Oct. 29, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The top-seeded Samford University soccer team will begin play in the 2011 Southern Conference Tournament on Sunday at 4 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs welcome the Western Carolina Catamounts to the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium for a key first-round matchup.

Samford (11-5-2) heads into the contest with hopes of earning its eighth straight victory. Since playing to a scoreless draw with The Citadel on Oct. 2, the Bulldogs have rattled off consecutive wins against Wofford 3-0, Furman 2-1, Appalachian State 2-1, Western Carolina (9-9-1) 1-0, Davidson 2-0, Georgia Southern 1-0 and Chattanooga 2-1.

With its home victory versus Chattanooga on Wednesday, Samford set a school record by extending its undefeated streak to 11 straight matches. The Bulldogs' current stretch topped the previous school record of 10-consecutive contests, which was achieved in 2009.

In Samford's most recent outing against Chattanooga, the Bulldogs received first-half goals from Michelle Moll and Lindsay Matern to jump out to a quick 2-0 advantage. In the second half of play, Chattanooga unleashed an aggressive offensive attack, but Samford was able to hold on for a 2-1 triumph.

Western Carolina enters Sunday's match as the eighth-seeded team in the 2011 SoCon Tournament. The Catamounts have been defeated in six of their last seven outings, but knocked off arch-rival Appalachian State to secure a tournament bid, 1-0, on Wednesday.

In its thrilling one-goal victory against the Mountaineers, Western Carolina sophomore Christine Kaznowski got the Catamounts on the board with the game-winning score at 25:51. Kaznowski took a pass from junior Laura Greb and headed the ball into the goal from about five yards out.

Appalachian State had just six shots on goal, three in each period, and redshirt junior Katie Jacobs only had to make two saves.

Western Carolina's victory snapped a six-game losing streak. The Catamounts had won just one game in the month of October prior to the victory over the Mountaineers.

Samford owns a 3-1-1 all-time record against Western Carolina and has been victorious in two straight matches against the Catamounts. When facing Western Carolina at home in Birmingham, Ala., the Bulldogs hold a 1-0-1 record. Earlier this season, Samford tallied a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Catamounts in Cullowhee, N.C., on Oct. 6.

In this season's first meeting between the Bulldogs and Catamounts, Samford's Sarah Wilkinson tallied a second-half goal to secure the 1-0 victory. Wilkinson's score occurred in the 62nd minute of play and proved to be her team-leading seventh goal of the season. Wilkinson now has a total of 22 goals in her career, which is ranked fifth in school history.

Samford and Western Carolina have met just once in the SoCon Tournament. On Nov. 8, 2008, the Catamounts defeated the Bulldogs 1-0 in a semifinal-round contest held at College of Charleston's Patriots Point located in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. The 2008 matchup also proved to be the same year that Western Carolina won its third SoCon Tournament title in school history.

The Bulldogs' four-year starting goalkeeper Alyssa Whitehead holds the school's all-time record in career shutouts with 32. So far this season, Whitehead has registered six shutouts and has already made a season-high 97 saves. She also leads the conference with a miniscule goals-against average of 0.91.

Head Coach Todd Yelton is Samford's all-time winningest coach with 121 victories. In his 10th season at the helm of the Bulldogs, Yelton has compiled a stellar 121-51-28 overall record and has led Samford to five regular-season conference championships.

The winner of Sunday's SoCon Tournament match will advance to the semifinal round of the eight-team tournament and will square off against either No. 4-seed Davidson or the fifth-seeded Furman Lady Paladins at 4 p.m. (CDT) on Friday at the UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, N.C. Davidson and Furman meet in their opening-round matchup Sunday at 2 p.m., in Davidson, N.C.

GameTracker - Western Carolina at Samford