Live StatsBIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University soccer team will face its first big Southern Conference home test of the 2014 season Friday at 7 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs square off against new league-rival ETSU for the first time in 12 years in a match to be held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
"ETSU is off to a great start this season and will be a really big challenge for us," said Samford head coach
Todd Yelton. "They are very well-coached and it's a team that we haven't played against in a long time, so it will definitely bring about some new challenges. I'm expecting it to be a very tough, well-played match."
Samford (6-5, 1-0 SoCon) heads into Friday's conference home-opener with a full head of steam after earning a 3-0 road victory at Chattanooga on Sunday.
The Bulldogs opened their 2014 SoCon schedule in impressive fashion as they used a pair of goals from sophomore
Malcanisha Kelley en route to the decisive 3-0 victory over the Mocs held at Finley Stadium.
With the victory, Samford extended its winning streak against Chattanooga to seven-consecutive matches. The Bulldogs also continued their stellar play on the road this season and improved to 5-2 when competing away from the friendly confines of the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
Kelley, the Bulldogs' athletic All-SoCon performer from Childersburg, Ala., scored a pair of goals in Sunday's win. Just 4:12 into the match, she tallied Samford's game-winning score on a three-yard header off a pass from true freshman
Virginia McNeill.
The Bulldogs outshot Chattanooga, 29-6, and won the corner-kick battle, 7-1.
Samford true freshman goalkeeper
Anna Maddox finished with three key saves against Chattanooga and registered the second shutout of her young career. Maddox, Samford's talented 6-foot native of Warner Robins, Ga., has pulled down 48 saves this season and owns a solid goals-against average of 1.64 in her freshman campaign.
Samford's second goal Sunday was scored by senior midfielder
Ariane Lukens in the 49
th minute of action. Just 3:33 into the second half, Lukens gathered a brilliant crossing pass into the box from sophomore
Taylor Borman and knocked home her second goal of the season. Borman's assist proved to be her team-leading fourth of the 2014 campaign.
ETSU (9-3, 1-1 SoCon) heads into Friday's contest with loads of positive momentum after cruising past Wofford at home Sunday, 3-0. Since opening the 2014 campaign with a stellar six-match winning streak, the Buccaneers' SoCon victory snapped a two-match losing streak which included setbacks to Tennessee, 3-0, and Furman, 3-0.
In Sunday's win over Wofford, ETSU junior Hannah Short scored her 16th goal of the season in the 21st minute off an assist from Molly Collinson to give the Buccaneers a 1-0 lead. Short leads the nation in both goals (16) and points (38).
ETSU carried its 1-0 lead into intermission before adding a pair of second-half goals to seal the victory over the Terriers, 3-0.
Junior midfielder Sarah Zadrazil extended ETSU's lead to 2-0, scoring a 70th-minute goal off an assist from Short, her third goal of the season. In four games since rejoining the Bucs on Sept. 19 after competing with the Austria National Team in the UEFA Women's World Cup Qualifiers, Zadrazil has recorded a goal and added two assists.
ETSU senior Kristi Davis cemented the win with an 81st-minute score, her fourth of the year. Davis' goal was assisted by Jasmin Dutton and Simona Koren. Dutton leads the nation with 12 assists.
Samford and ETSU will square off on the pitch for just the second time in history Friday. On Sept. 16, 2002, the Bulldogs played host to ETSU at Bulldog Field and registered a 1-0 victory in the lone matchup between the teams. The game was held in Yelton's first season as Samford's head coach. Yelton finished the season with a 13-7-1 overall record; the Bulldogs' best mark of the program's six-year existence.
Following Friday's showdown with ETSU, Samford will remain at home to face the Western Carolina Catamounts in another key SoCon contest to be held Sunday at 2 p.m. (CDT) at the Samford Track and Soccer Complex.
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