Courtesy of Louisiana Tech Athletics Communications
The Louisiana Tech Soccer team is set to play three of its next four matches at Robert Mack Caruthers Field, starting on Thursday night with a Conference USA matchup versus Jacksonville State.
MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Sept. 21 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Robert Mack Caruthers Field (Ruston, La.)
Stream: ESPN+
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
Series: LA Tech leads 4-1-0
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (3-6-1, 0-1-0 CUSA)
LA Tech looks to snap its three-game losing skid after falling, 4-3, in a shootout with New Mexico State in the CUSA opener this past Sunday. The Bulldogs battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie it up at 2-all after goals by Lauren Egbuloniu and Avery Kyle, but the Aggies added two more goals in the second half to win for the first time ever in the series.
Two of LA Tech’s three goals came off converted penalty kicks, one by Egbuloniu and the other by Carmen Suarez who tallied her first goal of the season. After going the first six matches this year without a penalty kick, the Bulldogs have taken four in their last four games and converted three of them.
LA Tech eclipsed three goals for the fourth time this season, helping to give them a 2.20 goals per game average. Their 22 goals scored ranks third in CUSA. However, they surrendered four goals to the Aggies, which marked the sixth time this year that the defense has had at least three goals allowed.
Egbuloniu posted her team-leading sixth goal scored. She also leads the team with 14 points, having notched at least one point in six of the 10 matches played. Defensively, Sophie Fijneman leads the way with most minutes played this season at 859. Fijneman and fellow defender Josie Studer have logged a combined 11,049 minutes as Bulldogs.
ABOUT JACKSONVILLE STATE (5-5-0, 0-1-0 CUSA)
Jacksonville State is coming off a 2-0 shutout loss against Sam Houston in what was its first ever CUSA match as a new member of the league. The Gamecocks surrendered a goal in the first and second half to the Bearkats in getting blanked for the fourth time this season. JSU is 1-3-0 on the road this year with its lone win coming at Alabama State a week ago.
Statistically, the Gamecocks have one of the highest-scoring offenses in the league with 2.70 goals per game. However, 18 of their 27 total goals scored this season came in the first two matches of the season versus Alabama A&M and South Carolina State.
Laleh Lonteen and Naroa Domenech each lead JSU offensively with six goals scored followed closely by Camryn Davis who has five. Defensively, Bailey Dean has started all 10 of their matches in goal with a 1.58 goals against average and 37 total saves.
THE SERIES
LA Tech and Jacksonville State will face off for the sixth time ever on the pitch with the Bulldogs holding a 4-1-0 advantage. The ‘Dogs have won four of the five meetings with a 7-1 scoring advantage. They won the first ever matchup, which came in Ruston back in 2010. The other time the Bulldogs and Gamecocks squared off in Ruston was the last meeting in 2017 with LA Tech shutting out JSU, 2-0.
