THE MATCHUP
Teams: ULM (6-4-1, 3-0 Sun Belt)
South Alabama (8-2-1, 3-0 Sun Belt)
Location: ULM Soccer Complex, Monroe, La.
Time: 4:00 p.m.
MONROE, La. – The ULM soccer team will welcome in preseason Sun Belt Conference favorite South Alabama to the ULM Soccer Complex on Friday afternoon. Friday's match will feature the only two remaining SBC teams that are undefeated to start conference play this year.
NOTABLES
-The matchup between the Warhawks and Jaguars on Friday will feature the top two RPI teams in the Sun Belt according to NCAA.com rankings. South Alabama enters Friday with an RPI of 36 while the Warhawks enter with a 117 RPI.
-Coming off of a strong weekend, which includes back-to-back shutouts and 15 saves, Brooke-Lynn Scroggins ranks 17th in the country in saves with 64 this season and she also ranks 20th in the country with five shutouts.
-ULM and South Alabama will face off for the 14th time in the respective school's history. The Warhawks will look to break the trend as the Jaguars have won all 13 of the previous meetings including last season's heartbreaking loss in double overtime as South Alabama buried the winner with 46 seconds to go in the match. In last year's contest Cke'Lana Caesar scored the goal that forced overtime.
-The Jaguars come in winners of their last six matches a streak that started with a 1-0 win against the then-No. 1 team in the country Florida State. South Alabama is led by Rio Hardy who leads the Jaguars with five goals, which ranks third in the Sun Belt. In goal the Jaguars, Justice Stanford has six shutouts this year which ranks 9th in the country, while only allowing one goal all season.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Keyton Wheelock
Recap of Little Rock & Arkansas State: As both games went on last week we got better in the second half of each contest and it also feels good to get wins in the second half. The team battled the entire 90 minutes and never gave up, it was extremely warm in both games and to put together two wins and come out 3-0 is a step in the right direction.
South Alabama Preview: I've got tremendous respect for Graham Winkworth and that program at South Alabama as well as the team as a whole. Obviously being there for three seasons taught me a lot about turning a program around and what it takes to win matches and it is definitely nice to go up against your mentor especially with Graham because he has taught me so much about the game. It is going to be a hard, physical match on Friday. It is a match that I know they are preparing for and we are doing the exact same thing. It is two coaches that know each other extremely well and it is going to be about who guesses correctly.
Goalkeeper Brooke-Lynn Scroggins
How you feel like you've played to this point: I feel like I have just done my job. My team holds me to a standard and that is the same standard that I hold myself to. So that I can do my job and they can do their jobs up in front of me. It is what I train for.
Team's progression: I feel like our team is highly influenced by momentum and we have built some big momentum coming off of these wins with strong performances. I feel that we will come in very conscious about our opponents our coaches have prepared us for these matches.
UP NEXT
-ULM will finish the weekend on Sunday afternoon with senior day against Appalachian State. The match with the Mountaineers is slated to kickoff at 1:00 p.m.
