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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- The top-seeded Samford University soccer team will continue its quest for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 4 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs square off against the fourth-seeded Furman Paladins in the semifinal round of this weekend's Southern Conference Championship being held at Summers-Taylor Stadium on the campus of East Tennessee State University.
 
For the third straight season, each of the top four seeds advanced to the championship weekend, with Samford, ETSU, Mercer and Furman battling for the tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship.
 
Both of Friday's semifinal matches will air live on the SoCon Digital Network, with Jason Patterson and Phil Cox on the call. Sunday's championship match, set for noon (CT), will be broadcast live on ESPN3, with Pete Yanity handling play-by-play duties and Charlie Slagle serving as analyst.
 
Tickets for this weekend's matches can be purchased from ETSU's Ticket Office (423-439-3878 or 423-439-4828) or at the Summers-Taylor Stadium entrance beginning one hour prior to each day's competition. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children 4-12 years old. Children 3 and under, as well as students with a valid SoCon school ID, will be admitted for free.
 
Three-time defending regular-season champion and No. 1 seed Samford (13-3-2, 8-1 SoCon) will take on No. 4 seed and defending tournament champion Furman (13-4-1, 6-3 SoCon) at 4 p.m., Friday in a matchup of teams that have won three of the last five tournament titles.
 

The Bulldogs swept this year's individual SoCon awards, with Jermaine Seoposenwe being named the player of the year, Olivia Cole the defensive player of the year, Allie Lourie the freshman of the year and Todd Yelton the coach of the year.
 
Samford, a 5-0 winner over No. 8 seed VMI in the quarterfinal round of the tournament, is in the semifinals for the fourth straight season and the seventh time in eight years in the league. Furman, which topped No. 5 seed UNCG 1-0 in overtime in the quarterfinals on Carlie Couch's golden goal, is in the semifinals for a fifth straight year and a league-record 20th time overall.
 
Samford is 9-5-3 all-time in nine SoCon Tournament appearances, while Furman is 36-12-3 in 22 showings. The squads have met in the tournament twice, in the semifinals both times. Samford won 1-0 in double overtime in 2011 and Furman won 2-0 in 2013, with the winner of both of those matches going on to win the tournament.
 
SAMFORD LOOKS TO CONTINUE ITS WINNING WAYS
Heading into Friday's showdown with Furman, the Bulldogs are in the midst of an eight-match winning streak. Samford's last loss occurred on the road against the Paladins, 3-2, on Sept. 25. Since then, the Bulldogs have rattled off consecutive victories over Mercer, 2-0, The Citadel, 3-0, Chattanooga, 4-0, Western Carolina, 2-1, ETSU, 3-0, UNCG, 1-0 (OT), and VMI twice, 4-0 and 5-0.
 
Samford is outscoring its opponents by a total of 24-1 in its last eight outings, including a total 31-4 mark in SoCon play this season.
 
Friday's match will mark the Bulldogs' first neutral contest of the year. Samford finished the 2016 regular season with a near-perfect 9-1 record at home and a 4-2-2 mark on the road.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT - - BULLDOGS BLAST VMI, 5-0, TO ADVANCE TO SEMIS
Samford scored the game-winning goal 35 seconds into Saturday's quarterfinal round match against the VMI Keydets as the Bulldogs breezed to a 5-0 victory and advanced to the semifinal round of the SoCon Tournament.
 
Samford's opening goal of the match was scored just 35 seconds into the contest as Seoposenwe lofted a perfectly-placed shot just over the goalkeeper from 40 yards out. Seoposenwe's tally proved to be her first of two goals on the night as she increased her Samford-record, single-season total to 16.
 

Midway through the first half, senior forward Sara Smeltzer scored her fifth goal of the season in the 31^st minute of action. On the score, Smeltzer gathered a crossing pass from Abriella Argueta, stopped in her tracks, allowed the defender to fly by, then turned and rifled home the shot from five yards out.
 
Argueta, who later scored a goal for the Bulldogs in the second half, finished the contest with three points on the evening. Samford's talented junior from Clarksville, Tennessee, currently boasts six assists and three goals on the season.
 
Taylor Borman, the Bulldogs' senior forward, closed out her final home match in impressive fashion by scoring a goal in the 20^th minute of the second half. On the score, her sixth of the season, she collected a through-pass from Smeltzer and quickly tapped a shot past VMI's incoming goalkeeper Ceci Keppeler, who was charging hard to make the stop.
 
The Bulldogs' goalkeepers' Anna Maddox and Katie Peters both played a half in the contest. Maddox started the match and improved her record to 12-0 on the season, while earned one save. Peters entered the contest in the second half and tallied three key stops in the victory.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Furman, which counts titles in 2013 and 2015 among its six SoCon championships, boasts the efforts of senior forward Couch, who is one of just four players in league history to earn first-team all-conference honors four times, and four more all-conference picks.
 
Earlier this season, the Paladins handed Samford its lone league loss this season, a 3-2 setback in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sept. 25, but the Bulldogs have won eight straight since then.
 
Furman enters Friday's contest having been victorious in four of its last five matches, including nine of its last 12, dating back to Sept. 13.
 
The Paladins advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 overtime victory over UNCG on Saturday at home in Stone Stadium. Couch netted the deciding goal on assists from Treva Aycock and Molly Dwyer just 58 seconds into the first overtime period. It marked Couch's team-leading 10th goal of the season, 37th career goal and 14th match-winning score of her career.

Furman has claimed six SoCon Tournament crowns. Last season, Stephanie DeVita notched the game-winning goal in overtime of the championship match to hand the Paladins a 1-0 victory over Mercer and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
 
SAMFORD vs. FURMAN - - THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Bulldogs and Paladins will be meeting on the pitch for a 12^th time in the series Friday. Samford currently holds a 6-4-1 advantage in the all-time rivalry, but is 1-1 when playing Furman on a neutral field. Earlier this season, the Paladins handed Samford its only conference loss of the season, 3-2, on Sept. 25.
 
Samford opened the series with five-consecutive wins, four of which occurred in thrilling overtime fashion. Since 2012, the Bulldogs are 1-4-1 against the Paladins and 0-4 when competing away from the friendly confines of the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
 
DATE                              RESULT                                                              LOCATION
Oct. 10, 2008               Samford def. Furman, 3-0                               Birmingham, Ala.
Oct. 8, 2009                 Samford def. Furman, 2-1 (2OT)                  Greenville, S.C.
Oct. 10, 2010               Samford def. Furman, 3-2 (OT)                     Birmingham, Ala.
Oct. 9, 2011                 Samford def. Furman, 2-1 (2OT)                  Greenville, S.C.
Nov. 4, 2011               Samford def. Furman, 1-0 (2OT)                  Greensboro, N.C.
Sept. 27, 2012             Samford tied Furman, 2-2                               Birmingham, Ala.
Oct. 6, 2013                 Furman def. Samford, 2-1                              Greenville, S.C.
Nov. 8, 2013               Furman def. Samford, 2-0                              Spartanburg, S.C.
Oct. 17, 2014              Furman def. Samford, 1-0                              Greenville, S.C.
Sept. 25, 2015             Samford def. Furman, 2-0                              Birmingham, Ala.
Sept. 25, 2016             Furman def. Samford, 3-2                               Greenville, S.C.
- - Samford leads the all-time series, 6-4-1, and is 1-1 when playing Furman on a neutral field.
 
IN THE LAST MEETING - - AYCOCK'S HAT TRICK PROPELS FURMAN TO 3-2 WIN
With just under four minutes to play in the Sept. 25 SoCon showdown being held on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium, Furman's Aycock broke a 2-2 tie with her third goal of the match as the Paladins came from behind to tally a 3-2 home victory against the Samford Bulldogs.
 
With her game-winning goal at exactly 3:58 left in the match, Aycock registered her first career hat trick and lifted Furman to the victory.
 
Samford received goals from true freshman Erin Bonner and senior Malcanisha Kelley, but couldn't find a defensive answer for the Paladins' Aycock. The freshman forward from Marietta, Georgia, scored the second, third and fourth goals of her young collegiate career in the 46^th, 56^th and 87^th minutes, respectively.
 

BULLDOGS' SEOPOSENWE GARNERS MONTHLY SOCON HONOR
Samford's Seoposenwe was named the SoCon Player of the Month on Wednesday after the Bulldogs' senior forward scored nine goals and added an assist en route to a perfect 7-0 team record in October. The honor marked Seoposenwe's second straight this season and was selected by the league office.
 
Seoposenwe, who competed in the 2016 Olympic Games for her home country of South Africa earlier this year, scored nine goals, five of which were game-winners, in October as Samford's dynamic senior forward helped lead the Bulldogs to an unblemished 7-0 record. She also helped guide Samford to its third straight regular-season SoCon title.
 
Seoposenwe's month proved to be the most productive in school history as she accumulated 19 points on nine goals and added an assist. At VMI on Oct. 23, Seoposenwe scored a key goal in the victory and set Samford's single-season record with 14 scores. Since then, she has increased her school-record total to 16 with two more goals against VMI in the quarterfinal round of the SoCon Tournament.
 
SAMFORD SWEEPS TOP AWARDS; NINE BULLDOGS EARN SOCON HONORS
Regular-season SoCon champion Samford swept the league's postseason individual awards Tuesday in all-conference balloting of the 10 head coaches. Seoposenwe was named the SoCon Player of the Year, while classmate Olivia Cole repeated as Defensive Player of the Year. Fellow defender Allie Lourie was tabbed the Freshman of the Year, while Yelton was voted the Coach of the Year by his peers for the third straight season.
 

Samford paced the league with seven all-conference players, including five on the first team, for the second straight year. ETSU and Furman both earned five all-conference selections, each putting two on the first team and three on the second. The Bulldogs also finished with Lourie and Taylor Meneide earning all-freshman team accolades.
 
Yelton earned his third straight Coach of the Year nod and fourth of his career after leading the Bulldogs to a 13-3-2 overall mark, an 8-1-0 SoCon record and their third straight regular-season title, in addition to high-profile wins over Baylor and Alabama. This season, the Bulldogs' 15th-year head coach has directed a well-rounded squad that ranks in the top 10 nationally in scoring and shutout percentage.
 
Kelley and midfielder Anna Allen represent Samford on the second team.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
The victor of Friday's semifinal showdown between No. 1 Samford and No. 4 Furman will advance to Sunday's championship match at noon (CT) where they will face either No. 2 ETSU or No. 3 Mercer live on ESPN3.
 
ETSU and Mercer will meet in their semifinal contest Friday at 6:30 p.m. Earlier this year, ETSU lost on the road at Mercer, 3-2, but the Bucs own a perfect 9-0 record at home this season.
 
The winner of this year's tournament will receive the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA postseason. The NCAA Selection Show will air on NCAA.com on Monday, Nov. 7, at 3:30 p.m.
 
For quick score updates, breaking news and links to all of your favorite articles featuring the Bulldogs, please follow @SamfordSoccer and @Samford_Sports on Twitter.

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