Saint Francis Women's Soccer On The Road For Another Conference Matchup Against LIU

Women's Soccer | 9/24/2025 9:30:00 AM

OPENING PITCH VS LIU
Saint Francis women's soccer will be on the road Thursday, playing conference opponent, LIU, at 12 p.m. in Brookville, N.Y. This will mark the 33rd meeting in the all-time series. The two teams first met in 1997, making this the 33rd meeting in the all-time series, with their last matchup being in 2024.

THE WORD ON THE SHARKS
LIU enters Thursday's matchup 3-2-3.The Sharks are currently on a one game winning streak. In most recent matchups, LIU defeated Delaware State (2-1), tied with Mercyhurst (2-2), was defeated by Saint Bonaventure (1-0), and followed by two wins to Teample (2-1) and Quinnipiac (2-0).

LAST TIME WE MET
During the 2024 matchup between the two teams, the Red Flash defeated LIU in a 2-0 shutout. For the Red Flash, Mercedez Paino and Raine Korpics each had one of their own goals in the matchup. Tomke Dziesiaty assisted on both of the goals and Lauren Pyle added an additional assist on the second goal. Emma Sawich, in goal, kept the net clean with five saves and a complete game shutout against the Sharks.

NEXT TIME OUT
Next up, Saint Francis will continue host conference opponent Sunday, Delaware State, at the Stokes Soccerplex in Loretto, Pa., at 1 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Saint Francis competed at Stonehill Sunday in North Easton, Mass. The Red Flash fell to the Skyhawks 5-1. Korpics recorded the lone goal for the Red Flash during the second half of the match after being behind 2-1. The Skyhawks kept answering back and added three more insurance goals to the board, making this game out of reach for the Red Flash.

NEC HONORS
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 Riley 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. It is the second time this season a player has been awarded this honor. Dempster, Kerr, Anouk Landgraff, Raine Korpics, all a part of the current women's soccer roster, have won this honor to this distinction.

Emma Sawich was named NEC Prime Performer of the Week 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.

Riley Kerr was named the NEC Rookie of the Week September 2nd. It is the first time in her career that he has earned a weekly conference honor. Kerr scored her first collegiate goal in a 1-all draw against Cleveland State on Thursday. Kerr's goal was the first goal of the 2025 season for the Red Flash. In her high school career, Kerr had 122 goals.

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. 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 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.

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