JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State soccer team returns to Conference USA action this week with its first road outing within the conference on Thursday night before returning home on Sunday afternoon.

Jax state's first trip as a member of CUSA will be to Ruston, Louisiana on Thursday against Louisiana Tech before closing out the weekend hosting the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky. Thursday's contest with the Bulldogs is set for 7 p.m. at LA Tech's Robert Mack Caruthers Field. Jax State and WKU will kick off at 1 p.m. at the Jax State Soccer Complex. Admission is free to all home matches. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.

The Gamecocks (5-5) will be looking for their first win in CUSA after opening the league schedule last Sunday with a 2-0 setback to Sam Houston. LA Tech (3-6-1) enters the Thursday tilt having dropped its conference opener on the road in Las Cruces, New Mexico with a 4-3 loss to New Mexico State last Sunday. WKU (2-2-5), who has been idle since last Thursday, claimed a win over Middle Tennessee in its initial CUSA match of the season.

Thursday's meeting with Louisiana Tech will be the sixth all-time between the two programs and the first as conference members. The Gamecocks and Bulldogs have faced off against each other five previous times. Jax State and LA Tech have had home-and-home sets for the 2010, 2011 seasons and the 20016 and 2017 campaigns. The two clubs met in 2012 on a neutral pitch in Troy, Alabama with the Gamecocks claiming their lone win in the series, 1-0. The Bulldogs enter the contest having won the last two matches versus the Gamecocks. LA Tech posted a 2-0 win over Jax State in the last last outing between the two sides in Ruston.

Jax State and WKU will be meeting for the second time and the first time on either sides pitch as the first meeting between the Gamecocks and Hilltoppers took place in a neutral setting in 2006. The two programs met in Murfreesboro, Tennessee with WKU taking a 3-1 win.

After five weeks of the NCAA Division I Soccer season, Jacksonville State ranks among the top-scoring teams in the nation. Jax State has produced 27 goals through 10 matches (3.00 per match) which ranks 13th in Division I Soccer coming into the weekend activity. Jax State also ranks in the NCAA Top-15 in total points (79). The Gamecocks' 13 goals against South Carolina State on August 20 ranks as the third-most goals scored in a single match this season in NCAA Division I Soccer. Individually, sophomore Camryn Davis and Laleh Loneen are two of four players this season to have recorded four goals in a match. Eastern Washington's Maddie Morgan scored five against Providence in late August. Lonteen holds the top spot in points in a single match with 11 against SCSU.