Saint Francis Womens Soccer Continues Road Trip To Duquesne

Women's Soccer | 8/20/2025 10:00:00 AM

OPENING PITCH
Saint Francis and Duquesne will meet for the 24th meeting of all time dating back to 1994 on Thursday. The last time St. Francis's Red Flash beat the Dukes was early in its 2012 season. Duquesne defeated the Red Flash 2-0 last year in Loretto.

THE WORD ON THE DUKES
The Duquesne Dukes opened their season with a comeback 3-2 victory over Kent State. After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, Duquesne with a second half rally turned the game in a totally different direction. Nearly 23 minutes into the half, the Dukes scored three goals in the span of just five minutes. Maya Matesa sparked the comeback with a pair of goals — the first set up by Kayla Leseck, followed quickly by a successful penalty kick. Moments later, Mackenzie Muir with another penalty goal gave Duquesne the lead. Goalkeeper, Ali Hughes, helped keep Kent State in check, recording four saves and secure the Dukes' season opening win.

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis continues to complete its last two away trips traveling to Cleveland State (August 28) and Toledo (August 31) before hosting Bucknell for its home opener on September 4.

LAST TIME OUT
Saint Francis women's soccer opened up its 40th campaign on Sunday with a loss at the University of Maryland. Emma Sawich had double digit saves for the Red Flash with 10.

PRESEASON POLL
Saint Francis women's soccer 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
Raine 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. Emma 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 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.

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