Women's Soccer Hopes to Continue Winning Ways during Alabama Trip

Sept. 28, 2010

Boca Raton, Fla. - Winner of three straight matches, the Florida Atlantic University women's soccer team hopes the good times continue during an important Alabama trip for a pair of Sun Belt Conference matches this weekend. The Owls will battle the University of South Alabama on Friday, October 1 before squaring off against Troy University on Sunday, October 3.The matches will be FAU's first action outside Florida this season.

FAU is coming off a pair of shutout victories last weekend, with a score of 1-0 over Arkansas State University and 6-0 over the University of Arkansas-Little Rock - to stand 3-6 on the season. Most importantly, the team is 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play. The current three-match winning streak started with a 2-1 win over Fordham University in the last non-conference encounter on September 19 in Boca Raton. The turnaround has been created by a young Owls team that experienced growing pains against quality competition during the first three weeks of the season.

The youth movement has been led by freshman forward Jesse Shugg, who has scored a goal in three straight matches, including the only goal in the September 24 victory over the Red Wolves, and leads the team with four goals for the season; redshirt freshman goalkeeper Courtney Zwetsch, who has posted back-to-back shutouts - a first for FAU in league matches since 2007; sophomore forward Allison Griffin, who scored two goals and had two assists in her first collegiate start against UALR; and freshman forward Alexandra Major, who had her first two career goals on September 26 and has tallied six points this fall.

Griffin was honored as the FAU Female Student-Athlete of the Week after her six points against UALR were the most points recorded in a match since 2006, while Tessa McGarrity tallied seven points against Troy.

Friday's opponent, South Alabama, also is coming off a win in its last outing after picking up a 4-0 victory over the University of Louisiana-Monroe (ULM) on September 26. The Jaguars stand 1-1 in league action after the opening weekend and 3-7 overall. Kristyn Thacker leads the team with four goals and nine points. She has scored the game-winning goal in two of the Jaguars' three victories. Linsey Snavely has added five assists this fall. FAU earned a hard-fought 2-1 overtime victory over South Alabama last fall on a goal by sophomore Tamara Kesser. The Owls other goal came on a penalty kick by redshirt sophomore Meghan Brown.

Meanwhile, Troy is off to its best conference start in conference history after victories over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and ULM on the road last weekend. The Trojans enter the weekend with a 7-2-1 record and have outscored their opposition by a 23-7 margin. Troy is led by Ruth Sutcliffe, who has scored five goals and had six assists in her 10 starts this season. Mary Morris leads the team with six goals this fall. Goalkeeper Ashley Branham has an 0.67 goals-against-average after allowing seven goals. FAU picked up a 1-0 victory over Troy last season, with Brown finding the back of the net early in the second half.

Follow all of this weekend's action on www.fausports.com.

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