It's hard to believe that a team that has made eight trips to the CUNYAC Final in 9 years and hasn't lost a CUNYAC regular season game in over three years would be looking for some sort of a reprieve from the disappointment associated with tournament play, but that is exactly what the College of Staten Island women's soccer team will be doing beginning this week when they begin postseason play as the CUNYAC's top seeds in the annual tournament.  Owners of a 15-1-2 overall and 6-0 CUNYAC mark, the Dolphins can hardly be seen as a sure thing headed into the four-team single-elimination tournament, one that carries with it, an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.

"We've had a very good regular season," said CSI Head Coach John Guagliardo, who along with long-time assistant coach Melissa Neglia, have been with the program from start-to-finish.  "The important thing is that we have been winning as a team, and we'll need to continue that for our second season which starts Wednesday.  We haven't won anything yet and we are staying guarded the whole way." 

It's true that CSI essentially rolled through its finest season in 2013, one that did not see them hit the loss column until an October 25th date with SUNY-Old Westbury, coincidentally the first time the Dolphins allowed more than a single goal in a game.  Along the way, the Dolphins were impressive at every turn, posting 10 shutouts, scoring over three goals on seven occasions, and boasting a 3-0 record in games decided on by a single goal.  The Dolphins scattered 75 goals to their opponents' 11, and the Dolphins enjoyed a monster edge is shots, 457-141.

"I think more than the statistics is the fact that we have played a tougher out-of-conference schedule than we have in the past and we've beaten teams that we often have struggled against," Guagliardo said.  "I think the program is better for it, and we can rest on the fact that whatever we achieved this year, we earned."

Known as a defensive-minded coach, Guagliardo's troops have certainly gone on the offensive this season.  The team is ranked sixth in the nation in scoring offense.  The offensive charge is led by senior Demi-Jean Martorano and junior Samantha Wysokowski, who share the team lead with 22 goals apiece, scattering over 200 shots in the process.  Midfield quarterback Melissa Gelardi shattered the NCAA single game record for assists earlier this season, and boasts an NCAA-leading 20 helpers this season.  But perhaps more impressive has been the Dolphins' dynamic back line, led by senior Amanda Percaccio and sophomore Nicole Molinell, flanking one of the CUNYAC's finest keepers in Victoria Donegan, whose miniscule 0.66 goals against average and .854 save percentage is tops in the league and among the all-time lows in CSI single season history.

"We have a high-tempo and high-powered offense, and our defense has been able to make our players at the top more dynamic," the coach said.  "We have a very good balance this year, and we have utilized that balance to keep the intensity up on our opponents." 

Still, CSI has been down this road before.  After perfect conference regular seasons in 2011 and 2012, the team was shut out in the championship finals those years.  The team needed penalty kicks two years ago to topple John Jay College in 2011 in the big game, and with the CUNYAC's first automatic bid to the NCAA's hanging in the balance in 2012, CSI fell frustrated to City College of New York by a 1-0 count in last year's final at Randall's Island.

"We need to play under control and stay composed," Guagliardo noted.  "When we got to the big game in the past we made some mistakes and panicked a bit.  We've played from behind a bit this season, and it's been our composure and our focus that has allowed us to come back in those games and win.  Hopefully, we won't be in that situation this week, but it will be that ability to stay together and focus that will help us break through."

CSI will open up tournament play against No. 4 seeded John Jay.  The Dolphins defeated the Bloodhounds, 4-0, and 3-0 this season, out-shooting their opponents, 69-5, over the 180 minutes, and CSI owns a 9-0-2 overall record against their semifinal foes.  Still, don't think for a second Guagliardo won't stay guarded against the young Bloodhounds.

"We've been down this road before," Guagliardo said of his first-round opponent.  "Two years ago we defeated them twice during the regular season and then we played to a scoreless tie in the Final.  They will elevate their game on Wednesday, and so must we.  There is no way we will take them lightly."

Should CSI prevail in the semifinals, the CUNYAC Final is slated for a 2pm start at Brooklyn College on Saturday, November 9.  There, the Dolphins would face off against either No. 2 Brooklyn College or No. 3 CCNY, the defending champs.  CSI scored a pair of victories against both teams this season in games that were very heavily-contested.  For Guagliardo, he hopes the team can take a gigantic monkey off of their backs by playing well enough to win CSI's seventh CUNYAC title in 10 years.

"No matter who we play or what the matchup is in CUNY at this stage, it's going to be very close, very tight, and very physical," He said.  "We are prepared.  Now we have to put it all together on the field and shine when it matters most."

Tickets to all games of the CUNYAC Tournament, played at Brooklyn College, are FREE of charge, but spectators will need tickets to enter.  Tickets can be registered for via the CUNYAC Athletics Homepage or by clicking here.