Photo Gallery KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown University head women's soccer coach
Erik Burstein eclipsed the program's all-time wins record in Wednesday's 2-0 win over Seton Hill University at Keystone Field.
Burstein is in his eighth year at the helm of the Golden Bears and improved his career record at Kutztown to 98-45-11, breaking Jeff Schellenberger's record of 97 from 1989-91 and 1998-2006. He holds a .672 winning percentage at KU and has built the program into one of the most nationally-recognizable programs that KU has to offer.
Burstein's overall coaching numbers at KU and Rutgers-Newark sits at 121-74-13.
"I love this program, I love the players that have come through here, and I have such a deep passion for KU women's soccer," Burstein said. "At the end of the day, it is a thrill to be recognized, but without the people that have come through our program from the first day that I got here until today, I wouldn't be here now. We have had exceptional players during my time here and I'm confident that tradition will continue."
Meanwhile, the Golden Bears (7-3, 6-3 PSAC) have won four games in a row with three shutouts and a 10-2 scoring advantage. They moved up to fifth in the conference standings with 18 points.
Seniors
Sam Costello (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) and
Taylor Higgins (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) teamed up to lift the Golden Bears to victory on Wednesday. Both players assisted on the others' second-half goal as KU seemed to dominate possession as well as total shots (14-7).
Defensively, the KU back line of
Morgan Staley (Landenberg, Pa./Kennett),
Hanna Fenstermacher (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove),
Cassie Schmidt (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) and
Sam Busillo (Lincoln University, Pa./Avon Grove) limited Seton Hill to nearly no clean looks at goal and gave goalkeeper
Deanna Messner (Willow Grove, Pa./Archbishop Wood) an organized look in front of her. Wednesday marked the team's fifth shutout of the season.
"We've had to change our back line throughout the season, but this group has been playing really well together," Burstein said. "Hanna is typically a midfield player, but she is such a great asset because she can play anywhere for us. Morgan and Hanna have worked well together as center backs and have kept us strong and organized. We spent the last couple days focusing on keeping our organization, which gives us a great opportunity to go into the second half of this season with confidence in our back line."
Despite the healthy two-goal victory, both teams left prime scoring chances of the field. Both teams had shots go off the crossbar in the first 10 minutes of action, KU had a breakaway stopped by the Seton Hill goalkeeper, but as Coach Burstein noted once Costello scored the eventual game-winner in the second half, "better late than never."
"We were able to build some opportunities, but were just not able to execute early," Burstein said. "But then in the second half, we were able to work well up top and find the back of the net. You are going to have some good days and bad days with execution. Today wasn't one of our better execution days, but we defended really, really well and gave ourselves an opportunity to stay in the game, and that is what it's about."
Following Burstein's 98th win at KU, Kutztown hits the road for the next two games, beginning with Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. KU earned a 3-0 win over the Mountain Cats at home last year at Keystone Field.
