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ATHENS, Ga. -- The Samford University soccer team will begin play in its two-match weekend stretch against Southeastern Conference opponents Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs square off against the Georgia Bulldogs in a highly-anticipated contest to be held at UGA's Turner Soccer Complex. On Sunday, Samford will return home to Birmingham to square off against the No. 16-ranked Auburn Tigers at 6 p.m., at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
 
Samford (1-0-1) heads into Friday's contest with loads of positive momentum after rolling to a 2-0 home triumph against Troy on Sunday. With the victory, the Bulldogs extended their home winning streak to seven-consecutive matches, dating back to Sept. 13, 2015, when Samford suffered a 1-0 home loss to Georgia.
 

On Aug. 19, the Bulldogs opened their 2016 schedule with a hard-fought 0-0 draw on the road at No. 26-ranked South Alabama. Samford's Katie Peters registered a career-high eight saves in the matchup.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT - - SAMFORD DEFEATS TROY
Samford received first-half goals from senior strikers Malcanisha Kelley and Jermaine Seoposenwe, as well as a stifling defensive performance from its back line in a quality 2-0 home victory against the Troy Trojans in a key in-state showdown held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
 
With the win, Samford remained undefeated on the season and improved to 9-1 all-time against Troy. Peters has already tallied a pair of shutouts this season, the ninth and 10th of her career.
 
Samford outshot the Trojans, 15-7, with seven of its attempts being on-goal. The Bulldogs' Korrie Sauder, a talented sophomore transfer from Miami (Ohio), paced the squad with four shot attempts. Samford also led in corner kicks, 4-3.
 
Just 10 minutes into the contest, the Bulldogs' Kelley quickly shifted the momentum of the match as she scored one of the prettiest goals in Samford history. After gathering a forwarding pass from Courtney Hendrickson, Kelley proved to be the only Bulldog on the attacking side of midfield. She was surrounded by four Troy defenders, but singlehandedly weaved her way down the field and through the Trojans' back line.
 
Kelley, Samford's all-time leading goal-scorer with 29, outran the final defender and juked her way past the goalkeeper for a brilliant shot from 10 yards out. The score gave the Bulldogs a momentous 1-0 lead early in the match.
 
Following Kelley's goal, Samford seemed to garner a predominant portion of the momentum and later put the contest away with Seoposenwe's score in the 39th minute.
 
NO BACKING DOWN - - SAMFORD'S RECENT SUCCESS AGAINST SEC OPPONENTS
Since Sept. 9, 2012, Samford boasts a 5-3 record against Southeastern Conference opponents, including wins against Auburn (twice), Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. All-time, the Bulldogs own an 8-26-3 record versus SEC foes, but have really been successful against the conference as of late. Below is a listing of Samford's last eight matches with SEC opponents.
 
SAMFORD'S LAST EIGHT GAMES AGAINST SEC OPPONENTS       
Sept. 9, 2012 - - - Samford def. Kentucky, 3-1
Aug. 25, 2013 - - - Samford def. Tennessee, 1-0
Aug. 30, 2013 - - - Samford def. Auburn, 1-0
Sept. 13, 2013 - - - Samford def. Vanderbilt, 3-2 (2OT)
Aug. 24, 2014 - - - #14 South Carolina def. Samford, 2-0
Sept. 12, 2014 - - - Samford def. #18 Auburn, 2-1
Sept. 4, 2015 - - - #11 Auburn def. Samford, 2-0
Sept. 13, 2015 - - - Georgia def. Samford, 1-0
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Georgia (0-1-1) enters Friday's showdown with hopes of bouncing back from a 3-1 road loss at Clemson on Sunday. The Bulldogs have yet to post a victory this season after opening the campaign with a 1-1 home draw with Oklahoma State.
 
Georgia scored three goals over the weekend with shots from Marion Crowder, Mariel Gutierrez and Katie MacGinnitie. Goalkeeper Louise Hogrell tallied 20 saves, which currently leads the SEC.
 
All four of the aforementioned players were named to the SEC's Preseason Watchlist. Crowder receives the honor for the third consecutive season and this marks a consecutive season for Hogrell.
 
Crowder returns for her senior season after leading Georgia in goals (4), points (8), and shots on goal (18) in 2015. The native of Madison, Mississippi, started in all 18 games as a junior and ranked third among field players with 1,336 minutes played.
 
Gutierrez is back as a junior after leading Georgia in assists (4) in 2015. The Mexico City native played in all 18 games during 2015, with five starts. She scored two goals, one coming from 30-yards out against then-No. 17 South Carolina.
 
Hogrell returns in goal for Georgia after playing every minute in 2015. She led the SEC in saves (96) and saves per game (5.33). MacGinnitie kicks off her collegiate career after leading Marist High School to the state championship in 2013 and 2014. The team finished runner-up in 2015.
 
SAMFORD VS. GEORGIA - - THE ALL-TIME SERIES
Samford and Georgia have only met once on the pitch, and that occurred last season at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
 
On Sept. 13, 2015, Georgia's senior midfielder Bella Hartley scored on a penalty kick in the 15th minute of play as the visiting Bulldogs held on for a 1-0 win held in Birmingham, Alabama. The score was Hartley's first of the season.
 
RECAP OF LAST SEASON'S MATCHUP
Just 14:19 into last year's home test against Georgia, a Samford defender inadvertently touched the ball with her arm in the left corner of the box, which gave the visiting Bulldogs a penalty kick attempt. Hartley was chosen to take the kick for Georgia and she knocked home the game-winning goal into the right corner of the net.
 
Throughout the opening period, Samford seemed a bit discombobulated and offensive runs proved to be hard to come by. Georgia outshot the Bulldogs, 8-3, in the first 45 minutes of action.
 
Georgia's attack was paced by Crowder, Gutierrez, Lauren Tanner and Hartley, who all finished with two shot attempts.
 

Samford's redshirt freshman Kaitlyn Orman rattled off a team-high three shot attempts and nearly equalized the match at 1-1 midway through the second half. On the Bulldogs' best scoring opportunity of the contest, Ella Baggett drove the right flank and slipped through a pair of defenders on her way towards goal. She then dropped off a pass directly in the middle of the box where Orman ripped a shot that just barely sailed over the bar.
 
The second half proved to be significantly more productive for Samford as the Bulldogs outshot Georgia, 7-3, in the final period. Georgia's goalkeeper from Asa, Sweden, Hogrell earned four key saves.
 
Samford's Peters notched three saves in the opening 77 minutes of action before making way for Anna Maddox to close out the match. The Bulldogs won the corner kick battle, 4-1.
 
PETERS NAMED SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Samford's Peters was named the SoCon Player of the Week for all competition held Aug. 19-21, after she helped lead the Bulldogs to a key 0-0 road draw with No. 26 South Alabama and a 2-0 home victory against Troy. The selection was made by the league office.
 
Samford went 1-0-1 against in-state foes to open the season last week. Peters played all 200 minutes in the net for the Bulldogs, with the pair of shutouts pushing her career total to 10. Dating back to Oct. 25, 2015, she has not allowed a goal in 315 minutes, 38 seconds and has only allowed one score in the last 712:29.
 
Peters notched a career-high eight saves versus South Alabama on Friday as the Bulldogs played to a 0-0 tie with the Jaguars. The Bulldogs' junior stopper faced 17 shots against South Alabama and made a number of crucial diving saves to keep a clean sheet.
 
Against Troy on Sunday, Peters faced seven shot attempts, but kept the Trojans from finding the back of the net in Samford's 2-0 victory.
 

SAMFORD SOCCER PREDICTED TO WIN THIRD STRAIGHT SOCON CHAMPIONSHIP
Two-time defending SoCon regular-season champion Samford was picked to win the league again in 2016, it was announced Aug. 11, in preseason voting by the SoCon's 10 head coaches. The coaches also selected an 11-member preseason all-conference team and the Bulldogs' Taylor Borman, Olivia Cole, Kelley, Peters and Seoposenwe highlighted the list.
 
Samford collected eight first-place votes and 80 points to easily outdistance 2016 runner-up Furman, which picked up 68 points and one first-place vote. UNCG was third in the poll with 61 points and collected the remaining first-place vote. Mercer (58 points), ETSU (56), Western Carolina (42), Wofford (31), Chattanooga (25), VMI (17) and The Citadel (12) rounded out the poll, which mirrored the final standings from 2015.
 
Under the direction of three-time SoCon Coach of the Year Todd Yelton – who has won the award in each of the last two seasons – Samford went 14-5-1 in 2015, turning in an 8-1-0 league record. The Bulldogs return nine starters from that squad, including senior forward Kelley, who was second in the SoCon with 13 goals and 31 points and became Samford's career goal-scoring leader (28) last year.
 
Kelley is joined on the preseason all-conference team by fellow Samford forward Seoposenwe, who started for South Africa at the Rio Olympics, defender Cole, the 2015 SoCon Defensive Player of the Year, midfielder Borman and goalkeeper Peters.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Friday's key road test at Georgia, the Samford University soccer team will next be in action Sunday at 6 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Ala., to play host to the No. 16-ranked Auburn Tigers. The contest will be held at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.
 
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