KENNESAW, Ga. - The 2019 Kennesaw State women's soccer season officially kicks off Tuesday evening as the Owls and Auburn square off at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in an exhibition match.
After its best record in over 10 seasons, KSU looks to continue to build on last year's 12-6-1 finish with another big showing in 2019. The Owls were a stone's throw away from earning their first share of the ASUN regular season title since 2009, needing a win in last year's season finale against Lipscomb. Despite dropping the match to the Bisons, KSU finished the year with a 5-3 conference record, its best finish since 2013.
Off that remarkable squad, KSU returns all but four letter winners and 10 of 11 starters. Offensively, the Owls bring back nearly 100 percent of its goal-scoring offense, accounting for 26 of their 27 goals from 2018.
Both of KSU's leading scorers, junior
Erin Harris and sophomore
Jenna Vollrath, are back and hungry for more after finishing tied for seventh in the league with six goals each last year. This year's attack will be led by a group of strong upperclassmen, including juniors
Kendall Higgs and Harris along with seniors
Isabella Contreras and
Emely Sosa who all netted at least three goals to account for over half of the Owls scoring production.
Harris, Vollrath, Contreras and Higgs are four of the five all-conference recipients returning to the pitch in 2019 led by First Team All-ASUN and United Soccer Coaches All-South Region selection
Kelsey Hahn.
Hahn anchored the defensive backline for the Owls, starting in all 19 matches and logging 90 or more minutes played in 16 of those matches. KSU's defense was the shining star of 2019, recording nine shutouts to rank second in the ASUN. The Owls' 1.03 goals against average marked their lowest season average since the 2007 season.
KSU returns three of its key players on defense in Hahn, junior
Abi Hunt and brick wall
Tiffany Sornpao in the net. In addition, the Owls add junior
Kendall Hart and redshirt-senior
Carly Pressgrove, who is back for her final season after redshirting in 2018.
The 2018 season marked a breakout year for the stellar Sornpao between the posts. The redshirt-junior, fresh off her World Cup stint with the Thailand Women's National Team, continued to improve her game with a single-season record 94 saves last season. Her .825 save percentage ranked third in the conference with her nine shutouts leading the league. With 16 career shutouts to her name, Sornpao ranks third all-time in the KSU record books.
Adding to the Owls' strength this season is the introduction of seven freshman in
Hayley Dekker,
Rafa Abbud,
Lauren Kelly,
Camryn Simmons,
AJ Needham,
Erin Miller and
Maddi Rhodes. All local standouts from Georgia, excluding Simmons who comes to KSU from St. Johns, Fla., the freshman class boasts multiple all-region and all-state selections, including a region Player of the Year in Contreras and a Cobb County Offensive Player of the Year in
Erin Miller.
After the exhibition match Tuesday night, the Owls officially kick off the regular season with a two-game road swing at Mercer (Aug. 22) and Georgia State (Aug. 25) before opening a five-match homestand with the College of Charleston on Thursday (Aug 29) at 7 p.m.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State soccer news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsSoccer or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
