TEANECK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's soccer team begins the Northeast Conference portion of the 2018 season Sunday afternoon at Mount St. Mary's.
 
The Knights (2-6-2) travel to Emmitsburg, Md., for a 1 p.m. contest against the Mountaineers. The match will be streamed live on NECFrontRow, and live stats are provided by Mount St. Mary's as well.
 
ENTERING THE KNIGHT
FDU last took the field the previous Sunday, coming back from a goal down in a 1-1 draw at Hartford. Junior Stasi Torchia netted the tying goal in the 80th minute, her first tally of the season and third of her career. Sophomore Sofia Albertsson also recorded an assist on Torchia's score.
 
OUT OF LEAGUE NO MORE
The Knights finished out the non-conference portion of the schedule with Sunday's tie at Hartford. The out of league slate was tough for the Knights. FDU's opponents out of conference started the season with a combined .631 winning percentage, by far the best among NEC teams. FDU has the third-best record, however, in the NEC entering conference play and the second-best RPI in the conference, trailing only league leader Central Connecticut State (6-1-2).
 
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE STRONG
In head coach Eric Teepe's four years in the NEC, the Knights have compiled a 25-4-3 record in conference matches, the best in the league over that four-year period. The Knights shared the league regular-season title last season, going 6-1-1, and have finished in the top four in the conference each of the past five years. In that span, the Knights have won the NEC regular season three times and won the NEC Tournament in 2015.
 
SERIES SCORE
FDU leads the all-time series against Mount St. Mary's, 11-6-1. The 11 wins are the most for the Knights against any other team in program history. FDU has fared better against Mount in Teaneck compared to going to Emmitsburg, owning a 7-2 record when facing the Mountaineers at home (4-4-1 on the road). FDU has won four of the last five meetings, but Mount won the last time the two teams met in Maryland back in 2016.
 
SCOUTING MOUNT ST. MARY'S
The Mountaineers went 1-6-1 in non-conference, having lost three of their last four matches. Mount last played on Wednesday, suffering a 4-3 loss at UMBC, representing the team's first game of the season scoring multiple goals. Senior Kayla Hughes, who scored two of Mount's goals against UMBC, leads the team with three goals and six points, and freshman Maddie Tchou has two goals and an assist for five points. Sophomore Maggie Barron and junior Charlotte Elrod have split playing time in goal, with Barron owning the better goals-against-average (1.18) and Elrod recording more saves (17).
 
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Besides being FDU's 2018 conference opener, Sunday's match against Mount St. Mary's is also significant to the women's soccer history books. The game will be FDU's 350th women's soccer match in program history, accomplished over 19 seasons. The Knights have played 165 NEC regular season contests in that time, going 72-79-14 thus far.