By: by Matthew Farhadi
Live scoring
Game Notes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team is coming into Friday night’s contest against Samford in unfamiliar territory as they look to get back on the winning track heading into this weekend’s Samford Soccer Tournament in Birmingham, Ala.
The Owls (2-2-1) are coming off a heartbreaking, 2-1, loss to Wyoming on Sept. 5 in which the game-winning goal was scored in the 90th minute of the match. The Black and Gold are in the midst of a 0-2-1 stretch, and they have never played four straight matches without recording a win in its programs’ history.
On Sunday afternoon, the Owls fell in a very physical match that had a combined 20 fouls. Sophomore goalkeeper
Melissa Hutto made her first career start, and registered 10 saves in the match. Kennesaw State took the lead on a goal by junior
Brittany Vining in the 25th minute, but the Cowgirls scored less than a minute later to tie the score at 1-1. After a back-and-forth second half, Wyoming scored in the 90th minute of the match to give the Owls their first home loss at KSU Soccer Stadium.
Samford (2-2-1) was picked to finish second in the Southern Conference Preseason Poll. The Bulldogs finished last season with an overall record of 12-1-5, under ninth-year head coach Todd Yelton. Samford has seven starters returning this season; including their top goalkeeper from 2009, junior Alyssa Whitehead.
Kennesaw State is 0-1 all-time against Samford, losing its only meeting on Sept. 2, 2007 by a score of 3-0 in Birmingham.
The key matchup in Friday’s match will be between the two starting goalkeepers. Between the posts for Samford will be Whitehead, who finished first in the nation last season with a 0.31 GAA, and for the Owls senior
Staci Pugh, the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament MVP, will be back in goal after Hutto got the start against Wyoming.
This weekend is a key point of the season for the Owls as it is the final tune up before conference play begins, and head coach Rob King know how important this tournament is for his team. They stay in Birmingham on Sunday to take on Georgia Southern, also of the Southern Conference. The Black and Gold have found success against teams in the SoCon in the past, sporting a 7-1-3 record all-time against squads in that conference, including their season-opening victory at College of Charleston on Aug. 20.
"We're looking forward to another quality tournament against some strong opponents," King said. "Samford is a well coached team, who've already had strong wins this season over both UAB and Southern Miss. Our match on Sunday is against in-state rival Georgia Southern, and there's always that extra motivation and intensity when teams from within the state match up."
Live coverage of both matches will be available on CBS Sportsline Game Tracker.
