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Women's Soccer Heads to UK Tropical Smoothie Invitational
Game Notes
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women's soccer team is set to participate in the UK Tropical Smoothie Invitational this weekend starting with host Kentucky Friday at 7:30 at the UK Soccer Complex. The Spartans will finish the tournament against Louisville Sunday at noon.
The Spartans (2-1) finished last weekend with a perfect 2-0 record after defeating then No. 7 Wake Forest (1-0) and UNC Asheville (7-0). UNCG accounted for 24 points (8 goals, 8 assists) and two shutouts in last week's victories. The Spartans received two votes in the NSCAA Top 25 poll and an additional vote in the Soccer Times publication. College Soccer 360 also has UNCG entering the Top 50 rankings at No. 46 on their list.
Senior Cat Barnekow (Santa Rosa, Calif./Santa Rosa JC) leads the team with two goals and two assists after tying her career high with five points against UNC Asheville (2 goals, 1 assist). Freshman Zoe Fishman (Woodland Hills, Calif./El Camino Real Charter) dished out three assists against the Bulldogs.
Freshman midfielder Chesney White (Franklin, Tenn./Franklin) took home her first Southern Conference Player of the Week award Tuesday after scoring the game-winning goal against the Demon Deacons last Friday. The Blue and Gold have won the SoCon Player of the Week accolade back-to-back weeks after freshman Jamie Simmons (Houston, Texas/Clear Brook) won last week. Simmons was also named to the College Soccer 360 Primetime Performers honor roll this week and earned College Sports Madness SoCon Player of the Week accolades.
This will be the third meeting between UNCG and Kentucky with the Wildcats coming away with a 2-1 victory at home in 1996. UNCG holds a 1-0 record against Louisville with the last meeting coming in 1988 - a 10-0 victory for the Spartans.
Kentucky has opened up the season 2-0 for the fourth consecutive year after defeating Coastal Carolina (2-0) and Eastern Kentucky (2-1). Junior defender Ashley VanLandingham leads the Wildcats with two goals, while Cara Ledman and Arin Gilliland each added a goal. Kentucky has outshot its opponents 30-2 and has scored two of its four goals off set pieces.
Louisville is receiving 23 votes in the NSCAA Top 25 poll after starting 2-0 with victories against Butler (2-0) and a 4-3 win in double overtime against Purdue. Louisville is ranked No. 27 in the Soccer Times poll and is No. 14 in the TopDrawerSoccer Top 65 tournament teams rankings. The Cardinals are led by junior midfielder Angelika Uremovich who has three goals, including a two-goal effort against Purdue. Senior goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer has a 1.41 goals against average and one shutout to lead the defense.
Kentucky will provide live stats and live video of both contests this weekend at www.ukathletics.com.
Be sure to follow all updates about the 2012 UNCG women's soccer team on www.uncgspartans.com or on twitter @UNCGsports/@CoachNugent.
- UNCG -
