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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- In arguably its most important road trip of 2013, the Samford University soccer team will face both UNCG and Elon this weekend in a pair of pivotal Southern Conference contests. The Bulldogs enter Friday's showdown against the UNCG Spartans as the third-place team in the SoCon standings. The match will be held at 6 p.m. (CDT) at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
 
"This is going to be a difficult trip," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "We're playing UNCG on their homecoming, so I'm sure that they will have a great crowd and (Head Coach) Steve (Nugent) does an outstanding job with that team. They are going to be very hard to beat. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a couple of our injured players back, but if not, we'll go battle with the group that we have."
 
Samford (11-4-1, 4-2-1 SoCon) heads into Friday's road contest with a 4-3 record when playing away from home this season. Already this year, the Bulldogs have posted key conference road wins against Western Carolina and Appalachian State.
 
With three matches remaining in the 2013 SoCon regular season, Samford sits just three points behind first-place Furman and one point behind second-place Elon. On Sunday, the Bulldogs will square off against Elon at 1 p.m. (CDT).
 
Samford has suffered a rash of injuries this year, but Yelton and his staff have still been able to record their fifth-consecutive, double-digit win season. Since taking the reins of the Bulldogs' soccer team in 2012, Yelton has reached the 10-win plateau in 11 of his 12 seasons.
 
In its most recent outing, Samford posted a thrilling 2-1 double-overtime victory against Francis Marion on Sunday. With 1:17 left to play in the double overtime period, senior midfielder Michelle Moll gathered a pass from Malcanisha Kelley and fired the game-winning goal far into the right-hand corner of the net.
 
Moll's goal, her fourth of the season, lifted the Bulldogs' soccer team to their 2-1 come-from-behind victory in a non-conference match held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
 
True freshman Dale Steinagle earned her first career start in goal Sunday and made three crucial stops. Samford's native of Murfreesboro, Tenn., faced a total of 12 shot attempts from Francis Marion and improved her record on the season to 1-0.
 
The Bulldogs started Sunday's non-conference contest with five freshmen and three sophomores. With a bevy of injuries this season, five players made their first career starts against Francis Marion.
 
UNCG (8-6-2, 3-2-2 SoCon) enters Friday's match after finishing 1-1 last weekend on the road against Davidson and Georgia Southern. The Spartans defeated Davidson, 1-0, on Friday, but then lost to Georgia Southern, 1-0, Sunday. UNCG, the sixth-place team in the conference, sits just three points from second place with the top four teams hosting a first-round game in the SoCon Tournament.
 
Sophomore Chesney White leads the Spartans with five goals for 10 points and has taken a total of 41 shots this season. Freshman Georgia Brown is ranked second on the team with three goals and two assists, while junior Ashley Stokes is third with three goals.
 
UNCG sophomore goalkeeper Jamie Simmons leads the Spartans in net with seven shutouts, 82 saves and an 0.84 goals against average in 16 matches this season.
 
Sunday's match will feature the seventh all-time meeting between Samford and UNCG. The Spartans currently hold a slight 3-2-1 advantage in the series and are coming off a 1-0 win in Birmingham, Ala., last year.
 
In last season's annual matchup, Samford dominated the pace of play and outshot UNCG by a margin of 19-6, but the Spartans' Katherine Rodriguez tallied the lone stat that counts as she scored the game-winning goal in the 41^st minute. The score was her second of the 2012 campaign.
 
On the decisive first-half goal, UNCG's defender headed home a corner kick from junior midfielder Nitang Jones. The assist proved to be Jones' second of the season and set up Rodriguez perfectly in the middle of the box. The corner kick was driven directly to approximately the 10-yard line where Rodriguez met it in the air and found the back of the net.
 
Following Friday's showdown at UNCG, the Samford University soccer team will next be in action Sunday at 1 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs continue their arduous SoCon road trip against the Elon Phoenix in a momentous match to be held at Rudd Field (750).
 
For the most up-to-date information on Samford soccer please follow @Samford_Sports and @SamfordSoccer on Twitter.

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