GREENVILLE, NC – Siena Women's Soccer looks to write another chapter in its storybook spring season when the Saints take on Arizona State in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Kickoff is set for noon Wednesday at Johnson Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University, with the match set to be broadcast on ESPN3.
Evan Budrovich and ECU Head Coach Jason Hamilton have the call of the Saints and Sun Devils on ESPN3. The broadcast can be watched by clicking the corresponding link, on smartphones and tablets via the ESPN app, and on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox360, and Xbox One.
Siena (6-0-2) makes the program's third NCAA Tournament appearance, having dropped a 5-0 decision at 18
th ranked UConn in the First Round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, and a 5-1 result vs. Georgetown in the 2010 First Round at the University of Maryland.
The Saints are seeking to become the first program in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference history to win an NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament First Round match. MAAC programs are 1-22-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with Fairfield securing the league's lone win 2-1 over Central Connecticut in the play-in round in the conference's first NCAA appearance in 1997. Monmouth battled Brown to a scoreless draw in the most recent 2019 NCAA First Round, before falling 4-1 in penalty kicks.
Siena enters this year's unique Field of 48 as one of just six Division I programs with an undefeated record. The Saints secured the MAAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after capturing the program's third MAAC Tournament Championship (2010, 2015, 2020-21), each of which have come in five-season increments. Top-seeded Siena prevailed over No. 3 seed and four-time defending MAAC Tournament Champion Monmouth 4-2 in PK's following a scoreless draw to capture the crown on Apr. 16 in Loudonville.
Predicted to finish eighth out of 11 teams according to the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Saints earned the program's first-ever MAAC Regular Season Championship in their 29
th season of conference competition. Despite fielding a perennially strong program consistently for more than a decade, Siena had never before finished higher than second in the regular season standings (2004, 2009, 2016) since joining the MAAC for women's soccer in 1992. The Saints posted a 4-11-2 mark (2-6-2 in the MAAC) in their most recent 2019 campaign.
Siena completed a whirlwind regular season by going undefeated in five matches over just a 10-day sprint to the regular season title. After initially having the league bye on Mar. 9, the Saints endured a COVID-related pause before finally opening their long-awaited season on Mar. 25 vs. Iona. The season-opener marked Siena's first match in 512 days.
The Saints have outscored their opponents by a whopping 18-3 margin over their first eight matches, featuring five shutout triumphs. Siena has excelled in the first half of action, outscoring its opposition by a 12-1 margin over the opening 45 minutes of competition. Nine different Saints have accounted for the team's 18 goals, while the squad's six game-winning tallies have come from six different players.
Siena enters the NCAA Tournament ranked second nationally as a team in save percentage (.938), third in assists per match (2.88), eighth in goals against average (0.36), and ninth in points per match (7.38), while also pacing the MAAC and ranking 26
th nationally in scoring offense (2.25). Individually, Leslie Adams ranks fifth nationally in save percentage (.930), 11
th in saves per match (6.67) and 18
th in goals against average (0.47), while Deanna Lomino stands 18
th in assists per match (0.62).
Having just made her collegiate debut less than four weeks ago, the junior Adams was named the MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year. A two-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Week, she has posted a 4-0-2 record with three shutouts this spring and made a career-high 12 saves – plus two huge stops in PK's – to propel the Saints past Monmouth in the MAAC Championship Match.
Siena secured three major league awards in total as Brianna Montinard earned MAAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors, while head coach
Steve Karbowski was proclaimed the MAAC Coach of the Year. MAAC Tournament MVP Emily McNelis also received recognition on the 11-member All-MAAC Team.
The Saints are led by the steady hand of Karbowski who earned MAAC Coach of the Year honors for the third time after previously receiving recognition in 2001 and 2002. The 22
nd-year head coach and 1993 Siena alumnus has posted 194 career victories, and in 2019 became the first head coach in conference history to eclipse 100 career MAAC Regular Season wins.
The Saints are set to play the program's first-ever Pac-12 opponent, and just their fifth-ever match against a school located west of the Mississippi in the program's 41
st season of existence. Siena, which is also set to play its first-ever women's soccer match in North Carolina, has only previously played Arizona State in the sports of men's basketball (1951) and water polo (2019).
Arizona State (8-5-2, 4-4-2) received one of 19 at-large bids to this season's 48-team field. The Sun Devils are making the program's eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2014. Arizona State is 4-6-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
Picked to finish last according to the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Sun Devils ended up sixth while earning key victories over then third-ranked UCLA on Mar. 26 and defending National Champion Stanford Apr. 4. Arizona State achieved a peak national ranking of 16
th in the Mar. 16 United Soccer Coaches Top-25 Poll, marking the program's highest mark in 17 years. The Sun Devils, who lost three straight and four of five to close out their regular season, are amongst teams also receiving votes in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Poll released Apr. 13, with 11 votes which is tied for the 30
th highest total nationally. Arizona State boasted four Pac-12 All-Conference selections in Second Team honorees Lieske Carleer, Alexia Delgado, and Nicole Douglas, and All-Freshman Team pick Jazmine Wilkinson.
The winner of Wednesday's Siena-Arizona State match will advance to face No. 9 national seed and ninth-ranked Duke in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday at noon at Johnson Stadium.