News and Notes• Coming off a pair of outstanding offensive performances, the Lightning women's soccer team will return home this afternoon to face Georgian Court University in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference match at Nancy Churchman-Sawin Field ... Opening kick-off between the Lions and the Lightning is slated for 3 p.m.
• Now 3-3-0 overall and 1-3-0 in the CACC, the Lightning earned their first conference victory of the season on Saturday with a commanding 5-1 victory at Nyack College ... Senior forward
Danielle Semenza recorded the first "hat trick" of her college career by scoring the Lightning's first three goals of the match ... Meanwhile, senior forward
Alexandra Smith and junior forward
Megan Harvis each added a goal in the victory.
• Smith, who leads the Lightning with five goals, was named as the CACC Women's Soccer Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon leading the Lightning to their two wins over Nyack and Lincoln last week ... She tied a school record by scoring four goals in the 6-1 triumph over Lincoln before scoring a goal against Nyack ... It was Smith's second career four-goal game and the fourth "hat trick" of her college career.
• Meanwhile, Harvis is tied with Smith for the team lead with 10 points ... The Delran, N.J. native has scored three goals with a team-high four assists this season.
• The Lightning, who have already surpassed their win total from last year, have scored 11 of their 15 goals this season in the last two matches ... In 14 matches last season, they were limited to just 13 goals.
• After opening the season with three consecutive victories, the Lions enter today's contest with a two-match losing streak and have lost three of their last four matches ... They ended a four-match homestand on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 loss against Felician College on Homecoming.
• Freshmen forwards
Elizabeth Kroon and
Morgan Peacock each scored a goal in the loss against Felician on Saturday ... Meanwhile, junior goalkeeper
Casey O'Connor made six saves in a losing effort for the Lions, who outshot Felician by a 19-16 count.
• Peacock and Kroon have combined to score 11 of the Lions' 14 goals this season ... While Peacock has tallied six goals to lead the team, Kroon has added five goals ... They have also combined to produce 27 of the team's 37 points.
• Meanwhile, O'Connor has a 1.10 goals against average in seven matches for the Lions while stopping 76.7 per cent of the shots she has faced ... O'Connor earned first team All-CACC honors last year after posting a 0.95 goals against average and .855 save percentage, which led the conference.
• Today's match will mark the 14th all-time meeting between the Lightning and the Lions ... Georgian Court leads the all-time series by a 10-3-0 margin and has won nine straight encounters over the Lightning.
• After today's match, the Lightning will travel to Dominican College on Saturday, Oct. 4 for a CACC contest against the Chargers before visiting Chowan University on Tuesday, Oct. 7 for a non-conference match-up at 1 p.m.
CACC Sportsmanship StatementGoldey-Beacom College, the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and the NCAA promote good sportsmanship by student-athletes, coaches and spectators. We request your cooperation in supporting the participants and officials in a positive manner. Profanity, racial or sexist comments or other intimidating actions directed at student-athletes, coaches, team representatives and/or officials will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from the site of competition. In addition, fans are not permitted to enter the court at any time during today's match and flash photography is prohibited at all times. We thank you for your cooperation and hope you enjoy the match.
