By: by Matthew Farhadi
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KENNESAW, Ga. – Last weekend, the Kennesaw State women’s soccer team opened up its Atlantic Sun Conference play in thrilling fashion with two solid wins. As the Black and Gold start preparing for Jacksonville on Friday one thing is now clear; the Owls have got their swagger back, and it couldn’t have come at a better time of the season.
The Owls (5-3-1, 2-0 A-Sun) waited until the final seconds to pull out a thrilling, 2-1, win against the Lipscomb Lady Bisons last Friday night. Junior
Brittany Vining broke a 1-1 tie by scoring her second goal of the season with three seconds left in the match.
On Sunday afternoon, Kennesaw State got a goal and an assist from junior
Shelby Cosby, in a rematch of last year's A-Sun Championship game, to give them a 2-0 win over Belmont.
The outstanding weekend moved a pair of Owls up the A-Sun stat charts as well. Freshman
Alma Gardarsdottir is now second in the conference with four goals, while junior
Alyssa Mahan leads the conference in assists with four. Mahan’s four assists also gives her a 0.44 assists per game average, which is 84th best in the nation.
The Black and Gold have now started 2-0 in conference play for the second straight season, and are looking to move to 3-0 in the A-Sun which would be its best start in the league since 2007.
To accomplish this Kennesaw State will have to get through a tough Jacksonville (5-3-2, 1-0-1 A-Sun) squad.
These two teams are the hottest, and highest scoring, teams in the conference heading into the weekend. Kennesaw State and Jacksonville both have scored 17 goals on the season, which puts them in a tie for first in the conference. The Dolphins are currently
on a five game unbeaten streak (3-0-2), while the Owls are unbeaten in their last three matches (3-0-0).
Jacksonville was picked to finish in a tie for fourth place in the Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Poll and are coming off an 8-7-5 record last season. Under third-year head coach Brian Copham, the Dolphins return 10 starters, including sophomore forward Lisa Hensley, who leads the team with four goals on the year. Jacksonville is coming off a, 1-0, win against Stetson on Sunday.
The Owls are 5-2 all-time against Jacksonville, including winning three of the last four meetings in the series.
Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the first 100 fans that enter the stadium will receive a free Kennesaw State Owls car flag.
