Women’s Soccer Kicks Off Season at Pepperdine, UC Santa Barbara

Friday, August 24

Malibu, CA

6:00 PM ET

Brown University

Pepperdine

Women’s Soccer Kicks Off Season at Pepperdine, UC Santa Barbara

8/22/2018 11:58:00 AM | Women's Soccer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown University women's soccer kicks off its 2018 season in the state of California with games against Pepperdine University on Friday, Aug. 24 at 6:00 p.m. ET and at the University of California, Santa Barbara on Sunday, Aug. 26 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
At Pepperdine: Live Stats | Live Video (TheW.TV)
At UC Santa Barbara: Live Stats | Live Video (BigWest.TV)
On Twitter: @Brown_WSoccer | @BrownAthletics
On Facebook: Brown Women's Soccer | Brown Athletics
On instagram: brownwomenssoccer | brownathletics
Via Hashtag: #GoBruno

THE IVY LEAGUE ON ESPN
Video of all home contests and all Ivy League games, home and away, will be broadcast live on ESPN . Fans can subscribe and view games by purchasing a monthly package for $4.99 or a yearly package for $49.99.

GOLDEN STATE TRIP
Brown will make its third-ever trip to the state of California in program history. In 1991, the Bears played at Stanford with games against the host Cardinal and St. Mary's. In 2005, Brown competed in games at Pacific and at UC Davis. The Bears are 1-2-1 all-time in the Golden State. Against teams from California, Brown has posted a 2-4-2 record. Brown will meet Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara for the first time.

Other significant out-of-region travel for the Bears has included trips to the states of Colorado (1988), North Carolina (1991, 1999, 2007), Virginia (1993, 2011), New Mexico (1995), Maryland (1996, 2009), Minnesota (2008), Arizona (2009), and Florida (2013, 2014).

CALIFORNIA CONNECTIONS
Brown carries eight student-athletes from the state of California on its roster, including seniors Megan Grant (Carlsbad), Natalie Messing (Los Angeles), Nicole Phillips (Rolling Hills Estates), sophomore Samantha Messing (Los Angeles), and freshmen Sara Bermudez (South San Francisco), Maesyn G'Bye (Ladera Ranch), Bridget Stokdyk (Pacific Palisades), and Malina Yago (Culver City).

LAST FALL
In 2017, Brown registered an 11-5-0 overall record, giving the Bears their most wins since going 13-4-0 in 2000. Brown also set a single-season program record with four overtime victories. The Bears tallied six All-Ivy selections, including First Team All-Ivy honoree Abby Carchio '20 (Lakeville, Mass.).

ETZEL BACK IN GOAL
Senior goalkeeper Christine Etzel (Madison, Conn.) enters the 2018 season ranked third on Brown's career shutouts list with 19 shutouts, fourth on Brown's career wins list with 27 wins, and 10^th on Brown's career saves list with 209 saves. The 2016 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and a three-time All-Ivy selection, this past season Etzel gained Honorable Mention All-Ivy and Second Team NEWISA All-New England accolades. In Ivy play, she ranked second in the conference in shutouts (four), third in goals-against average (.561), and third in save percentage (.879).

RETURNING ALL-IVY
Alongside senior goalkeeper Christine Etzel (Madison, Conn.), the Bears bring back four more student-athletes who earned All-Ivy honors last fall, including senior forward/midfielder Celia Story (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), junior midfielder Abby Carchio (Lakeville, Mass.), sophomore back Sydney Cummings (Millstone Township, N.J.), and sophomore forward Star White (Norfolk, Va.).

Story has earned All-Ivy honors in back-to-back years and last season ranked ninth in the Ivy League in points (15) and fifth in assists (five). Carchio earned First Team All-Ivy and Second Team NEWISA All-New England in 2017. Cummings and White both garnered Second Team All-Ivy a year ago with Cummings playing all 1,475 minutes on the season and White ranking second in the Ancient Eight in assists (six) and eighth in points (16).

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Sophomore back Sydney Cummings (Millstone Township, N.J.) and sophomore goalkeeper Maria Guerrero (San Juan, Puerto Rico) competed in World Cup qualifiers in May 2018, taking part in the Caribbean Zone's regional qualification tournament.

Representing Guyana, Cummings earned her first three career international caps and scored her first career international goal in a 6-1 win over Suriname. Representing Puerto Rico, Guerrero garnered her first three career caps at the senior level. She previously served as a reserve goalkeeper for the senior team and competed for Puerto Rico at the U20 and U17 levels. Both Guyana and Puerto finished second in their respective groups, falling one spot shy of advancing to the qualification tournament's final round.

SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine brings a 0-2-0 record into Friday's match-up after dropping 1-0 decisions on the road to both Kansas and Texas Tech. The Waves featured at No. 18 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll but fell out of the rankings following the pair of defeats. Zoe Clevely played all 180 minutes in goal over the two games. Last season, Pepperdine won the West Coast Conference and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara carries a 2-0-0 record into the weekend and will face Boise State on Friday before playing Brown on Sunday. The Gauchos topped Sacramento State (2-1, 2OT) and the University of Illinois-Chicago in their opening weekend of play. Shelan Morrison led the team in its first weekend with six points on two goals and two assists. Jessica Clegg and Jessica Wright each netted two goals to open the year.

BRUNO IN OPENERS
Brown enters Friday's match-up at Pepperdine with a 29-13-1 all-time record in season openers. The Bears have earned victories in each of their last seven debuts.

THE LAST THREE SEASONS
The Bears have finished in the top half of the Ivy League standings for three straight years for the first time since 1992-94. In 2015, Brown went 7-7-2 overall (3-3-1 Ivy) to place third, in 2016 the team finished 9-2-5 overall (4-1-2 Ivy) for second place, and in 2017 the Bears went 11-5-0 (4-3-0) for fourth place.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Since renaming its home pitch Stevenson-Pincince Field prior to the final home game of the 2015 season, Brown has posted an 11-3-3 record at home. The Bears went 6-2-0 at home last season and posted a 4-1-3 mark at home during the 2016 campaign.

THE CAPTAINS
Senior goalkeeper Christine Etzel (Madison, Conn.) and senior forward/midfielder Celia Story (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) will serve Brown as captains for the 2018 season. Etzel returns for her second season as a captain for the Bears.

CLASS OF 2022
Brown's 10-member Class of 2022 includes midfielder Sara Bermudez (South San Francisco, Calif.), back Charlotte DeVaughn (Minneapolis, Minn.), back Maesyn G'Bye (Ladera Ranch, Calif.), back Lauren Hinton (Middletown, Conn.), midfielder/forward Zoe Maxwell (Irvington, N.Y.), forward Claire Myers (Fairport, N.Y.), forward Rebecca Rosen (Port Washington, N.Y.), back Bridget Stokdyk (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), forward Sam Wald (Bay Harbor Islands, Fla.), and midfielder Malina Yago (Culver City, Calif.).

YEAR THREE
Head coach Kia McNeill enters her third season as the head women's soccer coach at Brown University in 2018-19, leading the Bears to their highest finish in the league standings since 1994 in her inaugural season in 2016 and guiding the Bears to their most wins since 2000 in her second season in 2017. She returns her top two assistants from the last two seasons in Matt Mones and Raleigh DeRose, while adding Andre Reis as the team's volunteer goalkeeper coach.

COMING SOON
After playing at UC Santa Barbara, Brown hosts its first two matches of the season against Sacred Heart (Friday, Aug. 31, 7:00 p.m.) and Villanova (Sunday, Sept. 2, 11:30 a.m.).

TICKETS!
Tickets for all Brown women's soccer games can be purchased online, by calling the Brown Athletics Ticket Office at (401) 863-2773, or by walking up to the box office located in the Pizzitola Sports Center, open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.