Oct. 9, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team will look to remain undefeated in home games this season as the Bulldogs square off against the Furman Lady Paladins on Friday at 7 p.m. (CT), in a key Southern Conference duel to be held at Bulldog Field.

Friday will be "Samford Spirit Night" and all fans in attendance will receive a free soccer cup.

"This is going to be a huge game for us and Furman is a really tough opponent," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "They have perennially been one of the top teams in the conference and (Head coach) Andrew (Burr) does an outstanding job with them. It will be a big challenge for us and it will definitely be another competitive SoCon game."

Samford (3-8-1, 2-1-1 SoCon) enters Friday's home match with a 1-0-1 record at Bulldog Field this season. In their prior home games of the 2008 campaign, the Bulldogs defeated Elon 3-0 on Sept. 26 and then fought to a 0-0 draw with preseason-favorite UNC Greensboro on Sept. 28.

Last week, Samford dropped a 3-0 decision on the road against first-place Davidson and then scored early in a 1-0 victory over Georgia Southern.

In the Bulldogs' key shutout win at Georgia Southern, true freshman Mary Shelton Bryant tallied the game-winning goal during the eighth minute of play. The score proved to be all that Samford would need as goalkeepers Cayley Winters and Alyssa Whitehead combined to earn the shutout victory.

"I think it's definitely going to be a great environment here tomorrow," Yelton said. "Playing at home is always a special thing here at Samford because of the great support that we get from the student body and the local community. That should give our players quite a boost and hopefully they'll come out and play with a lot of confidence."

Furman (8-4-1, 2-2 SoCon) heads into the third weekend of conference play as the fifth-place team in the league. Earlier this year, the Lady Paladins hosted Clemson on Sept. 19 and picked up a momentous 2-1 victory at home in front of 2,217 fans.

All four of the Lady Paladins' conference matches this year have ended in one-goal decisions. So far this season, Furman has posted victories against Georgia Southern 4-3 and Appalachian State 1-0, but have suffered losses to both Davidson 3-2 and Western Carolina 1-0.

"Furman has a talented squad and I know a lot of players on that roster," said Yelton. "Furman recruits in the same circles that we do and there are a lot of similarities between the schools. I think that they will come out and play a lot like us in a number of ways. They really want to play the game and offensively they can be dangerous. They scored four goals against Georgia Southern and two goals against Davidson."

Samford enters the weekend as the fourth-place team in the SoCon. The Bulldogs have already tallied seven points in conference play this season, despite having faced only two of the bottom six teams in the standings.

"We're in fourth place right now, and obviously we'd like it if we were higher, but we're 2-1-1 and we've already played the top two teams in the preseason poll," Yelton said. "Right now, we're just fighting to be in one of the top four spots so that we can host a first-round tournament game. There are five teams in the conference right now that have a top-100 RPI and that goes to show how competitive this league is."

Samford's offensive attack this season is being led by freshmen Sarah Wilkinson and Bryant. Both players have registered two goals this year and have combined for more than half of the Bulldogs' scoring output during the 2008 campaign. Wilkinson, a native of Euless, Texas, has also added an assist this season.

Furman's leading goal-scorer is freshman Martha Hall. The Lady Paladins' forward from Knoxville, Tenn., has already racked up six goals and two assists this year for a team-leading total of 14 points.

Friday's match will be the first all-time meeting between Samford and Furman. With the Bulldogs' 1-1 performance last week, they improved their all-time record versus SoCon opponents to 9-2-3.

Following its critical SoCon game against Furman on Friday, the Samford University soccer team will head to Spartanburg, S.C., for a Sunday matchup against the Wofford Terriers at 1 p.m. (CT). The contest will be held at Wofford's Snyder Field (2,250).

GameTracker - Samford vs. Furman
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