LIVE STATS: FRIDAY VS. BELMONT | SUNDAY VS. UT MARTIN
JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State soccer team returns home this weekend for two key Ohio Valley Conference matches as the calendar turns to the final month of the regular season.
The Gamecocks will begin the weekend against the Bruins of Belmont on Friday night at the JSU Soccer Field before UT Martin visits Jacksonville for a Sunday matinee contest. Friday's match is set for 7 p.m., while Sunday's activity will get started at 1 p.m. Admission is free for both matches.
JSU (3-7-2, 1-3 OVC) enters the Friday contest looking to bounce back from a tough road trip to Austin Peay and Murray State last weekend. The Bruins will come to town with a 4-5-2 overall mark and a 2-2-1 record in OVC matches. BU is coming off a 2-0 setback to Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee on Tuesday. The match was a make up from a postponement on Sept. 23.
Senior
Claire Petersen leads the Gamecocks in scoring this season with three goals. The captain from Hermon, Maine is one of eight different JSU players to have recorded a goal this season. Junior Nadia Plawuik and sophomore
Chloe Doherty have tallied two goals each. Redshirt freshman
Abigail Martinez and junior
Cheyenne Carden share the team lead in assists with two each. Senior
Madison Carruthers has paced the Red and White in total shots with 28, including 16 on goal attempts.
Defensively, the Gamecocks have been strong as they are among the OVC leaders in goals against average with a 1.33 mark. That mark is contributed to the stellar play of redshirt freshman
Morgan Lerch manning the goal. Lerch, from Collinsville, Illinois, has posted four shutouts so far this season. Lerch ranks second in the league in shutouts and seventh in total saves. She averages 3.67 stops per contest.
JSU leads the all-time series with Belmont 7-4 with the Bruins claiming the last two meetings between the two sides. UTM holds a 9-5-3 lead over Jax State and has won the last two match ups.
Sunday's duel with the Skyhawks will mark the midway point of the conference slate for JSU. UTM will entertain Murray State on Friday before making the trip to the JSU campus. UTM begins the weekend at 3-0-1 in the first four league matches and an 8-2-1 overall record.
Live stats will be available for both matches at JSUGamecockSports.com.
