Sept. 30, 2009
LAS VEGAS -
UNLV women's soccer weekly notes
This weekend will be the final action for the UNLV women's soccer team before beginning Mountain West Conference play on Oct. 8. UNLV will be playing at a familiar site though as the team will take on Seattle on Friday, Oct. 2 at 1:30 pm and Oregon State on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 11:30 am in the San Diego State Classic, hosted by the SDSU Aztecs.
UNLV broke a winless streak in its last game with a 2-0 victory over Southern Utah on Sept. 26, the largest win-margin of the year after one-goal wins over Cal State Bakersfield and NC State. While UNLV is hoping to have gained back a winning momentum, its facing two teams that are going in completely opposite directions. The first contest will come against a Seattle team that has just one win in its last seven contests and only six total goals during that stretch. Oregon State meanwhile had a seven-game win streak going until a 1-0 loss at fourth-ranked Portland this past weekend.
Players To Watch
The offense thus far this year has come from senior midfielder Shannon Hughes, who has two goals, both are game-winners, with the second a penalty kick score against NC State on Sept. 3 in a 1-0 win. Freshman forward Collete Jepson has also scored twice this year to share the team lead with Hughes with four points. Junior Amanda Forrester and senior Jamie McCoy are next with three points (one goal, one assist), while sophomore Jenna Larkin and senior Brianna Moore each have one goal each.
Senior Alicia Lugo meanwhile has kept up her strong play in the nets. She has a 0.82 GAA and four shutouts, and leads the MWC with 53 saves.
Scouting Seattle
The Redhawks are 5-6-1 on the season, but have struggled as of late. After winning four of their first five games of the year, Seattle has seen a big drop off in scoring which has resulted in a 1-5-1 record over the past seven games, and have only scored more then one goal in one of the seven games.
Pacing the team in scoring is Kara Kuttler with six goals and two assists for 14 points. She is the only player with more then one goal. Jamie Coe does have a team-high three assists to go along with one score for five points this season. In goal for the Redhawks is Madison Goverde, who is posting a 0.90 GAA with 61 saves and four shutouts.
Scouting Oregon State
The Beavers bring a 7-2 record into this weekend's classic, and had a seven-game win streak going until suffering a 1-0 loss at No. 4 Portland on Sunday afternoon. Three of their seven wins are by shutouts, while Oregon State has scored at least two goals six times this season.
Leading the team is Chelsea Buckland, who has team-highs in goals (four) and points (nine), while both Ashley Seal and Courtney Wetzel are tied for second with seven points each. Colleen Boyd has seen the majority of time in goal, and is boasting a 0.67 GAA with 25 saves and two shutouts.
