Eastern Michigan Athletics
Thursday, September 18
Ypsilanti, Mich.
4:30 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
vs
Buffalo
Photo by: Walt Middleton Photography
Soccer Starting MAC Play Against Buffalo, Toledo
9/16/2025 8:28:00 PM | Soccer
Eastern hosting UB Thursday, Sept. 18, at 4:30 p.m.
| Soccer vs. Buffalo, at Toledo | |
| Date | Thursday, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m. | Sunday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. |
| Venue | Scicluna Field | Ypsilanti, Mich. | Paul Hotmer Field | Toledo, Ohio |
| Preview Info | EMU Notes (PDF) |
| Watch | Watch vs. Buffalo |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| @EMUSoccer | @EMUAthletics | |
ON THE AIR: The Eagles and Bulls will air on ESPN+ with Tom Helmer and former EMU soccer player Alia Reitano on the call. Furthermore, live stats for the match will be available at EMUEagles.com/livestats.
QUICK KICKS:
»Despite outshooting Loyola Chicago, 10-8, the Eagles dropped a 2-0 decision to the Ramblers after conceding a far post bank-shot goal in the 22nd minute and a far goal 20-yards out in the 66th minute.
»Prior to the losses against the Ramblers, Sept. 11, and against DePaul, Sept. 7, Eastern had won consecutive matches by multiple goals for the first time since 2014.
»Eastern defeated Robert Morris, 2-0, Aug. 31. Aniyah Mack scored in the 13th minute while Olivia Sipsock netted a 47th-minute goal. Maya Marolly had a pair of assists.
» The Eagles also beat Southern Indiana, Aug. 28, as Rosalie Takacsy, Olivia Sipsock, and Kaylee Synk were credited with goals.
»Olivia Sipsock scored goals in back-to-back matches against USI, Aug. 28, and RMU, Aug. 31.
»Eastern celebrated its seniors Sunday (Sophia Baumann, Mary Grimes, Meghan Heath, Secora Johnson, Lily Spotak, and Hannah Thompson) prior to the contest against Robert Morris, Aug. 31.
»The Eagles returned 14/36 players (39%) but bring back 12/15 (80%) of their goals scored (losing just the three scored by Maddie O'Farrell) as well as 71% of their minutes played.
»Head Coach Taylor Clarke is in his second season at the helm of the Eagles. Joining Clarke on staff are Associate Head Coach Matt Hinds (second season), Assistant Coach Meg Nemnich (first season), and Goalkeeping Coach Zach Shuk (second season).
MAC OPENERS: Eastern looks to improve on its impressive 15-7-6 all-time mark in MAC openers. Eastern, which opened the MAC slate against Central Michigan the last three seasons and four of the last five campaigns, will face the Chippewas to close the season, Oct. 29. EMU is 2-0-3 in its last five MAC openers, with its last loss in a MAC opener coming Sept. 27, 2019, at Miami.
After drawing against CMU, 2-2, to open MAC play last season at home, the Eagles will play their first MAC match of the season at home for the second-consecutive season for the first time since the 1999 and 2000 seasons. Eastern, which has tied three-straight MAC home openers, will seek to improve upon its impressive 17-5-6 MAC home opener record.
Sept. 18 marks Eastern's earliest MAC home opener since the 2004 season, when EMU had a scoreless draw at Ball State, Sept. 10.
FAMILIAR SCORERS: Eastern looks to get scoring from some familiar faces who've succeeded against Buffalo: juniors Olivia Sipsock and Cameryn Susey. Both registered goals in the Eagles' 3-3 tie against Buffalo Oct. 1, 2023.; Susey notably scored her first collegiate goal in the match.
FACING HOMETOWN TEAM: Eastern's match against Buffalo this Thursday, Sept. 18, will see junior Rosalie Takacsy face her hometown team. Takacsy hails form Orchard Park, N. Y., growing up less than 20 miles from the University of Buffalo.
ON THE ROAD: With their first road MAC game against Toledo Sunday, Sept. 21 at 1:00 p.m. ET, the Eagles will find themselves at Toledo for only the third time in eight seasons. The last time Eastern faced Toledo on the road resulted in a 3-0 loss, Oct. 12, 2023.
HANNAH THOMPSON 50 MATCHES: Senior Hannah Thompson has played in 49 career matches. Her 50th career match is expected to come against Buffalo, Sept. 18. She has started all six matches this season and 10 in her career.
RECORD ATTENDANCE: Eastern looks to have a packed home crowd against Buffalo to begin in-conference play. The Eagles' match Sunday, Aug. 31 against Robert Morris drew in an attendance of 451, 13th-best in program history and second-best this decade since 473 people attended the match Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022 against Bowling Green.
BACK-TO-BACK WINS BY MULTIPLE GOALS: With a 3-1 win at Southern Indiana, Aug. 28, and a 2-0 win over Robert Morris, Aug. 31, Eastern Michigan won consecutive matches by multiple goals for the first time since 2014, when it topped UIC, 4-2, and Miami, 2-0.
Eastern won four-straight non-conference affairs by multiple goals, extending from the 2013 to the 2014 season, but has not won three-straight non-conference matches in the same season by at least two goals since the 1999 campaign, doing so against Duquesne, Valaparaiso, and Youngstown State.
SIPSOCK BACK-TO-BACK MATCHES WITH A GOAL: After scoring the game-winner at Southern Indiana, Aug. 28, and against Robert Morris, Aug. 31, junior Olivia Sipsock scored in consecutive games for the second time in her career. Sipsock, who scored against UIC and Youngstown State in back-to-back games in 2024, netted five goals in each of her first two seasons.
LAND OF LINCOLN DOMINANCE: With its game against Loyola Chicago Thursday, Sept. 11, Eastern played their 72nd game against a team from Illinois. The Eagles are 37-28-7 all-time against teams from Illinois.
After heading to DePaul this season, to UIC and Loyola Chicago in 2024, to Illinois State in 2022, and to Western Illinois in 2021, Eastern made its fifth trip in five years to the Land of Lincoln. Eastern is 2-2 in road non-conference games in Illinois since 2021. All-time, Eastern is 9-5-1 in non-conference road contests in the state of Illinois, which includes an impressive 8-3-1 mark since 2006.
SENIOR CELEBRATION: Sophia Baumann, Mary Grimes, Meghan Heath, Secora Johnson, Lily Spotak, and Hannah Thompson were honored as part of Senior Day ahead of the match against Robert Morris, Aug. 31.
FIVE-STRAIGHT FULL 90s: Junior Sarah Van Euwen played all 90 minutes in six straight matches to start the season.
KAYLEE SYNK FIRST START VS. LOYOLA CHICAGO: Freshman Kaylee Synk made her first collegiate start against Loyola Chicago, Sept. 11, playing 42 minutes.
CARA PETRY DEBUT VS. UIC: Freshman Cara Petry made her Eastern debut against UIC, Aug. 21, playing 18 minutes.
BACK-TO-BACK HOME MATCHES TO START: With the home match against Cincinnati, Aug. 14, and home match against UIC, Aug. 21, Eastern opened the season with back-to-back home matches for the first time since 2014 and seventh time in program history.
OPENED AT HOME FOR THE SEVENTH-STRAIGHT SEASON: With the match against Cincinnati, Aug. 14, Eastern started the season at home for the seventh-straight season, a streak that is tied for fourth in the nation. During that span, EMU is 2-2-3 overall.
Division I's Longest Active Season Opener at Home Streaks (Includes 2025):
School Streak
1. Memphis 11 games
2. Florida Atlantic 10 games
3. Dartmouth 9 games
T4. Eastern Michigan 7 games
Omaha 7 games
Assistant Coach Meg Nemnich has a direct connection to three of the schools in the top-five, having started her playing career at Memphis before transferring for four seasons at Omaha and beginning her coaching career at Eastern Michigan.
Radford (eight), Virginia (seven), and Fairfield (six) all saw their streaks of consecutive season openers coming at home come to an end in 2025.
POWER FOUR OPENER: With the match against the Big 12's Cincinnati, Aug. 14, the Eagles hosted a Power Four opponent for the first time since battling Syracuse University, Sept. 1, 2022.
EMU opened the season against a Power Four foe for the first time since taking on Purdue to start the 2018 season (L, 0-3) and the first time doing so in a home opener since 2012, when EMU faced Pittsburgh (L, 1-2).
IN THE SERIES WITH BUFFALO: Eastern Michigan and Buffalo are meeting for the 30th time Thursday. The series is tied 11-11-7, after Buffalo tied the series with a 1-0 win Sept. 22, 2024.
ELLA HOLLAND, BEST SEASON SINCE...?: After conceding 2.03 goals/match in 2023, redshirt junior Ella Holland produced one of the most impressive seasons in 2024 in goal for the Eagles in recent memory. Her 0.78 GAA in 2024 is the fourth-best in program history and the best since Maggie Manville's 0.54 GAA mark in 2009. Her .846 save rate is the seventh-best percentage in program history and best since Monique Budani's .874 mark in 2010.
EVERY MINUTE IN GOAL FOR HOLLAND: Redshirt junior Ella Holland played every minute in goal during the 2024 season. Kaylin Williams was the last EMU goalkeeper to do so as she was credited with every minute played in goal in 2016.
Rachel Washburn, wife to Eastern Michigan football legend and current Las Vegas Raider Maxx Crosby, is the most recent Eagle field player to play every minute of every match, doing so for all 19 matches in 2015.
Consecutive Minutes Played Streak (Since 2014)
Player Minutes Full Matches Played Streak Years
1. Kaylin Williams 24:59:08 24 2014-16
2. Ella Holland 2125:00* 23 2023-25
3. Emily Dzik 2029:38 22 2013-14
4. Rachel Washburn 1908:03 19 2014-16
*active
NINE CLEAN SHEETS IN 2024: The nine clean sheets are the most for EMU in a single season since 2009 (nine). Eastern had six shutouts in the MAC play, which is its most in a single season since 1999 (eight).
UNDEFEATED AT HOME IN 2024: After three-straight wins at home to open the 2024 home slate, EMU finished 5-0-3 at Scicluna Field in 2024, most recently topping Kent State, 1-0, Oct. 27.
The Eagles went unbeaten on their home turf for the first time since the 1999 team went an impressive 10-0-1 at home and earned its second-ever undefeated home slate.
Entering the 2024 season, Eastern had a 22-match home streak since its last victory at Scicluna Field. Eastern had also not secured a home shutout since beating Miami, 3-0, Oct. 18, 2018, breaking a stretch of 39 home contests. EMU broke both streaks by beating Oakland, 1-0, Aug. 15, 2024
Prior to the Eastern loss to Cincinnati, Aug. 14, EMU's last loss on its home turf came via a 4-0 decision to Miami, Oct. 26, 2023.
HEAD COACH TAYLOR CLARKE: Taylor Clarke is in his second season at the helm of Eastern Michigan, leading EMU to a six-win improvement in his first year and an undefeated 5-0-3 mark at home. Clarke is just the third head coach in program history (since 1995). Clarke was previously at Division III's Carroll University with additional stops at the MAC's BGSU (Associate Head Coach, 2021-23), Division II's Ashland (Head Coach, 2018-21; Assistant Coach, 2014-16), Division III's Calvin College (Assistant Coach, 2017-18), and UNC-Wilmington (Assistant Coach, 2016-17). Clarke played his college soccer at Division II Saginaw Valley State, captaining the 2012 squad to the Division II National Championship match.
ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH MATT HINDS: Matt Hinds is in his second season as the team's associate head coach, helping Eastern to a 7-6-5 mark in his first year on staff. Hinds spent the last three seasons as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at his alma mater Division III Calvin College. Hinds, an All-American at Calvin 2017, overlapped with Clarke at Calvin as Clarke was an assistant coach for the Knights at the time. The pair also overlapped at Division II Ashland as Hinds spent one and one half years on staff for the Eagles. Hinds started his coaching journey at Division II Malone in 2019.
ASSISTANT COACH MEG NEMNICH: Meg Nemnich was hired as the team's assistant coach. Nemnich is a former player at the Summit League's University of Nebraska at Omaha, spending the 2021-24 seasons in Omaha as a student-athlete, earning All-Summit Second-Team honors as a senior. During her time as a student-athlete at Omaha, Nemnich played in 69 matches for the Mavericks, including 37 starts, primarily in the midfield. She was credited with two goals and one assist in her career, highlighted by a game-winner against the University of North Dakota, Oct. 10, 2024.
WHO'S BACK?: After losing just three players ahead of the 2024 season due to graduation, Head Coach Taylor Clarke and crew face a different challenge in 2025 as the Eagles lost 22 players from their 2024 roster due to graduation, the transfer portal, and expected NCAA roster limits.
In total, Eastern returns just 14/36 players (39%) but brings back 12/15 (80%) of its goals scored (losing just the three scored by Maddie O'Farrell) as well as 71% of its minutes played.
WHO'S NEW?: Eastern Michigan added nine freshmen and five transfers (Ciara Brown, Auburn; Ella Fuller, Morehead State; Meghan Heath, Canisius; Aniyah Mack, Austin Peay; Maya Marolly, St. Bonaventure).
NO POSTSEASON SINCE 2019: Eastern Michigan has not advanced to the MAC Tournament since falling in the championship match in 2019. The Eagles were 6-3 in the MAC in 2020 but the MAC Tournament was not played due to COVID-19. Prior to the current streak, the Eagles had never previously missed the MAC Tournament in back-to-back seasons.
HISTORIC CREW STADIUM FOR THE MAC TOURNAMENT: The MAC announced that the conference tournament will be held at the Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, for the 2025 and 2026 seasons with quarterfinals scheduled for Nov. 1, semifinals set for Nov. 4, and the championship, Nov. 7.
Historic Crew Stadium is the first-ever professional soccer-specific stadium in the United States.
This will mark the first time in conference history the event will be hosted at a neutral site.
FOLLOW ALONG: You can follow the Eagles on your favorite social media platforms, including Twitter (@EMUSoccer), Instagram (@EMUSoccer), and Facebook (Eastern Michigan Soccer).
UP NEXT: Eastern travels to Miami Thursday, Sept. 25, at 7:00 p.m. at Bobby Kramig Field.
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/ SoccerCinematic Highlights: Eastern Soccer vs. Kent State
Monday, October 28
Cinematic Highlights: Soccer vs. Western Michigan
Monday, October 14
Cinematic Highlights: Eastern Soccer vs. Miami
Monday, October 07
Cinematic Highlights: Eastern Soccer vs. Toledo
Friday, September 27