CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Samford University soccer team will compete in its final match of the 2012 regular season Wednesday at 5 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs square off against the Chattanooga Lady Mocs in a key rivalry battle to be held at Finley Stadium (20,668).
 
“This is going to be a tough, physical match,” said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. “I think that Chattanooga will really want to come out and make their last match of the year count. They recently won a match at The Citadel, which is something that a lot of people don't do, so I think that we have to expect that it will be a very difficult time for us.”
 
Samford (10-6-2, 7-1-2 SoCon) heads into the contest as the second-place team in the SoCon standings. The Bulldogs are coming off a 2-1 home victory against Elon on Sunday and have been victorious in seven of their last 10 meetings, with two outings being draws against Furman, 2-2, and Appalachian State, 1-1.
 
Samford's lone loss of the 2012 SoCon season was a hard-fought 1-0 setback against UNCG on Friday. The Bulldogs own 23 total points in conference play this year, while first-place UNCG controls its own destiny with 25. The Spartans play at Elon on Wednesday and would clinch the SoCon regular-season title with a win or draw.
 
If UNCG loses to Elon, Samford could clinch the regular-season championship with a victory at Chattanooga (3-12-1, 1-9 SoCon).
 
The Bulldogs own a five-match winning streak against the Lady Mocs and have not been defeated by Chattanooga since 1999. Last season, Samford battled to a 2-1 victory over the Lady Mocs in a hotly-contested showdown held in Birmingham, Ala.
 
“With Chattanooga being out of the SoCon Tournament, you would think that it would be an easier match for us, but that's not the case,” Yelton said. “Last year, we were in the same situation and that was as competitive of a game as we had all year, so I'm expecting it to be very difficult, especially playing on the road at their place. I don't expect anything about it to be easy.”
 
Chattanooga heads into Wednesday's home finale with aspirations of snapping a two-match losing streak. The Lady Mocs have been defeated in nine of its last 10 contests and are coming off a 4-0 defeat versus UNCG on Sunday. Chattanooga has allowed a conference-high 45 goals this season and was outscored, 9-0, over the weekend.
 
“As far as our team is concerned, I still want us to get a bit better in front of goal,” said Yelton. “We need to eliminate giving up goals on set-pieces. When someone has a moment of brilliance and beats us with a great goal, then we can live with that, because you know that's what it takes to beat you.”
 
Samford has boasted an extremely diverse starting lineup this season. The Bulldogs' 11 starters have recently consisted of three seniors, four juniors, two sophomores and a pair of highly-touted true freshmen in Hallie Georgi and Alissa Hansen.
 
“Hallie and Alissa have both been quality players for us this season,” Yelton said. “We've had a lot of talented players come to Samford from Indiana and they're just continuing that legacy. We have a great group of freshman and they've really grown up tremendously this season. They're all wonderful people and those two have gotten themselves in the starting lineup a bit and have done quite well.”
 
Following Wednesday's regular-season finale at Chattanooga, the Samford University soccer team will next be in action Sunday at 2 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs host an opening-round match of the 2012 SoCon Tournament to be held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
 
The Bulldogs' opponent Sunday is yet to be determined, but if Samford enters the postseason as the No. 2 seed in the tournament, its first-round opponent will either be College of Charleston, Western Carolina or The Citadel.