Islanders Cross State Line For UCA Matchup

Soccer | October 11, 2017

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi looks to right the ship after back-to-back losses to Nicholls and Abilene Christian the past two weeks, meeting up with Central Arkansas in Conway this Friday at 7 p.m. The Islanders have a shot at history this weekend, as a win would put Head Coach Craig Shaw's side in a tie for most wins in a season and guarantee the highest winning percentage for the Blue and Green in a single campaign.

UCA is coming off a loss as well, after falling to Stephen F. Austin the previous weekend 1-0. The Bears are an even 7-7 heading into their contest with Corpus Christi, but have difficulty at home, with a record of 2-4.

Thanks to a round of injuries Head Coach Craig Shaw has been forced to mix up his lineups the previous two weeks. Goalkeeper Kyleigh Hall was taken off redshirt for her first career start against ACU on Friday, while defender Andi Bethard earned her first start of the season and forward Kaitlyn Joy made her first appearance on defense for the Islanders

The Southland Conference is still wide open for the taking, with the bottom six in the standings all sitting within three points of one another. The Islanders are the second team out of the conference tournament currently, sitting a single point behind SLU in 10th place. UCA meanwhile, is tied for fourth in the conference after getting voted Southland preseason No. 1.

SERIES HISTORY

• The Islanders' series with UCA is at an even 2-2 all-time, winning the pair's last matchup in Arkansas 2-1
• The Blue and Green was fouled 15 times in last season's match against UCA losing that match by a final count of 6-2
• Shayla Spearman recorded her second helper and eighth point of the season against the Bears last year, on the way to earning the 12th start of her career
• Spearman, Jordan Wainwright, Madeleine Lozano and Brooke Erdmann all made starts for the Islanders against the Bears last season. 11 players that participated in that match are still on the Corpus Christi roster, while 22 return for Central Arkansas
• The Islanders have scored in all four matches they've played against UCA, and registered multiple tallies in three of those contests
• The Bears are 32-41-6 against Southland foes all-time, while the Islanders record sits at 13-24-4 in conference play

THE ISLANDERS

• The Islanders moved to 1-4-1 in Southland play after falling to Abilene Christian 2-1 last week. The club went down by two in the opening 10 minutes with a late comeback bid coming up just short in the final 10
• Kyleigh Hall earned the first start of her career against the Wildcats, stopping three of five shots on goal
• Kayla Gove tallied her second goal of the year on an assist from fellow freshman Mariah Ramon, she's now tied with Katie Lawrence and Kaitlyn Joy for a team lead
• Ramon's third assist of the year ties the most helpers an Islander has had in a single season, all of her assists have come off crosses and corners
• No Islander has ever registered two multi-assist matches in a single season, Ramon already has one this season with five matches remaining
• Alexis Urch recorded her first shot on goal since coming to the Island against ACU this week, her SOG started the play that led to Gove's goal
• Corpus Christi went to extra time for the third and fourth time this season against Southeastern La. and Nicholls, tying a single season program record for overtime matches played
• The Islanders finished their match with the Lions in a scoreless tie, their second 0-0 finish on the year. Jordan Wainwright's clean sheet in that match is her second of the year and the third of her career, placing her second in program history 
• Defender Siri O'Donnell tallied the first points of her career, with an assist on Joy's goal against Nicholls, taking a career-high two shots in the process 
• Corpus Christi's 2-1 overtime loss to the Colonels puts their extra time record at 0-2-2 on the year
• Brooke Erdmann is the Islanders' current active-leader in goals (7), points (16), appearances (65) and match starts (56), she is five caps away from setting a program record
• The dead ball has been working well for the Islanders, with both of their goals against UTSA and their lone tally against Abilene Christian coming off of Mariah Ramon corners. Four of their 11 goals this year (36%) have come off of set pieces
• • The Blue and Green's 15 goals against the Islanders trail just McNeese (5) and Houston Baptist (14) for the least allowed in the conference

SCOUTING THE BEARS

• Central Arkansas is 5-2 since September 10th but is coming off a 1-0 loss against Stephen F. Austin last Friday. The Bears record is an even 7-7 for the season but is just 2-4 when playing at home
• Starting UCA goalkeeper Lauren Mercuri is averaging just 1.08 goals allowed per match played. Her average ranks second in the Southland among qualifying keepers, while her .861 save percentage in conference play sits third
• Senior forward Dayna Mounie leads the Bears with four goals this season. Her four tallies have come off of just 20 shots and 14 SOGs
• Defender Stacia Carroll has two goals on seven shots in 2017, and has played every minute of the Bears' last nine matches
• Mounie has three multi-point efforts on the year, and leads her side with 10 overall. 14 Bears have two or more points in 2017
• The Bears are 6-0 when scoring two or more goals this year and 1-7 when being held to a single tally or getting shutout
• UCA's goal differential sits at an impressive +7 for the year, and +3 when competing on their home field
• The Bears are 3-7 this season when giving up four or more corners to an opponent, they hold the same record when their competition takes 10 or more shots in a single match

Islander soccer fans can follow all of Friday's action with the live stats link provided by SideArm Sports. 

COMING UP NEXT
After their work in Conway, the Islanders head down south to Natchitoches to face Northwestern State. The Demons are in dead last in the Southland with a record of 1-5 and an RPI of 276.