Women's Soccer | 10/15/2025 9:45:00 AM

Thursday, October 16 | Mercyhurst | Loretto, Pa. | Stokes Soccerplex | 4 p.m. | LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO   

OPENING PITCH VS MERCYHURST
Thursday afternoon, Saint Francis will host Mercyhurst at Stokes Soccerplex in doubleheader fashion at 4 p.m., following a men's match at 1 p.m. This game between Saint Francis and Mercyhurst marks the ninth meeting in the all-time series. The last time the Red Flash hosted the Lakers was in 1988, and the last time the two teams matched up was in 2024.

THE WORD ON THE LAKERS
Mercyhurst enters Thursday's matchup 1-11-2 overall and 1-4-1 in NEC play. Mercyhurst is coming into Thursday's matchup on a two game losing streak in search of another conference win. In most recent conference matchups, the Lakers fell to CCSU 2-1, was shutout by FDU, defeated Le Moyne in a shutout win 1-0, and lost to Howard 2-0. Caterina Cappiello leads the Lakers in goals with two, followed eight other team members each having one.

LAST TIME WE MET
Thursday's game between Saint Francis and Mercyhurst marks the ninth meeting in the all-time series. The Lakers and Red Flash met for the first time in 32 years in 2024. During the 2024 matchup between the two teams, the Red Flash fell to Lakers 3-1. Lauren Pyle netted one for the Red Flash after a Rita Kendziora cross for Pyle's final goal of her career. 

NEXT TIME OUT 
The Red Flash will make the trek to Teaneck, N.J., to take on FDU Sunday for an early afternoon game at 1 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT 
Saint Francis women's soccer traveled to Staten Island, N.Y., to take on Wagner. The Red Flash were defeated by the Seahawks 3-0. Riley Kerr and Raine Korpics each had a pair of shots, however the Red Flash were outshot 18-4. Emma Sawich had seven saves in goal. 

NEC HONORS
Sawich was named NEC Prime Performer of the Week October 6th and September 8th. Sawich was outstanding in goal for the Red Flash, turning in a career performance against Bucknell. She racked up a personal best of 16 saves in the match. This is her second double-digit save game this season and the third of her college career. Sawich has been a steady force in goal lately too. In six of the last seven games, now her fifth in a row, Sawich has recorded at least eight saves. During the matinee conference matchup of Saint Francis and CCSU, Sawich worked hard between the posts and recorded a total of 13 saves for the Red Flash. That total also marks her second highest save amount of her collegiate career, falling just three saves short behind her career high of 16 at Bucknell. This is the seventh game this season that the senior has recorded eight or more saves a game, breaking her 2024 season mark of six games above eight or more saves. 

Kerr was named NEC Rookie of the Week September 29th and September 2nd. It is the second time in her career that he has earned this weekly conference honor. Kerr made an immediate impact for the Red Flash this past week, scoring in back-to-back matches. In Thursday's NEC matchup against LIU, Kerr outran two defenders before slotting home a left-footed finish to give Saint Francis its first goal of this conference game. She followed up that performance on Sunday against Delaware State, finishing a well-executed sequence that started with a quick touch from Kasak and a give-and-go from Caterina Schiavo to cut the score deficit to one. In her high school career, Kerr had 122 goals. Kerr is the third player for Saint Francis women's soccer, dating back to 1997, to win this the weekly conference honor.    

Kaitlyn Dempster was named NEC Rookie of the Week September 15th. Dempster, along with her first goal, had her first collegiate assist for the Red Flash for Kerr's goal in the 1-all draw against Cleveland State. Dempster marks the fourth time a Saint Francis women's soccer player has been named NEC Rookie of the Week under head coach Brian Diaz. Dempster, Kerr, Anouk Landgraff, Korpics, all a part of the current women's soccer roster, have won this honor to this distinction.  
 
PRESEASON POLL
Saint Francis was picked seventh in the NEC Preseason Poll. Howard, the defending NEC Tournament Champions, picked up seven of the 12 first-place votes to garner preseason favorite honors. FDU earned four votes for second and Wagner earned the final vote to rank third in the poll. CCSU, Stonehill, LIU, Saint Francis, Mercyhurst, Le Moyne, New Haven, Chicago State and Delaware State rounded out the poll. 

RETURNERS TO TALK ABOUT
Korpics returns for her final year as the team's top returning scorer after posting three goals and an assist for seven points. Mercedez Paino also registered two goals for four points last season. Sawich returns in between the pipes after posting 98 saves, a 1.24 goals against average, and a .824 saves percentage that was tops in the NEC in 2024. Lauren Persichetty, 2023 NEC Defensive Player of the Year, made her return to the field and starting lineup after suffering a preseason injury in 2024.

WELCOME TO THE LO' 
In the season opener at Maryland, four Dukes earned their first collegiate starts: Meredith Artz (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township), Hayden Barry (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West), Kaitlyn Dempster (Oakland Township, Mich./Rochester Adams), and Hayley Smith (Bargersville, Ind./Center Grove). Off the bench, Riley Kerr (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic), Ashlyn Fetterman (Hollsopple, Pa./Conemaugh Township), and Angelina Kasak (Lemont, Pa./Pennsylvania Charter) also made their collegiate debuts in College Park. 

In addition, junior Lucia Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Eastern Michigan) made her Saint Francis starting debut. Johnson almost has a six-degrees of Kevin Bacon story. The first time she played a college soccer game was an exhibition game on the Stokes SoccerPlex with the Zips on August 8, 2023. Johnson has played 23 games in her first two seasons with 10 shots. She registered her first collegiate assist against her former Akron team in Ohio as a member of Eastern Michigan on October 31, 2024, for the decisive score. Johnson was a two-time all-conference and all-region player at Turpin High School in Cincinnati. 

Also joining the team is assistant coach Clare Crossley and graduate assistant Ioannis Giannikakis.    

ABOUT THE COACH 
Brian Diaz begins his second season in Loretto. The team doubled its win total from the previous campaign in his first season and helped the team to its best defensive season since 2012. Diaz brought four years of head coach experience from the Division II level, 17 years as an assistant coach (13 years at Division I and four years at Division II), and one year as the Director of Coaching for the Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soccer. In his career, he has coached 54 all-conference selections and 21 all-region honorees.