Tweet #NAIASoccerNAIA #1 Embry-Riddle (16-1) vs. Reinhardt (15-3-2)
DATE: Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014
CITY: Daytona Beach, Fla.
SITE: Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium
START: 6 p.m.

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LIVE STATS: Stretch Internet
TWITTER: @ERAUWSoccer
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THE MATCH-UP
Saturday's NAIA National Championship Opening Round match features No. 1 Embry-Riddle hosting Reinhardt. Saturday's contest will be one of 15 Opening Round matches being played at different on-campus sites around the country. The winners of the National Championship Opening Round games will join host Mobile at the 2014 NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship, presented by the Sports Medicine Center at the Orthopaedic Group, P.C. at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Ala., Dec 1-6.
 
QUICK HITS
• Embry-Riddle and Reinhardt are meeting for the second time in women's soccer
• Embry-Riddle is the No. 1 seed in the 31-team tournament
• Reinhardt earned an automatic berth by winning the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament
• Embry-Riddle is facing a team with the nickname "Eagles" in the Opening Round for the fourth straight season
• Embry-Riddle and Reinhardt also faced off in the 2013 Opening Round.
• Embry-Riddle is 3-0 as an Opening Round host in the last three NAIA National Championships.
 
ABOUT EMBRY-RIDDLE
Embry-Riddle won The Sun Conference North Division title with a perfect 9-0 record, going undefeated in conference play for the first time since 2001. As North Division champions, the Eagles earned the right to battle South Division winners Northwood for the conference regular season title. The match-up took place on Nov. 5 and ended with a 2-0 Eagle defeat of Northwood, giving the Blue and Gold the first conference regular season crown in the Samantha Bohon era. The victory also secured the Eagles' automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.
 
Bohon's squad is 16-1 on the year and is currently riding a 12-match winning streak. Embry-Riddle, who advanced to the national tournament quarterfinals in 2013, will be making the program's 11th national championship appearance and is the tournament's No. 1 seed for the first time in program history.
 
The Eagles' offense is led by first team All-Conference honorees Andrea Frøshaug and Isabelle Haaranen. Froshaug is the Eagles' scoring leader this season with 13 goals to go with six assists, while Haaranen has chipped in 11 goals and five assists. Haaranen and Katherine Ebbs are tied for the lead in game-winners with three each, while Sun Conference Newcomer of the Year Julia Karlernäs is the Eagles' assist leader with seven. Olivia Lynch, another first team All-Conference selection, has been the Eagles' starting goalkeeper. She has 38 saves, seven shutouts and a 0.72 goals against average.
 
ABOUT REINHARDT
Head Coach Andy Kaplan is in his second season with the Reinhardt women's soccer program. Kaplan led his squad to the Appalachian Athletic conference title for the second straight year as the Eagles bested St. Andrews 2-0. Reinhardt women's soccer is making its third trip to the NAIA National Tournament. The Eagles were 7-2-1 in AAC regular season play and bring a 15-3-2 overall record into Saturday's game.
 
Allie Hale netted the game-winner against St. Andrews and is Reinhardt's leading scorer in 2014 with 11 goals and two assists for 24 total points. Yanci Akselsen and Lindsey White have 10 goals apiece for Reinhardt team that is averaging 3.15 goals per contest. Taylor Asher has played 20 games in goal for RU with 18 starts and has 85 saves and a 1.05 goals against average in 1,842 minutes of action.
 
THE ERAU-RU SERIES
Saturday's game will mark the second time that Embry-Riddle and Reinhardt will face each other in women's soccer. Embry-Riddle topped Reinhardt 6-0 in Opening Round play in 2013 in the only meeting between the two teams.
 
THE LAST MEETING
Seeded fifth in the national tournament field, the 2013 Embry-Riddle women's soccer team advanced to the Sweet 16 with a decisive 6-0 shutout of Reinhardt on Nov. 23. The Eagles got two goals apiece from the Norwegian duo of Martine Olsen and Andrea Frøshaug en route to the Opening Round win.
 
ERAU dominated the game from the first whistle and kept Reinhardt pinned in their defensive half for much of the first 45 minutes of play. Embry-Riddle out shot Reinhardt 9-0 and was finally able to convert in the 20th minute. The play started with a Katherine Ebbs free kick, which found its way to Olsen inside the six-yard box. Olsen headed the ball to Valerie Obita on the left side and Obita used the same method to get the ball back to Olsen who buried her 12th goal of the year in the bottom right corner to put ERAU up 1-0.
 
Five minutes later ERAU got on the scoreboard again. Playing her first game in six weeks due to an injury, Frøshaug collected the ball, outpaced her mark down the right side and took the ball all the way to the end line before serving a low cross into the box. The ball squibbed through the box to Obita on the far post and Obita rifled home her 17th goal of the year to put the Eagles up 2-0 at the half.
 
The Embry-Riddle Eagles picked up where they left off in the first half and netted their third goal just over three minutes into the second frame. Olsen got the ball at her feet inside the 18-yard box, but her shot was cleared by a Reinhardt defender at the last second and pushed out over the end line for a corner kick. Ebbs took the set piece and her cross from the left side floated across the box a found Olsen who headed home her second goal of the night to put ERAU up 3-0.
 
Two minutes later, Isabelle Haaranen picked up the ball in the midfield and took advantage of a 2-v-2 situation to slip a pass through to Obita on the run. Obita's shot was stopped by Reinhardt goalkeeper Taylor Asher, but Frøshaug raced to the touch line to collect the rebound and slotted home her sixth goal of the year to make the score 4-0 in favor of the home team.
 
At the 53:53 mark, Ebbs converted on a penalty kick and Frøshaug capped off her night with a goal in the 62nd minute to seal the win.
 
EAGLES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Embry-Riddle finished at No. 1 in the NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Preseason Poll. Playing one of the most challenging schedules in the country, the Eagles have notched wins over No. 3 Lindsey Wilson, No. 14 Northwood and No. 25 Concordia (Calif.).

Their success with that schedule earned the Eagles a 0.906 score in the Modified Ratings Percentage Index, which consists of the team's modified winning percentage, their opponents' winning percentage and the cumulative ratings points from the NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll. Their MRPI score determined the Eagles' No. 1 seed in the national tournament field.
 
TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
This year's 31 teams include 24 automatic qualifiers – awarded to conference, association of independent institutions, and unaffiliated group tournament and regular-season champions – seven at-large bids and one host berth.
 
Seven teams will be getting their first taste of national championship action – AIB (Iowa), Concordia (Neb.), Menlo (Calif.), Northwestern Ohio, Oklahoma Baptist, Rio Grande (Ohio) and William Woods (Mo.). Only two programs were new faces in the national championship a season ago – Columbia (Mo.) and Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) – and both squads are back again in 2014.
 
Five of this year's qualifiers have made double-digit national championship appearances, led by Westmont with 17. Lindsey Wilson is second with 16 trips to the event, while Concordia (Ore.) is third with 14. Embry-Riddle (Fla.) and Martin Methodist (Tenn.) have 11 all-time appearances each.
 
EMBRY-RIDDLE BY THE NUMBERS
208–All-time wins by Embry-Riddle
117–Wins in conference play
109–Wins by eighth-year Head Coach Samantha Bohon
17–Seasons of Embry-Riddle Women's Soccer
14–NAIA National Tournament Appearances
9–Home contests for the Eagles this season, including four TSC games
3–NAIA National Quarterfinal Appearances
1–Current rank for ERAU Women's Soccer in NAIA Preseason Top 25 poll
 
HONOR ROLL
The Embry-Riddle women's soccer team placed eight individuals on the 2014 All-Sun Conference roster and had seven receive Academic All-Conference recognition. Headlining the Eagle lineup was freshman Julia Karlernas who was named the league's Newcomer of the Year. Karlernas was also a first team All-Conference selection, along with teammates Olivia Lynch, Hanna Rolfsen, Helena Hansson, Emmie Johansson, Andrea Froshaug and Isabelle Haaranen. Gudrun Johnson was named to the second team, while Katherine Ebbs and Annie Gelnaw garnered honorable mention recognition.
 
Froshaug was named to the Capital One Academic All-America® College Division women's soccer first team. The second-year ERAU student-Athlete is the team's leading scorer with 13 goals and has a 3.90 GPA in Business Administration.