Spartans head to Georgia Southern, Davidson this weekend

Ashlee Wilhelmsen

UNCG at Georgia Southern, Sept. 30, 4 p.m., Statesboro, Ga.

LiveStats: UNCGSpartans.com (via GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com)
Video: Eagle Vision (subscription-based)

UNCG at Davidson, Oct. 2, 2 p.m., Davidson, N.C.

LiveStats: UNCGSpartans.com (via DavidsonWildcats.com)
Audio: DavidsonWildcats.com (free)
Video: Davidson All Access (subscription-based)

Storylines

- UNCG's women's soccer team will tackle its first Southern Conference road contests this season when it faces Georgia Southern at 4 p.m. Friday in Statesboro, Ga., and Davidson at 2 p.m. Sunday in Davidson, N.C.

- This weekend's contests kick off a four-match road swing for the Spartans. After taking on Georgia Southern and Davidson this weekend, UNCG will head to Charleston, S.C., for matches at The Citadel and College of Charleston on Oct. 7 and 9, respectively.

- UNCG opened SoCon play with a 6-1 win over Chattanooga on Saturday to remain perfect in SoCon openers but fell to Samford 1-0 on Monday to snap its 16-match SoCon regular-season win streak.

- Kristin Player had two goals and three assists in the win over the Mocs, earning SoCon Player of the Week honors for that performance. Ashlee Wilhelmsen had two goals and an assist in the contest, while Karin Sendel and Karina Rodriguez also scored for the Spartans.

- After facing a nonconference slate that included four Atlantic Coast Conference teams, two Southeastern Conference teams and four ranked squads, UNCG will finally settle into SoCon play. Since 2003, the Spartans are 74-9-4 in league action.

- Entering the weekend, Player is UNCG's leading scorer with nine points on two goals and five assists. Sendel is second with six points on two goals and two assists, while Wilhelmsen and Lauren Hein are tied for third with five points on two goals and an assist each. Keeper Kelsey Kearney has logged 765 minutes for the Spartans thus far, turning in a 2.59 goals against average.

- Player enters play this weekend as the SoCon's active career leader in points (72) and assists (20) and is third in goals (26) behind only Furman's Martha Hall (30) and Chattanooga's Donna-Kay Henry (29). Player's seven-point day against the Mocs moved her into UNCG's career top 10 in goals and assists, while she was already in the top 10 in points.

- Kearney, a three-time All-SoCon selection (first team, 2008 and 2010), is UNCG's career leader in goals against average, as she has posted a 0.86 mark so far. After setting UNCG's school record with 31 shutouts in just her first three seasons, she needs six more to become the SoCon's career leader in that category. With four saves against Samford on Monday, she moved into a tie for fourth in school history in career saves with 229. She is the SoCon's active career leader with 47 wins.

- UNCG's crowd of 984 for Saturday's game against Chattanooga was the third-largest for a home women's soccer match in school history. It was the largest UNCG crowd to witness a home SoCon match, easily outdistancing the 802 that saw UNCG top Elon 1-0 on Oct. 29, 2009.

- UNCG is 12-3-0 against Georgia Southern all-time and has won eight straight in the series. The teams first met in 1997 with the Spartans taking a 3-0 win. The Eagles swept two meetings in 1999 and picked up their last win in the series in 2002. Two of GSU's three wins over UNCG have come in Statesboro.

- In last season's meeting, Cat Barnekow notched her first career multi-goal game as UNCG rolled to a 5-1 win. The Spartans also got goals from Lauren Lover, Tabitha Padgett and Kristen Schmidbauer, while the Eagles avoided the shutout in dramatic fashion when Lindsay Hammer scored as time expired.

- GSU brings a 2-6-1 record into Friday's match and is looking for its first SoCon win of the season, as the Eagles were swept by Wofford and Furman in the opening weekend of league play. After Alex Murphy gave GSU a 1-0 first-half lead against the Terriers, Wofford answered with two second-half goals to claim a 2-1 win on Sept. 23. Two days later, Emily Archer's strike in the 60^th minute was not enough as Furman jumped out to a 4-0 lead and went on to the 4-1 win.

- Murphy, who has come off the bench in all nine games so far, leads the Eagles with eight points on four goals. Courtney Collins is second on the squad with seven points on three goals and an assist, whiel Sara Oland has six points on two goals and a team-best two assists.

- Keepers Katie Merson and Kailey Kiefus have split time in goal this season, with Merson making six starts and posting a 1.72 GAA and Kiefus starting three matches and turning in a 1.69 GAA.

- The Eagles are 2-6-1 despite having given up just five more goals than they've scored. Of their six losses, three of them have been by just one goal and two of them by two.

- UNCG is 20-5-2 against Davidson all-time, with last season's 4-0 win emphatically snapping the Wildcats' two-match winning streak in the series. While the Spartans have historically dominated the series, the teams have been fairly even over the last several years, with UNCG holding a slim 4-3-1 advantage in the last seven meetings. UNCG is 8-2-1 at Davidson but the Wildcats took a 2-1 win there in the last meeting, in 2009.

- In last season's meeting, Padgett had a hat trick and Jessi Gulledge also scored as the Spartans avenged a loss to Davidson in the semifinals of the 2009 SoCon tournament. Kearney made two saves in picking up the shutout, while her counterpart, Jessie Baxa, allowed four goals and made seven stops.

- Davidson, which plays Elon on Friday, enters the weekend with a 3-5-2 overall record and a 1-1-0 mark in the SoCon. The Wildcats fell 3-0 to Furman on Sept. 23 before handing Wofford its first loss of the season two days later, 3-1.

- Freshman Becca Fisher notched her first career two-goal game in the Wildcats' win over Wofford, including a goal in the second minute, while Rachael Newmister scored Davidson's third goal of the day. Wofford spoiled keeper Rachel Locke's shutout with a score in the 85^th minute.

- Fisher, Stephanie Piperno and Lauren Mihan share the team scoring lead with seven points each, all on three goals and one assist. Julia Singley, who was the SoCon Player of the Week on Aug. 23, shares the team lead with three goals for six points on the season.

- Locke, Baxa and Ranae Carins have shared duties in the net this season, with Locke starting four contests, Baxa five and Carins one. Locke has a 1.01 GAA in 448 minutes of work, Baxa has a 1.91 mark in 424 minutes and Carins has a 3.69 GAA in 73 minutes.

- All but one of Davidson's losses this season have been by just one goal. The Wildcats dropped 2-1 contests to Florida Gulf Coast, East Carolina and UNC Wilmington and a 1-0, overtime decision at Navy. Davidson owns an 8-1 win over UNC Asheville and a 4-2 win over George Washington in addition to a 2-2 draw with Providence.

- UNCG -