded three-straight shutouts against Navy (3-0), Robert Morris (6-0) and Saint Francis (Pa.), marking the first time the Mount accomplished that feat since the first three games of the 2006 season. Sophomore Chris Davis has five shutouts this season, the most in a campaign since the squad recorded eight shutouts in 1999.

FOR STARTERS: Mount St. Mary's improved to 28-22-8 in the season opener and 4-3-2 under head coach Rob Ryerson after defeating VMI 3-0 on Aug. 29. It marked the squad's first win and first time the team scored in the season opener since the Mount defeated Rider 3-2 in 2003.

OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT: The Mount has 26 non-losing seasons in program history. When the squad opens the season with a win, the Mountaineers have gone on to post a .500 record or better 20 times while twice Mount St. Mary's has started a season with a tie and went on to notch a .500 record or better. The Mount has started the season with a win for the first time since 2003.

VINNIE B. GOODE: Senior Vinnie Berry was named to the All-Northeast Conference second team for the second-consecutive season in 2007 in the midfield after posting a goal on 48 shots. The senior captain has recorded six goals and eight assists for 20 points in his career.

NEW TO THE MOUNTAIN: Head Coach Rob Ryerson has added junior Jeremy Kroft, sophomore Will Thomas and freshmen Ian Hendrie, Phil Kroft, Jimmy Kane, Kyle Patrick and Chris Wheeler to the team in 2008. In addition, Andrew Wu joins the coaching staff after working at McDaniel for the last two years.

PLAYERS FROM DOWN UNDER: Sophomore Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia), the first men's soccer player to hail from Australia, will be joined by fellow countrymen Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) in 2008. Davis posted 61 saves, a 1.71 goals-against average and a .718 save percentage in his first season at the Mount. Wheeler is a freshman forward, who ranked in the Top-30 last year in Australia.

THE FAMILY CONTINUES TO GROW: Junior Gary Phinith and his sophomore brother Scott were the fifth brothers to play men's soccer together at the Mount. Along with Gary and Scott this season, junior Jeremy Kroft and freshman Phil Kroft will become the sixth brother tandem to play at the Mount. Head coach Rob Ryerson has coached three of the six brother duos at the Mount.

HOME SWEET HOME EMMITSBURG: Under head coach Rob Ryerson, Mount St. Mary's is 27-23-3 at home, including 4-2-1 in 2000 (Ryerson's first season) and 5-1 in 2003.

FOREIGN FLAVOR: Head coach Rob Ryerson has three international students on the team in 2008. Senior Vinnie Berry (Helensburgh, Scotland) and sophomore Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia) return while freshman Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Austraila) joins the fray this season.

PRESEASON POLL: The Mount St. Mary's men's soccer team has been picked to finish ninth in the Northeast Conference (NEC), according to the NEC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Monmouth received five of the 10 first-place votes to be tabbed as the preseason favorite. Central Connecticut State, who won the NEC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament's third round last year, has been picked second after receiving three first-place nods. Sacred Heart was third while Quinnipiac and Saint Francis (Pa.) finished 4-5 in the poll after each team earned a first-place vote. Robert Morris, Long Island, Fairleigh Dickinson, the Mount and St. Francis (N.Y.) rounded out the 10-team poll.

WALDRON FAMILY STADIUM: Mount St. Mary's 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). The squad is 9-7-1 in the new venue.

RYERSON'S NINTH: Head coach Rob Ryerson is entering is ninth season at the helm of the men's soccer team at the Mount, posting a career record of 47-79-23. He has led the Mount to a 26-37-14 mark in NEC regular season games.