Oct. 29, 2004

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team lost its first match in nearly three weeks on Friday as the Bulldogs fell to cross-town rival Birmingham-Southern, 1-0, in a hard-fought contest at Bulldog Field.

With the loss, Samford (9-6-1) snapped its five-match undefeated streak and fell to a non-conference opponent for the first time since Sept. 10, a 1-0 defeat on the road against Northwestern. Birmingham-Southern (9-7-2) extended its winning streak to six-consecutive matches and trimmed the Bulldogs lead in the all-time series to 3-2-1.

"We got beat by a team that wanted it a lot more than we did tonight," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "It was evident from the very beginning that Birmingham-Southern wanted to win a lot more than we did. It was a fair result tonight because they deserved to win."

Birmingham-Southern's Jess Smith scored the lone goal of Friday's contest in the 78th minute.

The Bulldogs maintained possession in BSC's half of the field for a primary portion of the second half, but the Panthers put together a skillful counterattack that concluded with Anne McIntyre finding Smith for the game-winning goal. On the play, McIntyre dribbled up the right side of the field and sent a precision-perfect crossing pass to Smith, who then found the back of the net. The score was Smith's second of the 2004 season.

The intra-city rivals competed in a physical contest on Friday with each team committing a total of 13 fouls.

Samford outshot the Panthers, 10-5, and earned a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks. Birmingham-Southern's goalkeeper, Andria Gray, turned in a solid performance in goal and registered three saves for her first shutout of the 2004 campaign.

The Bulldogs' Sara Geiger and Marian Wagner paced the team with two shots, while Heather Birdsell, Lindsay Shanks, Kim Matthews, Katie Conway, Rebecca Bohler and Jamie Stout each added single attempts. The shutout loss was Samford's fifth of the season.

"I told our team to remember this feeling and how bad it feels to lose, because we haven't lost one in a while," Yelton said. "I want to make sure that they don't want to feel this same feeling next week in the conference tournament. Hopefully, we can use this loss as motivation for working hard and getting prepared for the tournament."

The Samford University soccer team will next be in action on Friday, Nov. 5, as the Bulldogs begin play in the 2004 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament against either No. 3-seeded Morehead State or No.5-seeded Jacksonville State. Samford is hosting the OVC Tournament for a second-straight season and will play in the 7 p.m. match on Friday.

Birmingham-Southern (9-7-2) def. Samford (9-6-1), 1-0

BSC 0 1 - 1

SAM 0 0 - 0

Scoring: BSC, Jess Smith (2) 77:10 (assist Anne McIntyre).

Saves: BSC, Andria Gray 3; SAM, Crystal Royall 1.

Yellow Cards: SAM, Team (47:49).