Nov. 1, 2005
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Horizon League Player of the Week
Michelle Sarmiento
Wright State, Senior, Forward, Centerville, Ohio
Sarmiento scored both of Wright State's goals in a 2-1 victory over Loyola Wednesday and helped the Raiders to a 2-0 week to extend their unbeaten streak to six matches entering the Horizon League tournament. After staking WSU to a first-half lead, she headed in a shot with less than 10 seconds remaining in overtime for the game-win­ner and her first career multi-goal match.
Horizon League Championship Notes
* Defending champion Detroit enters the tournament trying to become the first repeat winner since UW-Milwaukee in 2001 and `02. Wright State won three straight tourney titles from 1998-2000. Last season the Titans beat Michigan 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to become the first League team to win an NCAA match since former member Notre Dame finished as national runner-up to perennial power North Carolina in 1994.
* UW-Milwaukee captured its sixth straight Horizon League regular-season title this fall and has posted a League record of 34-1-2 (.946) in that stretch, outscoring opponents 82-17. However, the Panthers have won only two tournament crowns in the last five years, winning back-to-back postseason trophies in 2001 and `02.
* Tournament host and third-seed UW-Green Bay features the Horizon League's top two scorers in Stephanie Gross (23 pts.) and Sarah Oligney (22). Both netted a League-high five goals in conference matches. The Phoenix averages a League-best 1.78 goals per match, including 2.43 in conference action.
* Several teams head into the tournament on hot streaks -- UW-Milwaukee owns a nine-match unbeaten streak (8-0-1); Wright State has lost only once in its last 12 matches (8-1-3); and Detroit has lost only once in its last nine (5-1-3). The Raiders have won their last five matches and the Panthers their final four.
* Two of the four quarterfinal contests will be rematches of regular-season finales played Friday, Oct. 28. Fourth-seed Wright State shut out fifth-seed Butler 1-0 at Dayton, while second-seed Detroit blanked seventh-seed Youngstown State 2-0 in Motown.
* This year's tournament will be the first played in Green Bay since 1995 when Detroit bested UW-Milwaukee 4-0 in the championship game. Last year's event was held in Indianapolis at Kuntz Stadium and Butler's Varsity Field.
* The Horizon League champion has twice been decided in a shootout. Wright State downed UW-Milwaukee in 1999, and UWM dispatched Butler in 1997.
* Four of the last five championship games have been 1-0 scores, including UW-Milwaukee's triple-overtime victory over Butler in 2001.
* Opening-round opponents Wright State and Butler both enter the tournament looking for their first posteason victories since the 2002 quarterfinals. Youngstown State, which joined the League in 2001, has never won a tournament match.
* Cleveland State's scoreless tie with Youngstown State Sunday to close the regular season ended the Vikings' 36-match losing streak since the program's inception prior to the 2004 season.
* UW-Milwaukee freshman Erin Kane leads the Horizon League with a 0.72 goals-against average and a League-best nine shutouts, three more than Detroit's Katie Fortenberry and Wright State's Steph Comisar.
* Both of the last two tournament MVPs return in Detroit's Mary Parker (2003) and Allison Epple (2004). Parker also was the 2004 Horizon League Player of the Year.
* Loyola won the 2003 League tournament crown after entering the postseason classic as the seventh -- and lowest -- seed in the field. That also marks the only appearance in the championship match for the Ramblers, who hosted the tournament that season.
* Notre Dame holds the tournament's single-match scoring record with 10 goals in a shutout of Xavier in the 1994 quarterfinals. Three other teams have netted seven goals, most recently Butler in a shutout of Youngstown State in the 2002 quarterfinals. Notre Dame also set the championship match scoring mark in 1994 with a 5-1 win over Butler in the finals.
