LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's soccer program will start its conference slate with a Lone Star State road trip as it takes on Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M this weekend.
Alcorn currently has the best saves per game average in the NCAA as freshman
Kali Helms (53) and senior
Giselle Rojas (23) have stopped 12.83 shot attempts per contest.
The Lady Braves have taken 12 shots on the season with seven of those being on goal, that is good for .583 accuracy percentage which places the squad sixth in the nation in that category.
Rojas' 164 career saves currently puts her only seven away from becoming Alcorn's all-time career goalkeeper saves leader. The current record holder is Qunitiya Miller who stopped 170 shots from 2003 to 2006.
Helms, who has started five of the club's six matches, is sixth in the country for saves per game (10.6) and top-15 in total saves (53).
Seniors
Lauryn Souflard and
Christina Grybos own the purple and gold's two goals on the campaign with junior
Mireya Gonzalez contributing an assist.
Souflard is the only Lady Brave to have multiple shots on goal (2) with Gonzalez, Grybos, senior
Anjelica Dugan, senior
Gemma Dunn and sophomore
Paula Solé Cabeza all recording one each.
"We head into conference play quietly confident. We are now getting close to 100% in numbers and fitness, thus giving us a better chance to express ourselves," said Head Coach
Junior Noel. "We've played a tough nonconference schedule which has helped us gain valuable experience to better compete in the SWAC."
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Scouting the Texas Southern Tigers (Friday, September 27 at 4 p.m.)
The Tigers come into SWAC play 1-6 with its lone victory coming at home against Incarnate Word, 2-1 on September 1.
TSU has been outscored 26-2 in its seven matches but the goalkeepers have done their part, placing fifth in NCAA Division I with 8.00 saves per contest.
The maroon and gray's primary keeper is Salma Ghazal who is doing her part to the tune of 7.3 saves per match.
Preseason All-SWAC Second-Teamer Mia Marshall and Kayla Smith have tallied the squad's two goals so far while Preseason SWAC Offensive Player of the Year has been limited to one appearance where she had two shots on goal.
Alcorn is still looking for its first ever victory over Texas Southern as the Lady Braves are winless in 16 tries versus the Tigers. The last meeting was October 21, 2018 with TSU winning 3-1 in Lorman.
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Scouting the Prairie View A&M Panthers (Sunday, September 29 at 1 p.m.)
The Panthers are also 1-6 through seven matches with its one win coming courtesy of the Nicholls Colonels (2-1) on September 8.
PVAMU has been outscored 15-2 but their last two matches have been one-to-nil with the game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi going into two overtime periods.
Continuing the prevalent theme amongst the three teams this weekend, Prairie View ranks third in the NCAA at 8.14 saves per contest as Quinn Josiah is second in the SWAC with a .818 save percentage.
The Panthers had two players on the Preseason All-SWAC Teams as Jojo Bernal (First Team) has one of the team's two goals while Alexis Mack (Second Team) has six shots with one being on goal. Kalia Brown has the other Prairie View goal to go alongside Bernal.
The Lady Braves and Panthers have met 15 times in the past with PVAMU holding a 13-1-1 series advantage. The last meeting between the two sides was last October with Prairie View winning 6-1 on The Reservation. Alcorn's one victory came courtesy of the Lady Braves' best season in 2011 when the team went 6-8-2 under the guidance of Head Coach Christie Chambers and defeated Prairie View A&M 1-0 on the road.
#FearTheBrave
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