Aug. 17, 2006

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Samford's Heather Birdsell scored a goal with 30 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Bulldogs to a 3-2 exhibition victory over Southern Miss (0-1) on Thursday. With the win, Samford improved to 1-0 in preseason play.

"It was an exciting match and I'm proud of how our players never gave up," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "They had every opportunity to fold, but they never did. I'm glad that we won, but you could definitely tell that it was our first match of the season."

Trailing 2-1 with less than five minutes remaining, Samford's Paige Lanter tallied an unassisted goal at 85:23 to even the score at 2-2. Lanter, a true freshman from Hixson, Tenn., logged 51 minutes and scored on her lone shot of the evening.

"Paige did a great job of showing her versatility," Yelton said. "She played most of the game at defender and then moved up front later on. I think that she is a little more comfortable playing forward right now and she showed that by scoring a goal."

Samford's Cassie Applegate tallied the team's first goal at 72:44. She was set up on the score by true freshman Amber Cress.

The Bulldogs outshot Southern Miss 23-13, with 14 shots coming in the second half.

Neither team scored in the first half of play. At 60:49, the Golden Eagles' Jessica Stephens opened the scoring with an unassisted goal. Samford's Applegate then evened the count at 1-1.

Southern Miss jumped out to its 2-1 advantage on a goal from Sarah McFadden at 76:20. She was assisted on the play by Megan Kolts.

Birdsell, a first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference performer, earned her first game-winning goal of the 2006 campaign. In 2005, Birdsell led the team with four game-winners.

Samford's Rebecca Bohler, the reigning OVC Player of the Year, led all players with four shot attempts. She only played 33 minutes in the contest and two of her shots were on goal.

All 23 of Samford's uninjured players received significant playing time. Four of the Bulldogs' returning starters from last season came in off the bench and played sparingly.

"We treated this game like an exhibition," said Yelton. "Every player had an opportunity to see good minutes and a lot of our younger players were out there for a majority of the time. Some players did a really good job and there are still others that have a lot of things to work on."

Samford will conclude its preseason schedule Saturday at 7 p.m., against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The match will be held at the UA Soccer Complex in Tuscaloosa, Ala.