Aug. 31, 2007

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova women's soccer team opens the 2007 season this afternoon when it hosts Lafayette at 1:30 p.m. in the first game of this weekend's Villanova Tournament.

Live stats and updates from today's game are available through Gametracker and can be accessed by clicking here.

Tournament Time

• Today's game is the first of this weekend's tournament
• All four teams participating in the tournament are playing their season opener today
• Seton Hall vs. Virginia Commonwealth at 4 p.m.; Villanova plays Virginia Commonwealth at 2 p.m. Sunday

Villanova Tournament History

• Second straight season and fifth time overall Villanova hosts its own home tournament during the season
• Villanova is 7-1 all-time in its own tournament games (lost to Holy Cross in 1986)
• Wildcats open a season in a tournament for only the third time (1987 -- UConn; 2004 -- Coll. of Charleston)
• Villanova all-time in regular season tournament games is 35-32-5 (.521); Ann Clifton is 15-6-1 (.705)

Season Openers

• Ann Clifton is 7-3-0 in season openers at Villanova, including 5-0-0 in season openers at home
• The Wildcats have won six straight season opening games (team record)

Villanova vs. Lafayette

• Wildcats lead all-time series 4-0
• The teams met once each season between 1990-1993
• Villanova outscored Lafayette by a combined score of 21-3 in those four meetings (7-0 / 5-0 / 4-2 / 5-1)
• Villanova vs. Patriot League - 27-10-3 (.713)

Upcoming Milestones

• With 20 minutes played, Jillian Loyden moves into third in school history in goalie minutes (passes Lynn McHale - 5649:00; Loyden is currently at 5630:23)
• With a victory, Loyden ties Janel Schillig (1998-01) with a school-record 39 victories
• Schillig was 39-29-4 (.569); Loyden is currently 38-15-8 (.689)
• Schillig has 29 victories through her first three seasons
• With a shutout, Loyden notches career shutout No. 26
• Loyden is second in school history behind Chrissy Dolan, who had 29 shutouts from 2000-03

Polling Places

• Villanova is ranked No. 20 in the preseason Top 30 poll released by Soccer Buzz Magazine
• Soccer Buzz also ranks the Wildcats fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Region (46 teams)
• The Wildcats are receiving votes in the Soccer America and NSCAA Top 25 polls

Preseason Honors

• Jillian Loyden - MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List
• Jillian Loyden - BIG EAST Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year
• Jillian Loyden - Soccer America Preseason All-America Team

Fresh Faces

• Villanova's freshman class this season was ranked as the No. 25 recruiting class in the nation
• Chanté Sandiford - Goalkeeper (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh School)
• Amy Greco - Defense (Media, Pa./Penncrest)
• Patty Tierney - Defense/Midfield (Churchville, Pa./Council Rock South
• Lindsey Haroutunian - Midfield (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser)
• Justine Wollner - Midfield (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East)
• Rachel Schuyler - Forward (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire)