Oct. 15, 2009
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va.- Marshall’s women’s soccer is tied with three teams (UTEP, Colorado College and Memphis) for second place in Conference USA with three weeks remaining in the season. The Herd concludes a four-game road trip this weekend as it takes on UTEP and Colorado College, in hopes of emerging from the pack and improving on one its best seasons in school history.
“This weekend is huge for us,” head coach Kevin Long said. “We’re playing two very competitive teams and we need to come out of the weekend with at least one win, otherwise we’re on the outside looking in on the six teams going to the tournament.”
MU is coming off a 1-1 weekend and stands at 11-3 (4-2 C-USA). With five matches to go, the Thundering Herd is just one win away from its highest win total in school history.
In Friday night’s 1-0 victory against SMU, goalkeeper Liz Orton (Ft. Collins, Colo.) tallied six saves and registered her eighth shutout of the season.
Erika Duncan (Easthaven, Scotland) scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season and her fifth in four matches in the victory. Duncan moved into a second place tie with Lindsey Jayjack and senior teammate Molly Snead (Cincinnati, Ohio) on Marshall’s all-time list of game-winning goals, as she netted her fourth of the season and the fifth of her career.
The Herd dropped Sunday’s match to Tulsa as the Golden Hurricane scored three second half goals en route to a 4-1 victory. Megan Tabler (Ashland, Ky.) scored her fourth goal of the year and the lone goal of the match for MU, off a pass from Snead.
Marshall travels to El Paso, Texas, on Friday night to do battle with UTEP with a 9 p.m. EST kickoff. UTEP enters the weekend at 10-4-0 (4-2-0 C-USA). UTEP leads the all-time series with the Herd 2-0. The Miners beat Marshall 2-0 last year at Sam Hood Field.
The Miners lead C-USA in shots, points, goals and goals per game. Tameka Sumter (San Antonio, Texas) and Tess Hall (Anaheim, Calif.) rank first and second in C-USA in shots and have combined for 88 of UTEP’s 271. Sumter and Chelsea Winbush (Allen, Texas) each have a team-leading six goals on the season.
The Thundering Herd concludes its four-game road trip when it travels to Colorado Springs, Colo. to take on Colorado College. The Tigers, who rest at 8-5-1, 4-2-0 in C-USA, won last year’s meeting 3-1, to improve to 3-0 lifetime against MU.
Tiffany Brown (Sterling, Va.) leads Colorado College in points (16), goals (5), assists (6), shots (42) and shots on goal (17).
Goalkeeper Caitlin Hulyo (Lititz, Pa.) combined for 15 saves over the weekend, including 12 on Sunday afternoon’s 4-1 loss against No. 12 UCF.
“We’re usually out of the race at this point in the season,” Long said. “But at 11-3 we need a couple of wins in the last weeks of the season to make the tournament,” Long continued. “We’re in the driver seat of our own destiny and it’s very exciting.”
GameTracker will be available for Friday night’s matchup at UTEP by clicking the women’s soccer schedule.
Live steaming can be purchased for Sunday’s contest at Colorado College by logging on to www.CCTigers.com and clicking the women’s soccer’s homepage.
