Nov. 1, 2001

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TOURNAMENT PREVIEW: After losing their regular season finale, 3-2, in double overtime at home to Appalachian State, the RedHawks travel to Louisville, Ky. forthe MAC Tournament. Despite dropping their last 18 contests, the RedHawks hope last season's tournament magic will return in Louisville to help them end their current slide. In last year's tournament Miami advanced to the semifinal round by defeating Central Michigan, 4-2, before falling to Kent State, 6-1. Miami opens the conference tourney against the No. 3-seeded Louisville Cardinals in Game Two on Friday, Nov. 2 at 2:30 p.m. This season the RedHawks didn't have much success against the host school, dropping two contests by a total of 11-0. Last weekend's solid outing versus Appalachian State ended in ASU's favor but provides confidence for Coach Lil Fesperman and her squad heading into this weekend's tournament.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Falling from their former position of No. 9 to No.14 in the 2001 STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, Louisville enters the tournament with a hunger to redeem themselves after setbacks to Ohio and Kent State. The Cardinals record at home this season is 8-1 and is all the incentive they need to make a run at the MAC Championship. With only four losses this season the Cardinals have put together winning streaks of eight and five games. Louisville's top scoring threat is Olivia Netzler with 13 goals and nine assists for 35 points. Captain Pip Sanders trails Netzler with five goals and 12 assists while Susan Sattazhan rounds out the Cardinals offensive power with nine goals on the season. In goal for Louisville is Christy Hershey, who has maintained 1.02 goals against average in 19 games. Her save percentage is .808, and she has blanked Louisville opponent's seven times this season.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE REDHAWKS WIN: If the RedHawks defeat Louisville in the first round of the tourney, they will advance to the semifinal round to square off against the No. 2 seeded Kent State Golden Flashes. The contest between Kent State and the winner of Louisville/Miami contest will be played Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m. This season the RedHawks didn't have good fortune against the Golden Flashes, dropping both contests, 6-2 and 5-0.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN FLASHES: If Miami advances to Game Four of the tournament, they will face a Kent State team that has defeated the likes of James Madison, North Carolina, Ohio and Louisville this season. Kent State enters the postseason ranked No. 12 in the STX/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll. Key players for the Golden Flashes are Arlette van Cleeff, Kristen Clayton and Megan Spurling. van Cleef leads the Golden Flashes and the MAC with 18 goals and 11 assists for a total of 47 points. Clayton and Spurling have been equally impressive this season, scoring 21 and 20 points, respectively. Racking up a 9-6 record in goal for Kent State is Jodi Lume. Lume holding opponents to 2.14 goals per game, fourth best in the MAC while registering a .712 save percentage.

THREE OUT OF SIX AIN'T BAD: Three out of the six Mid-American Conference teams are ranked in the top 20 of the 2001 STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. Those who are among the Division I leaders are: Ohio at No. 10, with an overall record of 14-4, Kent State at No. 12, with an overall record of 12-6 and Louisville at No. 14, with an overall record of 15-4. Miami needs to defeat both Louisville and Kent State to advance to the MAC Championship contest this weekend.

PLAYING WITH THE "BIG GUNS": This season the RedHawks have played eight contests against opponents ranked in the nations top 20. This includes two games each against Louisville, Ohio and Kent State and one against Big Ten opponents Michigan State and Ohio State. Syracuse and California would make that number 10 but they were not ranked when they played against Miami. The RedHawks best chance at knocking off a ranked school was on Sept. 28 against No. 14 Ohio. Miami battled Ohio through 70 minutes of regulation and 8:50 of seven-on-seven overtime play before Jenn Watt netted the game-winner to lift the Bobcats to victory. Miami also challenged No. 10 Ohio State for 70 minutes but came up short, 3-1. The RedHawks held the lead in this contest briefly after senior Cheryl Iozzi (Kettering, Ohio/Kettering) netted the first goal of the game early in the first period. Also notable was the fact that the goal was scored on her 22nd birthday. After the Ohio State contest, the RedHawks fell in three straight contests to ranked opponents by a tally of 18-0. Ohio, Kent State and Louisville were the culprits of these three setbacks.

VAUGHN SETS NEW SCHOOL MARK: Senior goalkeeper Marie Vaughn set a school record with 19 saves against Ohio on Saturday, Sept. 28. Vaughn shut out the Bobcats for 78:50 before they were able to put away the game-winning goal. She recorded nine saves in the first half, nine in the second and one in the overtime period. Vaughn is ranked first in the MAC and third in the nation with 169 saves on the year.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS: Freshman Meredith Lee (San Jose, Calif./Lynbrook) and Megan Wiegand (Encinitas, Calif./LaCosta Canyon) have provided some offense this season for the RedHawks' by combining to score five goals. In a span of five games for Miami early in the season, Lee scored two goals and recorded one assist. Wiegand picked up the pace late in the season for her teammate by recording her first multiple goal game of her career against Appalachian State in the season finale with two goals. Wiegand nearly won the game for Miami in double overtime on a penalty stroke but was denied by the ASU goalkeeper.

SHOTS=GOALS, GOALS=WINS: Through 20 games this season the RedHawks have been outshot by their opponents 273-56. Consequently, Miami also is on the short side when it comes to scoring. This season Miami opponents have out-scored the RedHawks 74-10. In its two wins, Miami scored four goals to its opponents' two. Since then the RedHawks have lost 18 straight contests and have been outscored 70-8.