Eagle Women’s Soccer Visits Charleston Southern on Friday
9/13/2012 3:09:51 PM | Women's Soccer
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern’s Women’s Soccer plays its final non-conference game of the 2012 regular season with a trip to Charleston Southern. The Eagles are coming off their first loss of the season and have a 4-1-2 record, good enough for the program’s best start since the 2000 season. Conference play starts next weekend with Samford and Chattanooga coming to Statesboro.
Friday’s game starts at 4 p.m. from Buccaneer Field in North Charleston, S.C.
The 2012 Eagles have outscored their opponents by a 10-4 margin with four GSU players tallying two or more goals. Freshmen Nora El-Shami and Stephanie Gratto have each found the net twice while GSU’s leading goalscorer from 2011, Courtney Collins, also has two tallies. Sophomore Sydnie Van Curen leads the team with three goals.
The Georgia Southern defense has been solid, posting five shutouts this season, ranking eighth nationally in shuout percentage (0.714). Goalkeeper Katie Merson ranks 34th nationally with a 0.537 goals against average and 16th in save percentage at .897.
A year ago, Charleston Southern took a 2-1 overtime victory over the Eagles in Statesboro. Sara Oland scored a 19th minute equalizer, but Allison Lewis scored twice for the Bucs, including the game-winning goal in the 95th minute.
Charleston Southern is off to a 2-3 start after winning its season opener over USC Upstate, 2-1. The only other win came against Northern Iowa last week while the Buccaneers have recorded losses to Mercer, College of Charleston and Francis Marion. Chelsea Frankeny has two goals to lead the CSU offense while Katelyn Faucette has a pair of assists. The Bucs have allowed 1.85 goals per match, making 32 saves off 82 total opponent shots.
The Eagles open conference play next weekend at home against Samford and Chattanooga. GSU faces Samford on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. and hosts the Mocs on Sunday at 2 p.m. Both games will be broadcast for free on GSEagles.com by clicking the Watch and Listen button on the homepage.
Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.
