Oct. 11, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team will embark upon its first road trip of the 2007 Ohio Valley Conference season Friday as the Bulldogs square off against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at 3 p.m., in Richmond, Ky.

Samford (8-3-0, 3-0-0 OVC) enters the contest riding the positive momentum of a four-match winning streak. The Bulldogs are currently the 15th-ranked team in SoccerBuzz's talent-laden Southeast Region and have rattled off consecutive victories against UAB 2-1, Tennessee-Martin 3-0, Murray State 2-1 and Jacksonville State 4-0.

In Samford's most recent win, freshman Leah Leppert scored a pair of goals in the opening eight minutes of play and led the Bulldogs to a sixth-straight victory against Jacksonville State. With the win, Samford improved its home record to 7-2 this season.

The Bulldogs have only played one road match this year.

On Sept. 14, Samford faced off against nationally-ranked Indiana and dropped a hard-fought 2-1 decision in Bloomington, Ind. Indiana is currently the third-ranked team in the Great Lakes Region and the 25th-ranked team in the nation.

Eastern Kentucky (1-9-2, 0-4-0 OVC) heads into Friday's matchup with aspirations of ending its current seven-match losing streak.

The Colonels have lost consecutive games against Radford 2-1, Akron 1-0, Western Kentucky 2-6, Eastern Illinois 2-0, Southeast Missouri 9-0, Tennessee-Martin 1-0 and Murray State 1-0. Eastern Kentucky has not been victorious since Sept. 9, when the Colonels earned a 1-0 triumph at Detroit.

Eastern Kentucky has been outscored 28-5 this season. The Colonels have yet to tally an OVC goal in 2007 and have been outscored 13-0 in conference play.

Offensively, Eastern Kentucky has been led by freshman forward Alex Hartwick. Hartwick, a native of Granite City, Ill., is pacing the team with two goals this season. Goalkeeper Stephanie Lynch is coming off a pair of quality performances last week as she tallied 16 total saves, including 13 stops against Tennessee-Martin.

Samford's defense has only allowed one goal in conference play this season. In three OVC matches, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 9-1.

Last week, Samford's defense was anchored by sophomore defender Caroline Baxter and junior goalkeeper Cayley Winters.

Baxter played all 90 minutes in Samford's 4-0 victory against Jacksonville State on Friday. The Bulldogs only allowed five shot attempts and one shot on goal in the match. Baxter marked Jacksonville State's high-powered striker Paige Rovillo and didn't allow one shot attempt.

Winters earned a combined shutout Friday as she helped lead Samford to a 4-0 victory against Jacksonville State. She played the first 79:24 of the match and recorded the team's lone save. In the win, Winters improved her miniscule goals-against average to 0.93 on the season.

Following Samford's matchup against Eastern Kentucky on Friday, the Bulldogs will continue their weekend road swing at Morehead State on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Live Stats - Samford at Eastern Kentucky