9/17/21

SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College women's soccer team gets back on the pitch this weekend when the Falcons travel to Howard CC in Columbia, MD for the Dragon Classic. The Falcons have a pair of games, starting with an 11:00am match on Saturday 9/18 with Cape Fear CC, before taking on the hosts on Sunday 9/19 at 1pm.
 
About The Falcons
Lackawanna College (0-1-0) enters the weekend coming off a 3-1 loss to Union County CC (#8 NJCAA DIII) on Monday 9/13. The Falcons were the first to score, just four minutes in, when Rachel Apsley uncorked a through-ball from midfield that sprung forward Ashley Bruno past the Owls high-line, putting her one-on-one with the keeper and giving Lackawanna College the early lead when she slotted it into the bottom right corner of the net. From there, Union County put the clamps on, swarming to the ball and sucking up possession. The equalizer came about twenty minutes later, and, if not for goalkeeper Sophia Andreoli, may have come sooner. The Owls would tack on a pair of goals in the second half, and the Falcons almost got a second on a similar run from Bruno, but the Owls keeper managed to parry it away.
 
Apsley captains the midfield for the Falcons, and pairs with Bruno, a Meyers grad, as the veteran leadership on the Lackawanna College squad. The Falcons will try to mix in a few newcomers, like midfielder Lexi Livelsberger, midfielder Sarah Manweiler, defender Alexis Maurer, and forward Aliyah Shade. Jada Tha steadies the middle of the defensive back line for the Falcons.
 
The aforementioned Sophia Andreoli is the main goalkeeper for Lackawanna College, and had eleven saves in the match-up with Union County.
 
The Falcons are led by first-year head coach Megan Tweedy, a Lakeland High School product and former Falcon soccer player herself. Megan has spent time as an assistant under former Falcon head coach Danny Berg in his role as head soccer coach at Valley View High School, and was the leader of the girls soccer program at Valley View the last two years.  
 
About The Opponents
The first opponent for the Falcons will be the Cape Fear CC Sea Devils, who are 1-0-0 on the season and coming off a 5-0 win at home over Louisburg College.
 
The Sea Devils are, traditionally, a strong program out of North Carolina, having won at least ten games per season since 2011. They compete in the rugged Region X in the NJCAA. The only time they did not win ten games was this past spring, when they went 5-3 in the pandemic shortened, spring 2021 season.
 
In their 5-0 win over Louisburg, all five Sea Devil goals came in the first half. Kristarae Poell had two of those goals from her midfield spot to lead Cape Fear, while freshman striker Mia Marino was dangerous for the Sea Devils on the offensive end.
 
The Sea Devils are coached by Dave Martin, who is in his first season as the leader for Cape Fear. Previously, coach Martin spent time as the varsity soccer coach at Cape Fear Academy, helping CFA win a state championship in 2018. Martin is a Brick, NJ native, but is a Cape Fear graduate, who eventually went on to UNCW.
 
Sunday's opponent for Lackawanna College doesn't get any easier, as the Falcons will take on the host Howard CC Dragons, #12 in the NJCAA DII polls entering the weekend.
 
Howard (2-1-0) will play Brookdale CC (#9 NJCAA DI Rankings) on Saturday 9/18 at 1pm, before they play Lackawanna College on Sunday, but the Dragons enter the weekend after a 4-2 loss to CCBC Essex (#14 NJCAA DII Rankings).
 
The loss to CCBC Essex was a wild match-up, where five of the six total goals were scored within the first 31 minutes of game action. The issue for Howard was that four of those five goals came from Essex. The Knights led 3-0 within 15 minutes. The Dragons would claw a goal back from midfielder Molly Nichols in the 23^rd minute, but the Knights would strike again just eight minutes later to make it 4-1. From there, the scoring dried up for both teams, but the game saw no shortage of shots and pressure. The Dragons had eight corner kicks to Essex's three, and Howard outshot the Knights 15-to-13. The Dragons would et one more goal in the 83^rd minute from midfielder Sofie Jobst, but that would round out the scoring.
 
Forward Lillian Scott leads the Dragons with two goals and an assist on the season, while the aforementioned Nichols also has two goals this year. Jobst has a goal and an assist, while Madison Dzubak and Jenna Naumann have also scored for the Dragons.
 
Hailey Murray is the keeper for the Dragons. She has 16 saves in three games, and has a pair of clean sheets on her resume this year. The only goals she allowed came against CCBC Essex.
 
The Dragons are led by longtime head coach Kate Seagroves, who has been at Howard CC since 1999. In her time, Seagroves has turned the Dragons into a regional and national program to be reckoned with, taking Howard CC to six NJCAA tournaments (most recently in 2019) and finishing third in the country in four of those appearances. The Dragons have won seven regional titles, five district titles, and two conference championships under Seagroves.
 
The schedule for the Dragon Classic will be as follows:
 
Saturday 9/18
11:00am: Lackawanna College vs. Cape Fear CC
1:00pm: Brookdale CC vs. Howard CC
 
Sunday 9/19
11:00am: Brookdale CC vs. Cape Fear CC
1:00pm: Lackawanna College vs. Howard CC
 
Games will be video streamed live by the Howard Community College Athletics Department. You can watch the games by clicking HERE.
 
Check back on lackawannafalcons.com for schedule updates, stats, and scores.
 
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