Women's Soccer | 9/27/2025 9:45:00 AM

Sunday, September 28 | Delaware State | Loretto, Pa. | Stokes Soccerplex | 1 p.m. | LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO   

OPENING PITCH VS DELWARE STATE
Saint Francis women's soccer will host conference opponent, Delaware State, at home Sunday at 1 p.m. This will mark the fourth meeting in the all-time series. The first meeting between the two teams dates back to 2005 and most recently 2024. 

THE WORD ON THE HORNETS
Delaware State enters Sunday's matchup 0-2-1 in NEC play and 2-6-3 overall. In most recent conference matchups, the Hornets ended in a 0-all match with Le Moyne, fell to LIU 2-1, and fell to FDU 5-0. Trinity Suroweic leads Delaware State in goals with three, followed by Yazeem Smith and Nicole Cargill with two.   

LAST TIME WE MET
The last time the Red Flash and the Hornets met was in 2024. During this matchup, Saint Francis defeated Delaware State 3-0. Lauren Pyle scored for Saint Francis during the 68th minute, Raine Korpics scored during the 72nd minute, and Danielle Goedhart sent one to the back of the net in the final minute of the match. Korpics goal was assisted by Tomke Dziesiaty, and Goedhart's goal was assisted by Maggie Ratchford and Claire Scarpin. Goalkeepers, Emma Sawich and Aimee Benton, split time producing a combined total of five saves, and a complete game shut out.

NEXT TIME OUT 
Next up, Saint Francis will be back on the pitch Thursday in West Haven, Conn., taking on conference opponent New Haven at 4 p.m. 

LAST TIME OUT 
Saint Francis competed at LIU Thursday in Brookville, N.Y.. The Red Flash fell to the Sharks 3-2. The Red Flash got at early lead over the Sharks 2-0. Riley Kerr put a number on the board early during the 11th minute follow by a Korpics' goal during the 31st minute. LIU quickly answered back, and 40 seconds later, had a goal of its own. Right before the 39th minute mark, LIU tied up the game making it two-all. During the second half, the Sharks came out attacking and took the lead 6 minutes in. The Red Flash attempted to get the score back to even, taking eight shots, but the Sharks defense had a clean second half.

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,  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.