Marshall University Athletics
Women's Soccer Set for Conference USA Home Opener
10/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 8, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University women's soccer team will play host to Southern Methodist University and the University of Tulsa in its Conference USA home opening weekend at Sam Hood Field. The Thundering Herd will face SMU Friday with kick-off set for 7 p.m. Marshall will then meet Tulsa, Sunday, at 11 a.m.
The Herd will begin the weekend 4-4-4 overall, 2-2-0 in conference after a 1-1 split last weekend against the University of Central Florida and Southern Miss. Last Sunday's 4-0 victory over Southern Miss marked the first time since 2003 that the Herd has won two league matches. Marshall finished its 2003 campaign 2-10-0 in the Mid-American Conference.
"The team is playing well, bouncing back from the UCF game and beating Southern Miss Sunday was a great response," Marshall's interim head coach Kevin Long said. "I think I speak for the entire team when I say we are happy to be home. We did decent on the road, but now, we are coming home to play in front of our home crowd; we look forward to the energy boost from the Herd fans!"
The Mustangs enter Friday's match 4-7-1 overall, 1-2-0 in the league. SMU fell 2-1 to Rice University and then took a 2-1 victory last weekend over conference foe, the University of Houston.
Tulsa begins the weekend 6-5-2 overall, 1-2-1 in conference action. The Golden Hurricane will meet conference rival, East Carolina, Friday before traveling to Huntington. Tulsa went 0-1-1 last weekend against conference opponents, Houston and Rice.
This weekend marks Marshall's inaugural Breast Cancer Awareness matches, where the program will be recognizing the devastating disease by holding a Kicks Against Breast Cancer auction. The auction includes pink jerseys the players will be wearing during Friday and Sunday's contests. For more information about the auction and to place a bid, visit the women's soccer page at herdzone.com.
"With the Kicks Against Breast Cancer events of the weekend, the team hopes the events will further progress research and funding for a cure to a disease that affects so many," Coach Long continued.
SMU leads the all-time series with Marshall, 2-0, with the first meeting being in 2005. In the latest meeting, the Mustangs took a 3-0 decision in Dallas, Texas. In 2006, the No. 17 Mustangs were too much for the Herd by dominating play with 24 shots compared to Marshall's four.
The Golden Hurricane holds the all-time series with the Herd, 2-0, with the first meeting being in 2005. In 2006, Molly Snead (Cincinnati, Ohio) notched Marshall's lone goal in the 3-1 loss to Tulsa at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium.
Freshman Angela DeSumma (Doylestown, Pa.) stands tied as the nation's 13th-ranked assists per game leader (0.67/game) with eight assists through 12 games. The forward also stands alone as the C-USA assists leader.
Forward Erika Duncan (Easthaven, Scotland) leads the Herd with 35 shots and six goals. The sophomore is tied with two other conference players as the third shots leader. She is the tied for second with Colorado College's Tiffany Brown in league goals.
Co-captain keeper Liz Orton (Fort Collins, Colo.) has 1,129 playing minutes and 48 saves so far this season. The junior has registered 238 saves so far in her three-year career. Orton's 48 saves ranks her tied fifth in C-USA.
Marshall has outshot its opponents 193-137 through 12 matches. SMU's opponents have out-shot the Mustangs 185-136 in 12 matches. Tulsa has out-shot its opponents, 209-128 through 13 matches.
"We have been giving away some pretty soft goals over the last several weeks and we hope that we can build on the shutout from Southern Miss into strong defensive showings throughout the weekend," Coach Long added. "We will continue to pressure teams into mistakes and capitalize on our opportunities in the coming games."
The Herd's away record so far this season is 4-4-2, while the home record is 0-0-2.
GameTracker will be available for both matches by clicking the Marshall women's soccer schedule.
Friday's match can be heard exclusively on-line through WMUL 88.1's website, http://www.marshall.edu/wmul. Sunday's match will be broadcasted live on WMUL 88.1.
Herd fans can view and purchase photos from the 2008 women's soccer season at http://herdsportsphotos.exposuremanager.com/ under "2008 Women's Soccer."
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