Marshall University Athletics
Women's Soccer Hosts Confernce USA Season Home Opener
9/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 30, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Sam Hood Field hosts its first Conference USA women's soccer action of the season on Friday, Oct. 1 and Sunday, Oct. 3, as Marshall University is set to take on Tulsa and SMU over the weekend.
Friday night marks Jam the Sam at Sam Hood Field. All those in attendance will have the chance to win prizes and giveaways.
The Herd is coming off the C-USA opening weekend in which it split with Southern Miss and UCF. MU downed the Golden Eagles 1-0 on Friday, as Freya Holdaway (Llandrindod Wells, Wales) notched the first goal of her collegiate career. Erika Duncan (Easthaven, Scotland) tallied one of her two assists on the weekend on the play.
Marshall went on top early at UCF, with a Megan Tabler (Ashland, Ky.) goal in the 14th minute. However, the Thundering Herd was unable to hold on to its first half lead, allowing two goals in the second stanza, falling 2-1 to No. 23 UCF.
Goalkeeper Lexa Hughes (Everett, Wash.) made her first collegiate appearance on the weekend, tallying 10 saves in the two contests.
Tulsa travels to Huntington, for only the third time since the series began in 2005, with a record of 5-5, 0-2 C-USA, after dropping four-straight matches. The Golden Hurricane most recently fell to Rice, 2-0 and Houston, 1-0 (2OT) in the C-USA opening weekend.
Stephanie Aitken tallied a team-leading five shots in the two contests, while Claire Nicholson continues to lead the charge for the Golden Hurricane. Nicholson sits at fourth in C-USA in goals (6) and goals per game (0.60).
The Thundering Herd enter Sunday's matchup looking to even the series at two with SMU. The Mustangs sit at 5-4-2, 0-2 C-USA but remain winless in its last three matches, including a 1-0 loss to Houston and a 2-1 overtime loss to Rice.
Kenzie Scovill combined for seven shots in two contests and leads the team with 26 shots on the year. Amanda Burgardt tallied the only goal of the weekend for the Mustangs, her second of the season.
Goalkeeper Courtney Webb snagged nine saves in the weekend matches bringing her season total to 46, putting her second in the conference.
"We are eager to get started on a good note on Friday night and create some sort of redemption based on last year," head coach Kevin Long said. "SMU is a hard game, last year was the first time that we beat them, a late goal gave us the win after a hard fought game and they are playing good soccer so, as is every weekend, this is a great test for us to see if we're playing with the right intensity and playing better soccer."
GameTracker will be available for both matches by logging on to the women's soccer schedule.
Both matches this weekend will be broadcasted live on WMUL 88.1 and can be heard online at www.marshall.edu/WMUL on stream one. Friday's coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. and Sunday's coverage will begin at 11:45 a.m.
