Ladyjacks Continue Homestand With Pair of Southland Conference Games This Weekend

Friday, September 22

Nacogdoches, Texas

7:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Houston Baptist

Ladyjacks Continue Homestand With Pair of Southland Conference Games This Weekend

9/20/2017 5:44:00 PM | Women's Soccer

SFA wraps up four-game homestead this weekend

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

Friday vs. Houston Baptist
Nacogdoches, Texas | SFA Soccer Field
Live Stats | ESPN3 Link | Game Notes | 2017 Soccer Media Guide

Sunday vs. Texas A & M Corpus Christi
Nacogdoches, Texas | SFA Soccer Field
Live Stats | ESPN3 Link | Game Notes | 2017 Soccer Media Guide

NACOGDOCHES, Texas— The Southland Conference schedule has officially kicked off, and with it the journey for the Stephen F. Austin women's soccer team to qualify for the Southland Tournament begins. Before that can happen, however, the Ladyjacks have to earn their place with a strong performance in each and every conference match. The team is 1/1 so far, having dismantled the vaunted offense of Northwestern State on Friday on the way to a 2-0 victory.

This weekend, the 'Jacks will face a pair of tests in Houston Baptist, a team that has cemented itself as a soccer rivalry for SFA in recent years, and Texas A & M Corpus Christi, a team that has defied its Southland Conference Preseason poll ranking and has staked itself out to a 4-2-1 record thus far. SFA will face Houston Baptist at 7:00 p.m. om Friday night at SFA Soccer Field, and will take on the Islanders of A & M Corpus Christi on Sunday afternoon.

At 4-4, it's been a season of mixed results for the Ladyjacks through the non-conference schedule, however the team matched up well with the quality opponents that made up the opening stretch of the season, and are entering Southland play with confidence and depth.

SFA's Friday night matchup with Houston Baptist is the 10^th match between the programs in a series that began in 2010. The Ladyjacks have dominated the series, winning seven of the nine contests, including all four matches at Houston Baptist. It is the two losses that carry the most weight in the series, however, as they represent the two occasions in which the Huskies have knocked off the Ladyjacks in the Southland Conference Tournament title game. The first such occasion came in 2014, as the Huskies snapped SFA's nation-leading 16-game winning streak with a 2-0 decision, and repeated itself with a 1-0 defeat of SFA last season as the Huskies scored the game-winner just three minutes into the match.

"Our schools are not rivals, but this is a soccer rivalry for us, because they've knocked us out off the Southland Tournament Championship twice in recent years", explained SFA soccer head coach Wally Crittenden.

The Huskies have not gotten off to a strong start this season, and own a 1-4-1 record heading into Friday's matchup, including a 0-1 conference mark. That being said, the Huskies record is not indicative of the team's talent level, as it has included a handful of close results, namely in three one-goal losses. The Huskies challenged themselves to begin the season, playing two matches in Hawaii and accepted the logistical challenges associated with those games. A matchup with Big 12 Baylor was canceled due to Hurricane Harvey, and a 5-0 loss to North Texas thereafter dropped the team to 0-3 in the early going. Since then, the Huskies have gone 1-1-1, most recently dropping a 2-1 decision to Abilene Christian in double overtime on a PK in the 105^th minute of play.

"They've played a couple of good teams, and I don't think their current record is indicative of that team's talent", Crittenden said. "They're going to be an emotional team, a physical team and it's always a good game when we play. We expect a good game against them, they've historically done well with set pieces and they have a very talented front line this year."

Offensively, the Huskies average about one goal a game, having scored more than one goal just once this season and having been shut out by North Texas earlier this season. Senior Ellee Hall leads the team with three goals, and will be looking to recreate her two-goal performance in the 2014 victory over SFA on Friday. Besides Hall, Gabby Rodriguez (two goals) and Emma Dooher (one goal) are the only Huskies to have scored a goal this season.

Defensively, the team has surrendered an average of two goals per game (skewed by the five goals surrendered to North Texas). Junior goalkeeper Alanis Guevara has made five starts in goal for the Huskies this season, posting a .792 save percentage and allowing 10 goals on the season. Senior Katie Turner has also seen some action, saving 87 percent of shots and making 14 saves in two games played. Whichever keeper gets the nod for the Huskies on Friday should get tested by the Ladyjacks offense, which should get looks on goal from a defense that has yielded 25 shots per game to opponents this season. In Houston Baptist's conference opener against Abilene Christian, the Huskies surrendered 34 total shots to the Wildcats, including 13 looks on goal.

On Sunday, the 'Jacks face the upstart Islanders of Texas A & M Corpus Christi, who have posted an impressive 4-2-1 record this season and have gotten it done with defense, complimented by an ample offense. Undefeated in their past four decisions, the Islanders haven't dropped a game since August 27^th, and haven't yielded a goal to their past three opponents. Picked to finish dead last in the Southland conference by the coaches preseason poll, the Islanders are playing as though they hadn't heard the news, and will travel to Nacogdoches with a tough, confident squad that will look to make a statement as the road team in the second weekend of Southland play.

"They've had some good results, they're going to be a much improved team that has a spark and is looking to make a statement", Crittenden said. "Knowing our result against them last year, this is one where they're going to be coming in organized, energetic and looking for an emotional response this weekend."

A & M Corpus Christi will look to make amends for a 5-1 loss suffered at the hands of SFA at home last season, and will look to a deep and varied scoring attack to help accomplish that end. Eight different Islanders have notched a goal this season, with freshman midfielder Katie Lawrence leading the way with two tallies, both game winners. Mariah Ramon and Kaitlyn Joy have tied Lawrence for the team lead with four points apiece, with the trio accounting for four of the Islander's nine goals, and 12 of the team's 25 points.

Sunday's matchup doesn't require any outside storylines to make it a pivotal game, but even still, the matchup will also showcase three conference athletes who capped off strong performances last week with the Southland Conference Player of the Week awards. For SFA, that player is Hanna Barker, who earned her second Offensive Player of the Week selection for Week Five after notching a goal and an assist in Friday's Southland opening win. On the other side of the ball, Islanders defender Megan Dodd and goalkeeper Abbie Flax will look to make Barker's day miserable as the Southland Conference Defensive Player and Goalkeeper of the week, respectively.

Flax has spent the lion's share of time in goal for A & M Corpus Christi this season, posting a 2-2 record in five starts to go along with a .750 save percentage and 1.18 goals-against-average and two shutouts. Dodd has been a starter in all seven games along the back line for the Islanders, and has seen the second-most time on the pitch for the squad this season.

Picking up right where she left off last season, Hanna Barker has tallied three goals and four assists this season, placing her in a three-way tie for first in the conference in points, with 10.
While Barker has been the Ladyjack's standout offensive weapon, the offense has progressed throughout the season due to a team effort by the Ladyjacks, looking to impose themselves on teams through possession and precision passing.

"Our possession has improved, even as we've played some good teams" Crittenden said. "Ultimately, you're going to be challenged in different ways every game and we're prepared to do what we need to do to get the result, and put ourselves in a position to win, and possession is a big part of that. I feel good about our possession, I think it will continue to improve throughout the season."

No matter the records, no matter the statistics, every game from here on out is critical to the Ladyjacks and their goals for the season. In conference play, there are no "easy" games, and every game means more. Getting off to a strong start against Northwestern State was the 'Jacks first test, and they aced it, but there are more to come, a fact not lost on Crittenden heading into this weekend.

"Every game matters, we're not going to ease ourselves into this conference race, that's now what we want to do", Crittenden said. "We want to make a statement, we want to score goals and we want to lock it down defensively, and I feel like we did well at limiting the run of play shots we were giving up this weekend. We'll improve on that, we'll refocus and come out energetic in just our second Friday night game at home and again on Sunday as well."