Aug. 12, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In the first match held at the brand-new Samford Soccer Complex, the Samford University soccer team fought to a 0-0 draw Friday against the Tennessee Lady Vols in a hard-fought preseason exhibition contest.

"I thought our team played well," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "Tennessee is a good team and (Head Coach) Angela (Kelly) does a great job with them. We knew that they would present a challenge with the athleticism that they possess, but in all honestly I didn't really know what to expect from our team. So far this preseason, we haven't had enough healthy players to play 11-vs-11, so I was very happy with the effort tonight."

Samford (0-0-1) dictated the pace of the match for a predominant portion of the first half and led Tennessee (0-0-1) with five shot attempts to three in the opening period. The teams finished Friday's contest tied 11-11 in total shots.

"We seemed to control the match early in the first half, but that was also when the heat was making it very difficult for both teams," Yelton said. "I was happy with the amount of chances that we created. I also thought we did a good job with our movement off the ball, but at the end of the day we still want to score goals and I think we're getting closer to that goal."

The Bulldogs' senior goalkeeper Alyssa Whitehead tallied five saves in 90 minutes of play, while Tennessee's starting goalkeeper Julie Eckel posted five saves in nearly 57 minutes of action. The Lady Vols' sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Rolfs entered the match in the second half but didn't tally a save in the final 33 minutes of regulation.

Due to Friday's contest being an exhibition match, the teams did not play overtime.

Pacing the Bulldogs' offense was sophomore midfielder Trine Taule and true freshman Amanda Abbott. Taule led Samford with three shot attempts, one of which was on-goal, while Abbott tallied two shot attempts, her first of which nearly gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 advantage.

Midway through the first period, Abbott received a brilliant lead pass from Kaley Blanton and sped her way past a pair of Tennessee defenders. Blanton's service ball was perfectly placed ahead of Abbott and she was barely able to rattle off a shot to the right of the charging goalkeeper. Abbott's empty-net shot attempt was heading towards the right corner of the net, but ran out of gas just short of the goal line.

Samford posted six corner kicks Friday as compared to five from Tennessee.

"I'm pleased with how we played today," said Yelton. "I thought we always had a chance to be pretty good, but at the end of the day it was just an exhibition match, so we can't get carried away with how we played, because there are a lot of factors that go into it. This was just another piece of the puzzle towards getting better and we still have work to do. Hopefully, we'll continue to get better before the regular season and then get even better before the beginning of SoCon play."

Tennessee's offensive attack was led by senior midfielder Chelsea Hatcher. The Lady Vols' native of Cincinnati, Ohio, rattled off three shot attempts Friday, two of which were on goal.

Samford finished the match with 16 student-athletes receiving playing time and eight different Bulldogs tallying shot attempts. Tennessee finished with 20 players earned playing time, while nine different Lady Vols rattled off shots.

"I thought that Kaley Blanton did an outstanding job for us today considering we asked her to play in the back and she hasn't done that much," Yelton said. "She played 90 minutes for us tonight and that's the first time she's done that since she's been at Samford. I thought Kaley was fantastic and then Shanika also played all 90 minutes and she really helped in the midfield. Those two were good, but I can't say a single bad word about any of our players and how they performed for us tonight."

The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs continue their exhibition season against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at the MSU Soccer Field located in Starkville, Miss.