Friday, September 14
Natchitoches, LA
7:00 PM
Stephen F. Austin
at
Northwestern State
SFA Soccer Poised to Open Conference Schedule with Road Match at Northwestern State
9/13/2018 1:12:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Ladyjacks embark on third one-match weekend of 2018
Stephen F. Austin at Northwestern State
Friday, September 14
7:00 P.M CST
Match Notes (PDF) | Video ($) | Live stats
Friday, September 14
7:00 P.M CST
Match Notes (PDF) | Video ($) | Live stats
NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Stephen F. Austin women's soccer team will face its first Southland Conference opponent of the season on Friday as it opens the 2018 conference schedule at Northwestern State. SFA (2-3) has not played a full game in 12 days, having lost the opportunity to earn a result last Friday due to inclement weather, which canceled the match against Southern Miss.
Conversely, the Lady Demons have strung together a four-game winning streak and sit at 5-2 on the season. First year co-head coaches Jess and Anne Jobe have the Lady Demons positioned atop the Southland heading into conference play.
The match will be shown by Northwestern State on Demon TV, with the pay-per-view link listed above. Similarly, live stats can be accessed above for fans to follow the game's action, while SFA fans are encouraged to follow the 'Jacks on Twitter (@SFA_Soccer) for more in-depth content and game updates.
Having faced three opponents ranked in or just outside the top 25, the Ladyjacks certainly haven't had an easy road to this point. Shutout victories in both exhibition contests as well as against the 'Jacks two unranked regular season foes (LSU-Shreveport and Texas Southern) have provided a distinctly different prognosis for the 'Jacks than their three losses. Friday's home match against Southern Miss would have been a good barometer for the Ladyjacks, but with that game canceled, the 'Jacks go into the conference slate as a bit of a unknown quantity.
Meanwhile, the Lady Demons have surged through their non-conference slate and have shown no shortage of firepower in doing so, posting 25 goals in seven matches for a nation-leading 3.57 goals-per-game average. Senior April Trowbridge is off to a strong start in the campaign, with seven goals and four assists already under her belt, while classmate Brittany Caserma has four goals on the season already thanks to a hat trick against Louisiana-Monroe. The situation is eerily similar to last season's matchup between Northwestern State and SFA, when the Lady Demons came into the contest leading the Southland Conference and ranking fifth nationally with 23 goals scored.
That contest ended in the Ladyjacks favor, a trend that has carried on throughout the rivalry matchup between the two squads. SFA owns a 20-6-5 advantage in the all-time series, with an unbeaten streak dating back 17 occurrences to the 2002 season. Friday's matchup will the 32ndmeeting all-time between the two programs, a series that trails only the Southeastern Louisiana (38) and McNeese (35) series for SFA's longest-tenured series.
"I think it's going to be a tremendous match, regardless of what has led up to this point with the non-conference games", said SFA head coach Wally Crittenden. "At the end of the day, everyone's in there fighting and grinding and trying to get results early on, so I think going to their place will be a challenge, facing a very excited and committed team that's scoring a lot of goals and getting some results. I feel good about the fact that we've scored on every opponent we've faced that's not ranked or receiving votes and we also haven't been scored on except by Top 25 teams so I think when you look at how we're playing and the style of soccer we're playing, I think there's some indicators that we could be pretty good."
-SFA-
WE KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT WINNING
SFA's marks of 157 wins and a .732 winning percentage heading into the 2018 season are both conference-bests by a healthy margin. .
THE CENTURY MARK
SFA head coach WALLY CRITTENDEN coached his 100thgame at the helm of SFA soccer in the season opener against LSU-Shreveport. His career marks of 68 wins and 105 games coached are both program records.
A POTENT OFFENSE…AGAIN
Northwestern State has shown a knack for scoring this season, and currently ranks first in the country in scoring average at 3.57 goals per game. At kickoff on Friday, SFA will have played the nation's leading offense in back-to-back weeks, with Southern Miss' 3.80 average from last week leading the country at that time.
THOU SHALL NOT SCORE
The Ladyjacks notched a shutout in the victory over Texas Southern, and now have 22 such wins out of the 36 wins accrued during the past three seasons.
WINNING IS WHAT WE DO
Stephen F. Austin has won ten or more games in eight of the past nine seasons, and has not finished under .500 since the 2002 season.
NO DAYS OFF
Junior defender TYLER JOHNSON has played every minute of SFA's five matches thus far, the only player on SFA's roster to have done so.
YOUTH IS SERVED
The Ladyjacks started five underclassmen in the road match at Texas, and have seen seven underclassmen make starts at some point this season.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
SFA is 10-2-2 all-time against the Lady Demons in away matches, a better record than both the home (9-3-3) and neutral site (0-1-0) results.
Conversely, the Lady Demons have strung together a four-game winning streak and sit at 5-2 on the season. First year co-head coaches Jess and Anne Jobe have the Lady Demons positioned atop the Southland heading into conference play.
The match will be shown by Northwestern State on Demon TV, with the pay-per-view link listed above. Similarly, live stats can be accessed above for fans to follow the game's action, while SFA fans are encouraged to follow the 'Jacks on Twitter (@SFA_Soccer) for more in-depth content and game updates.
Having faced three opponents ranked in or just outside the top 25, the Ladyjacks certainly haven't had an easy road to this point. Shutout victories in both exhibition contests as well as against the 'Jacks two unranked regular season foes (LSU-Shreveport and Texas Southern) have provided a distinctly different prognosis for the 'Jacks than their three losses. Friday's home match against Southern Miss would have been a good barometer for the Ladyjacks, but with that game canceled, the 'Jacks go into the conference slate as a bit of a unknown quantity.
Meanwhile, the Lady Demons have surged through their non-conference slate and have shown no shortage of firepower in doing so, posting 25 goals in seven matches for a nation-leading 3.57 goals-per-game average. Senior April Trowbridge is off to a strong start in the campaign, with seven goals and four assists already under her belt, while classmate Brittany Caserma has four goals on the season already thanks to a hat trick against Louisiana-Monroe. The situation is eerily similar to last season's matchup between Northwestern State and SFA, when the Lady Demons came into the contest leading the Southland Conference and ranking fifth nationally with 23 goals scored.
That contest ended in the Ladyjacks favor, a trend that has carried on throughout the rivalry matchup between the two squads. SFA owns a 20-6-5 advantage in the all-time series, with an unbeaten streak dating back 17 occurrences to the 2002 season. Friday's matchup will the 32ndmeeting all-time between the two programs, a series that trails only the Southeastern Louisiana (38) and McNeese (35) series for SFA's longest-tenured series.
"I think it's going to be a tremendous match, regardless of what has led up to this point with the non-conference games", said SFA head coach Wally Crittenden. "At the end of the day, everyone's in there fighting and grinding and trying to get results early on, so I think going to their place will be a challenge, facing a very excited and committed team that's scoring a lot of goals and getting some results. I feel good about the fact that we've scored on every opponent we've faced that's not ranked or receiving votes and we also haven't been scored on except by Top 25 teams so I think when you look at how we're playing and the style of soccer we're playing, I think there's some indicators that we could be pretty good."
-SFA-
WE KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT WINNING
SFA's marks of 157 wins and a .732 winning percentage heading into the 2018 season are both conference-bests by a healthy margin. .
THE CENTURY MARK
SFA head coach WALLY CRITTENDEN coached his 100thgame at the helm of SFA soccer in the season opener against LSU-Shreveport. His career marks of 68 wins and 105 games coached are both program records.
A POTENT OFFENSE…AGAIN
Northwestern State has shown a knack for scoring this season, and currently ranks first in the country in scoring average at 3.57 goals per game. At kickoff on Friday, SFA will have played the nation's leading offense in back-to-back weeks, with Southern Miss' 3.80 average from last week leading the country at that time.
THOU SHALL NOT SCORE
The Ladyjacks notched a shutout in the victory over Texas Southern, and now have 22 such wins out of the 36 wins accrued during the past three seasons.
WINNING IS WHAT WE DO
Stephen F. Austin has won ten or more games in eight of the past nine seasons, and has not finished under .500 since the 2002 season.
NO DAYS OFF
Junior defender TYLER JOHNSON has played every minute of SFA's five matches thus far, the only player on SFA's roster to have done so.
YOUTH IS SERVED
The Ladyjacks started five underclassmen in the road match at Texas, and have seen seven underclassmen make starts at some point this season.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
SFA is 10-2-2 all-time against the Lady Demons in away matches, a better record than both the home (9-3-3) and neutral site (0-1-0) results.
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