UB Women's Soccer Record Watch

I teased yesterday that I would need a standalone post to discuss the UB Women's Soccer team and their soon-to-be place in the MAC and UB record books. With just one regular season game remaining before the postseason, here's a look at UB's historical place in the MAC books, and this team's spot in both MAC and UB history.

UB in the MAC Record Books, 1999-2013

The MAC record books for women's soccer go back to 1997, but obviously UB didn't join the conference until the 1999-season. In the first fifteen years of our time in the MAC, UB as a team has topped a conference statistical category ten times, with seven coming in 2000:

Fewest Goals Allowed, 1998, 2000, and 2013: 17, 21, and 17
Regular Season Champion, 2000: 8-2-1 
Highest Season Winning Percentage, 2000: .667
Assists, 2000: 38
Scoring Margin, 2000: 1.1
Total Shutouts, 2000: 9
Most team shutouts, 2011: 12
Total Saves, 2011: 146

In the individual awards part of the world, UB has earned just a single accolade: Head Coach Jean-A Tassey was named Coach of the Year after the 2000 season - UB's only prior regular season championship before this week. No Bull has ever been named MAC Player of the Year or MAC Freshman of the Year.

UB's done a bit better in individual statistical categories, with five different players topping the conference nine times in six categories:

Points: Paula Listrani 2000, Emily Russell 2003 
Goals: Paula Listrani 1998
Assists: Paula Listrani 2000
GAA: Emily Cox, Jaime Adams 2000
Total saves: Amy Coron 2007, 2009; Ainsley Wheldon 2011
Goalie minutes: Ainsley Wheldon 2011

Emily Cox and Jaime Adams actually matched each other's .97 GAA in that 2000 season, which to me is a pretty cool statistical improbability.

The 2014 Bulls and the Conference Leaderboards

This year's edition of the Bulls has a good chance of adding their entire team and a number of individuals to those conference leaders.

A note on these stats: The MAC hasn't yet updated for this most recent weekend, but given that I'm just focusing on the top of the tables, I am fairly certain I'm right here.

First, the team stats: UB is currently leading the MAC in four categories and will certainly maintain their top spot in two, and most likely in all four.

#1 in Fewest Goals Allowed: 11 (#2: WMU 12)
#1 in Total Shutouts: 12 (#2: WMU 10)
#1 in Regular Season Champion (#2: Miami)
T-#1 in Highest Season Winning Percentage with Miami: .794*

*Miami has two more victories and one more loss, while Buffalo has two more ties.

The Bulls also top the MAC in Shots/Game, but that stat isn't kept in the MAC Record Book.

Individually, Bulls lead the MAC in four categories, and have a chance at two more:

Points and Points per Game: Katie Roberts is second in the MAC with 20, two behind Miami's Kelsey Dinges, and three or four in front of EMU's Angela Vultaggio. With another big day against Akron and some help from the Ball State defense, Roberts could move into a tie - or even sole possession - of first.

Celina Carrero and Julia Benati are also top-ten in this category.

Goals: Katie Roberts leads the MAC with 10. Dinges is second with nine. Celina Carrero's six are good for fifth.

Goals Against Average: Laura Dougall's excellent season actually only has her second in the MAC, by three-thousandths of a goal per game, to Westen Michigan's Stephanie Heber, who has played in five fewer games.

Shutouts: Laura Dougall's 11 lead the MAC, and Heber can't catch her with only one game remaining on the season. 

Game-Winning Goals are not kept in the official MAC book, but Roberts is tied with Dinges there as well, with five. Similarly, Laura Dougall's .915 save percentage leads the MAC but isn't in the book, historically.

The 2014 Bulls and the MAC Record Books

In addition to a spot in the MAC books for their season-leading marks, the team is also positioned to crack the all-time conference record books:

Fewest Goals Allowed

2014 UB: Currently 11

Total Team Shutouts

2014 UB: Currently 12

Individual Shutouts

2014 Laura Dougall: Currently 11

Individual Goals Against Average

2014 Laura Dougall: Currently .359
2014 Stephanie Heber (WMU): Currently .356

Single-Season Winning Percentage

2014 UB: Currently .794
2014 Miami: Currently .794

The 2014 Bulls and the Buffalo Women's Soccer Program

I am not sure if UB's record-keeping includes postseason contests or not, and even if the postseason has counted, if home matches in the postseason count as home matches. As a result, some of these may not actually be feasible, but oh well. Pending that information, the following team and individual marks are within reach for the current Bulls team:

Most Wins: 14 (1986 [D-III]) - Currently 12
Winning Percentage: .714 (1986 [D-III]) - Currently .794
Fewest Losses: 3 (1995) - Currently 2
Most Home Wins: 9 (1986 [D-III]) - Currently 7
Fewest Home Losses: 0 (1995) - Currently 0
Fewest Goals Allowed: 11 (1988 [D-II]) - Currently 11
Shutouts: 12 (2011) - Currently 12

Wins: Jaime Adams, 12 (1999) - Laura Dougall Currently 12
Goals Against Average: Kerry Rich, .44 (1988 [D-III]) - Laura Dougall Currently .359
Shutouts: Laura Dougall, 11 (2014)

These aren't records, but a few other UB tidbits I dug up while researching this post:

Katie Roberts' 21 career goals are good for T-9th all-time at UB. Her 10 goals and 22 points this season are good for T-11th and T-14th in UB's single-season record books.

Laura Dougall is already in the UB top ten in two categories: T-5th in career shutouts, and T-9th in career wins.

UB hasn't had a All-MAC selection of any sort since Kristin Markiewicz was named to the MAC All-Freshman team, but in their time  in the MAC they've had nine MAC First Team honorees, nine MAC Second Team honorees, and seven MAC All-Freshman team nominees.

Buffalo has made the MAC Tournament seven times, and have just a 2-7 record, only advancing out of the quarterfinals twice.

UB will finish the regular season Thursday with a home match against Akron and then begin the MAC Tournament with a home quarterfinal match on Sunday. Go Bulls!