STATESBORO, Ga. – The Samford University soccer team will begin play in its 2012 Southern Conference schedule with a stiff test Friday at 4 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs square off against the Georgia Southern Eagles in a pivotal early-season conference showdown to be held at Eagle Field (500).
 
“Everything all year builds up to the conference season and I think that we have a huge task in front of us,” said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. “Georgia Southern is a very good team and they are always tough to play at their place. They've gotten off to a great start this season and I'm sure they're playing with a lot of confidence right now. This is going to be a very tough match for us.”
 
Samford (3-5) heads into Friday's contest looking to rebound from a pair of hard-fought home losses to Kennesaw State, 2-1, and Jacksonville State, 2-1. In Sunday's defeat against Jacksonville State, the Bulldogs outshot the Gamecocks, 22-7, and outnumbered their counterparts, 12-1, in corner kicks.
 
Despite Samford's offensive dominance, sophomore forward Amanda Abbott was the lone Bulldog to find the back of the net. In its two matches over the weekend, Samford outshot its opponents by a total of 47-12 and out-tallied its foes in corner kicks by a margin of 20-2.
 
“I think we've done an outstanding job of creating chances, but we definitely need to be a bit more clinical in our finishing,” Yelton said. “The other challenge that we gave to our players this week is that they don't play within their comfort zone. They need to push themselves to become the best that they can be, because talent alone isn't enough to win a championship.”
 
So far this season, Samford owns a 1-2 record at home and an 0-3 standing when competing on the road. The Bulldogs have faced one of the most difficult road schedules in the nation this season and have been defeated in non-conference decisions at Tennessee, Alabama and Auburn.
 
“Obviously, we would have preferred to open SoCon play at home, because every road match in this league is extremely difficult,” said Yelton. “This will be a challenging road trip for us, because all of the coaches in this league are quality coaches, so this will be a daunting task.”
 
Georgia Southern (4-1-3) enters Friday's duel as the third-place team in the current SoCon standings. The Eagles have only suffered one loss this season and are coming off a 1-1 draw at Charleston Southern on Sunday. Georgia Southern is coming off one of its best years in SoCon history and opened the 2012 campaign with back-to-back shutout wins against Stetson, 2-0, and Gardner-Webb, 3-0.
 
The Eagles have also knocked off North Florida, 1-0, this season and battled to draws versus High Point, 1-1, and Jacksonville, 0-0. Georgia Southern's lone setback this fall was a 3-2 home loss to Georgia State.
 
“Lindsay (Vanderspiegel) is doing a great job as the head coach at Georgia Southern,” Yelton said. “She's been very successful in the short time that she's been there and they made the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament last year. That was a key building block for them and they are just getting better and better.”
 
Samford owns a 6-0-1 all-time record against Georgia Southern and a 3-0 mark when squaring off on the road at Eagle Field. Last season, the SoCon foes met at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium in Birmingham, Ala., and the Bulldogs tallied a hard-fought 1-0 victory.
 
In the 2011 win, Samford's Adrianne Mancino scored the game-winning goal in the 20^th minute of play. On the score, Kaley Blanton sent a throw-in to Mancino on the right wing. She gathered the pass, took a step to her right and then unloaded a line-drive shot from 40 yards out that perfectly found the corner of the net.
 
With Mancino's game-winning goal a year ago, Samford remained undefeated in conference play and secured the 2011 SoCon regular-season title.
 
“As the defending champs, every team in the league wants to be in the top spot and that puts a huge target on our back,” said Yelton. “People will really want to get a win against us and I think that's certainly a compliment to our program, but it doesn't make our job any easier.”
 
Following Friday's SoCon matchup at Georgia Southern, the Samford University soccer team will next be in action Sunday at 2 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs continue their arduous two-match weekend road swing against the Davidson Wildcats at Alumni Stadium (2,000) in Davidson, N.C.