Women's Soccer 2019 Season Preview

BOSTON, Mass.— Coming off a strong campaign in 2018, the Emmanuel College women's soccer program is poised to make a championship run in 2019 behind a strong core of returning players while welcoming 11 first-year student-athletes to the roster.

The Saints boast a challenging 18-game schedule that includes non-conference matches against Coast Guard, Wentworth, Castleton, Keene State, Bridgewater State and Brandeis.

Head Coach Greg Visinho's squad will kick off their season on Saturday August 31, when they welcome Coast Guard Academy for a 12:00 PM start.

EC opens Great Northeast Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, September 18 in an important early-season showdown against conference powerhouse Lasell College with a 4:00 PM road game in Newton, Mass. The Saints and Lasers battled to a pair of one-goal decisions last season with both squads posting wins over the other on their home fields.

Emmanuel returns one of the strongest defensive units in the conference welcoming back both the 2018 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year. The Saints posted a league-best 0.79 goals against average to go along with a league-high 10 shutouts last season.

Offensively, EC will look to piece together some more production from returning players as the Saints bid farewell to their top two goals scorers from last season in First Team All-Conference players Mikayla Guthrie (14 goals, 7 assists) and Kayla Generis (10 goals, 6 assists).

"I'm excited to get back to work next week," said Visinho. "We have a great group this year who wants to put in the work needed to compete for a GNAC Championship, so that's going to be our goal from Day 1."

The Saints were tabbed to finish fourth in the 2019 GNAC Women's Soccer Preseason Poll, receiving 135 total points which included one first place vote.

2019 GNAC Women's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Saint Joseph's of Maine (6) - 159
2. Lasell (3) - 150
3. Johnson & Wales (3) - 149
4. Emmanuel (1) - 135
5. Regis - 113
6. Simmons - 98
7. Colby-Sawyer - 94
8. Saint Joseph (CT) - 69
9. Norwich - 65
10. Suffolk - 61
11. Albertus Magnus - 45
12. Rivier - 32
13. Anna Maria - 13