READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's soccer team will host Hood in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Commonwealth Tournament play-in game on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
 
Albright is the No. 4 seed in the tournament, while Hood is the No. 5 seed. This will be the second time in three seasons that the Lions will be hosting a MAC Commonwealth Tournament game.  
 
Tickets: The MAC mandates the prices for adults at $5, senior citizens at $4, and children $2, and for children under 6 with an adult are free. Albright students with a valid ID will be free as well courtesy of the office of the Vice President for Student and Campus life. All tickets can be purchased at the gate. 
 
Live Coverage: The Albright sports information office will provide live video and live stats for the game. Links can be found on the Albright women's soccer schedule page. There will also be live updates provided throughout the game on the official twitter for Albright athletics (@AlbrightLions).
 
MAC Commonwealth Tournament: Albright is the No. 4 seed in the tournament and battles No. 5 seed Hood in the play-in game. The winner will face top-seeded Messiah on Thursday night. In the other semifinal matchup, No. 2 Arcadia will host No. 3 Stevenson on Thursday night. Thursday's winners will advance to the MAC Commonwealth championship game on Saturday at the home of the highest remaining seed.
 
Records: Albright finished the regular season with an 11-7 mark overall and a 5-3 record in conference play. The Lions won four of their last five games to close out the season, highlighted by a 2-1 win on the road against then No. 14 Arcadia on October 19^th. Hood went 11-7-2 overall and 3-4-1 in conference play, but closed things out with a 2-1 loss to Lycoming on Saturday. The Blazers have gone 0-4-1 since starting conference play 3-0.
 
Scouting Albright: Albright ranks fifth in the conference in goals scored with 31, and fewest goals allowed with 27.  Lions' sophomore midfielder Diza Hasanaj leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference with eight goals. Classmate Autumn Bieber leads the team and ranks sixth in the conference with 19 points.  Bieber also leads the team with five assists, and junior Lauren Haley is tied with Bieber for seven goals. Senior Jillian Lapidus has scored three goals in her last five games. In goal, sophomore Olivia Donkus ranks fourth in the Commonwealth with a 1.22 goals against average (GAA), and with a .810 save percentage. Donkus has earned a pair of MAC Commonwealth defensive player of the week honors this season as well. Classmate Vanessa Baker started the Lions most recent game against Alvernia last Friday, and earned a 3-1 win.
 
Lions in the Playoffs: This marks the sixth straight season and eighth time in the last nine years that Albright has qualified for the MAC Commonwealth tournament. The Lions are in search of their first ever playoff win after dropping a 3-0 contest to Arcadia in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament semifinals.  
 
Scouting Hood: Hood is tied for second in the conference with 44 total goals, and ranks just ahead of Albright in fewest goals allowed with 26.  The Blazers also rank third with 287 shots taken, and second with 154 shots on goal. Senior forward Erin Scarborough leads the team, and ranks second in the MAC Commonwealth with 12 goals on the year. Scarborough also ranks third with 30 points, and is tied for the conference lead with 86 shots taken. Junior Melissa Merritt ranks second on the team with 22 points behind eight goals and six assists. In net, junior Lydia Erickson ranks fifth in the conference with a 1.42 GAA and .803 save percentage. Erickson also ranks fourth with five shutouts, and third with 106 saves.
 
Blazers in the Playoffs: The Blazers are making their first-ever MAC Commonwealth Tournament appearance in program history. Hood set a new program record with three MAC Commonwealth wins this season with three. This is their first postseason game since they advanced to the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) semifinals during the 2008 season against St. Mary's (Md.), where they fell 2-0.
 
Series: Since Hood joined the conference in 2012, the Lions have won all eight meetings in the series. This will be the first postseason matchup between the squads.
 
Last Meeting: Albright defeated the Blazers 3-2 in overtime just under one week ago at Shirk Stadium. Following a scoreless first half, the teams went back and forth in the second half to leave the score deadlocked at two into overtime. Hasanaj headed in the game-winner for the Lions in the 96^th minute off a free kick from Bieber. The Lions also got goals from Bieber, and Lapidus, while the Blazers goals came from Scarborough and Jasmine Mangle.
 
Head Coaches: Albright head coach Pat Stanco has posted a 140-122-26 mark in 15 seasons as the head coach of the Lions. He is the winningest coach in program history and has guided the Lions to four consecutive double-digit win seasons.
 
Hood head coach Conor Prachar is in his fourth season at the helm of the Blazers and has posted a 26-40-5 during that stretch. Prachar has seen improvement in every season since 2016 as the Blazers have matched their most wins in a single-season mark that was set back in 2005.
 
Up Next: The winner will advance to the MAC Commonwealth Tournament Semifinals at No. 1 seed Messiah on Thursday, November 7^th at 7 p.m.