Nov. 5, 2008

River Forest, IL - The Dominican University women's soccer team travels to Madison, Wis., on Wednesday night to take on the Edgewood College Eagles in the semifinals of the 2008 Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Women's Soccer Tournament. The matchup is a rematch of last year's semifinals match in which the Stars, again on the road, posted a 2-1 win over the Eagles to advance to the championship round.

The all-time series history for the two programs dates back to 2003 and is dead even with both team's picking up four wins in eight all-time meetings. However, in postseason play, including last year's NAC semifinal matchup and a 2005 Lake Michigan Conference (LMC) semifinal tilt, the Stars are 2-0-0 against the Eagles.

Earlier this season, Dominican slipped past the Eagles with a 1-0 win on the Stars' West Campus Field. Sophomore Michelle Reynoso (Burbank, IL) tallied the lone goal of the contest in the 31st minute to propel the Stars to their eighth win of the season and seventh win in the NAC. The loss was just Edgewood's second loss of the season and their only loss of the season in NAC play.

The Stars enter Wednesday's match as the three-seed in the NAC Tournament with an overall record of 13-6-1 with a 10-2-0 mark in the NAC while the Eagles are 15-3-1 on the season and 10-1-1 in the NAC as the tournament's number-two seed.

The Stars' offense, which is averaging 2.35 goals per game, is lead by freshmen Nallely Arreola (Wheeling, IL) and Karly Kuranda (St. Charles, IL). The pair rank one and two for the Stars in points with Arreola leading the way with a total of 27 points on nine goals and nine assists. Kuranda is currently the team's leader in assists with 11 assists on the season to go along with six goals for a total of 23 points.

Defensively, the Stars have posted 12 shutouts on the season, including a 1-0 shutout win over MSOE in the NAC quarterfinals. The Stars haven't allowed a goal in over 270 minutes, since surrendering seven goals to nationally ranked Wheaton College on October 21. In conference play, the Stars defense becomes even stingier, posting a miniscule 0.61 goals against average in the Stars' 12 conference games this season. Junior goalkeeper Jacqui Lani (Green Bay, WI) has started 15 games in goal this season and has a 1.17 goals against average with an 8-4-1 record, including six shutouts.

Kickoff for tonight's matchup is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Edgewood's Breese Stevens Field. Live stats for the contest will be streaming on the internet. To follow the action click here or visit the women's soccer schedule page and click on the "Live Stats" link under "Coverage" in the upcoming events box.