By: KSU Sports Information
Live Stats I
Game Notes I
Live A-Sun TV Broadcast
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team heads into its final weekend of the 2011 regular season with its playoff destiny in its own hands as it faces a must-win scenario on Friday night at East Tennessee State. A win will keep the Black and Gold's hopes alive for its sixth straight Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament appearance.
As it stands right now the Owls sit in eighth place in the conference standings with two matches left to make their final playoff push. If the Black and Gold can find a way to beat East Tennessee State on Friday, and take care of USC Upstate on Sunday, it will leave them with 12 points. The 12 points can give Kennesaw State a good chance of grabbing the No. 6 seed, but it will need some matches to go in its favor on the final weekend.
KSU currently has the third longest current streak of A-Sun Tournament appearances with six, trailing only Jacksonville with seven, and Stetson with eight straight showings.
Kennesaw State (6-8-1, 2-5 A-Sun) only had one match last weekend as it fell to in-state rival Mercer, 1-0, last Friday night. It was a frustrating night for KSU as it defended well, but couldn’t get its offense on track against a stout Bears defense.
Looking ahead to Friday’s match the Black and Gold hold a 5-2-1 all-time series record against the Lady Bucs, and KSU has won three of the last four meetings between the two schools.
Scoring the first goal of the match has proven to be a successful formula for the Owls all season long as it is 6-0 when scoring first. However, when you add in the fact that all four of ETSU’s losses this season have come when it gives up the first goal you know that head coach
Rob King will be looking to get out to that crucial early lead.
“We have a very clear picture of what is needed going into the final weekend of conference play,” coach King said. “It's a matter of winning both games, and then sitting back and watching the other scores come in. ETSU is playing well and we know how important it is to score first if we are to get the result we want.”
East Tennessee State (11-4, 6-1 A-Sun) is coming off a 3-0 loss at Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Bucs return six starters from a team that went 8-7-3 last season. ETSU was picked to finish in eighth in the A-Sun Preseason Poll, and it is led by Genna Petersen who leads all A-Sun players with 25 points this season.
The match is scheduled to kick-off at 7 p.m. E.T.
