GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women's soccer team will host its first Southern Conference Tournament game since 2013 after the Spartans earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament and will host No. 6 Western Carolina Saturday afternoon. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at the UNCG Soccer Stadium and will be streamed for free on the SoCon Digital Network with links at www.uncgspartans.com.
“We are super excited, the past three year's I've been here, we haven't made it past the quarterfinals,” said senior Chesney White (Franklin, Tenn./Franklin). “We are not over confident. We know that we have to put in a lot of effort and it's going to take a lot of heart to beat Western Carolina.”
UNCG won its last three regular season games over Mercer, The Citadel and VMI en route to clinching its highest seed since 2012. The senior class celebrated Senior Day during last Sunday's regular season finale with a 3-1 win over VMI.
Although the Spartans had a bumpy start to the season, they powered through the SoCon schedule and won five of their last six games with the only loss coming by way of a No. 1 seed Samford October 11.
White scored her 32nd career goal Sunday, the game-winning goal, against VMI and leads the team with six goals this season. She leads the SoCon in shots (3.89), is tied for second in shots per game (3.89), points (12), and goals (5).
Caylin Prillaman (High Point, N.C./Wesleyan Christian Academy) has flourished in the second half of the season. She has tallied three goals in as many games and four in the last five matches of the season. She ranks second on the team in goals this season with five, all in conference, which ranks tied for first in the SoCon.
Chloe Buehler (Perrysburg, Ohio/Penn State) has played every game in goal this season; she has tallied seven shutouts this season, five in SoCon play. She has allowed six goals in league action in 816 minutes between the pipes for a 0.66 goals against average. She enters the postseason ranked third in the conference in saves (43), fourth in save percentage (.878) and fifth in saves per game (4.78).
Western Carolina (8-7-3) is coming off its biggest win of the season. The Catamounts stunned top-ranked Samford (13-5, 8-1) in the last day of the season, 1-0, at home.
Redshirt senior goalkeeper Lauren Martin was named Southern Conference Player of the Week after leading WCU to a pair of shutout victories last week. Redshirt sophomore Kasey Cooke leads Western Carolina with five goals and freshman Sayres McKenna tops the team with seven assists.
Saturday marks the second time the two teams have met this season. UNCG opened up SoCon play wit ha 2-0 win over the Catamounts improving to 17-3-2 all-time and 6-2-1 at home against WCU. Western Carolina has not beaten the Spartans in Greensboro since 2012.
UNCG and WCU have played each other four times in the SoCon Tournament dating back to 2000. UNCG is 3-0-1 all time and has only allowed the Catamounts to score one goal.
In 2000, the first-ever postseason meeting between the two, the Spartans won 3-1 and advanced to the tournament finals where they defeated Furman 1-0 for the third SoCon Tournament Championship in four years.
In 2004, the two met again where UNCG tallied seen goals in a shutout over the Catamounts, on its way to a SoCon Tournament Championship. Two years later the Spartans defeated Western Carolina 2-0 in the quarterfinals but fell 3-1 to Furman in the championship game.
The most recent SoCon Tournament meeting between the two was in 2008, the game ended in a 0-0 double overtime stalemate but Western Carolina advanced in penalty kicks to claim its second SoCon Tournament title in program history.
Live video and play-by-play will be provided on the SoCon Digitial Network with UNCG's Parker Southern on the call. Fans can also follow live stats, which are available at UNCGSpartans.com.
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