University of Georgia Athletics
Bulldogs Host Auburn, Travel To Alabama This Weekend
October 22, 2008 | Soccer
| 2008SENIORS will be stepping onto the UGA Soccer Stadium pitch for the final time Thursday when the four will suit up in the Bulldogs’ home finale. Courtney Cripps | ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia Bulldogs have a slightly adjusted schedule this week as they will host Auburn Thursday and travel to Alabama for a Sunday contest. Thursday’s game against the Tigers will be the final home game of the 2008 season for the Bulldogs before they spend the final two games of the regular season on the road. The Bulldogs have swept the last two weekend series and can get above .500 with another sweep this weekend. Thursday’s game will be televised by Fox Soccer Channel, which is channel 619 on DirecTV and channel 149 on Dish Network. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 8 p.m. and Sunday’s game will begin at 2 p.m. ET. Senior Salute Seniors Courtney Cripps, Kristin Garman, Ashley Stinson and Megan Tomlinson will be stepping onto the UGA Soccer Stadium pitch for the final time Thursday when the four will suit up in the Bulldogs’ home finale. Cripps is a senior goalkeeper from Acworth, Ga., majoring in Biology and Pre-Med. Garman is a senior defender from Nashville, Tenn., majoring in Spanish. Stinson is a redshirt senior forward from Acworth, Ga., majoring in Exercise and Sports Science. Tomlinson is a senior defender from Atlanta majoring in Speech Communication. Scouting The Tigers And Crimson Tide A sweep of this weekend’s matches will be a challenging feat for Georgia as Auburn and Alabama are two teams that are battling for second place in the SEC Western Division. Auburn is just two points behind the LSU Tigers in the division and has already played two games at the UGA Soccer Stadium this season. The Tigers, along with the Stanford Cardinal and the Virginia Cavaliers, were participants in the Georgia Nike Invitational in which Auburn finished with a 0-1-1 record. Offensively, Auburn is third in the conference with 15 goals scored and fifth in the conference with 51 shots on goal during the conference season. Leading the way for Auburn are Rebecca Howell and Katy Frierson, who both rank in the top 10 in the conference in points and assists, while Frierson’s eight goals on the season is tied for third-most in the SEC. Frierson, a freshman who earned the SEC Freshman Player of the Week Monday, has already established herself in the midfield for the Tigers, where she joins an experienced corps group of players. Junior Jenni Prescott has been in the lineup all season for the Tigers, accounting for one goal and three assists on the season. Gabi Rivera, with three goals and four assists on the season, has played in all 17 games and is the third leading scorer for Auburn. Defensively, the Tigers are led by senior Jenn Johnson, who has started every game in her Tiger career. Also, sophomore Sammy Towne has started every game thus far in 2008 and earned 15 starts during her freshman season. Junior Lizzie Hamersly has started just four games in 2008, but started 20 games as a freshman and several others in 2007 and her experience is a welcomed addition off the bench for the Tigers. In goal is where Auburn has really had success. Allison Whitworth has been solid in goal all season for the Tigers, accumulating six shutouts, including UAB, Marquette and conference rivals Kentucky and Mississippi State, and ranking second in the conference with 93 saves on the year with goals against average of 1.16. Whitworth was a Second Team All-SEC performer in 2007. The Alabama Crimson Tide have split their eight conference games and they look to move up the SEC Western Division standings with good performances this weekend against Tennessee Thursday and Georgia Sunday. Offensively, Kailey Corken has been the most prolific Alabama scorer this season, putting away six goals and adding two assists. Jessica Deegan, Victoria Frederick and Brooke Rogers have also reached double-digit point totals this season, with Deegan notching four goals and three assists, while Rogers and Frederick have three goals and four assists each. The Crimson Tide have the fourth-highest shots per game in the conference with an average of more than 14 a game. The Alabama defense is improving as the year has gone on, but rank 11th in the conference in shots allowed and shots on goal allowed. Their numbers might be slightly inflated as Alabama gave up six goals on three occasions this year. In their other 14 contests, the Crimson Tide has given up more than two goals only once. Colleen Posey and Alex Butera have provided some stability to the Crimson Tide defensive back line, having started all 16 games thus far in the season. In goal for Alabama is senior Kara Gudmens, she ranks third in the SEC with 91 saves this season and had a 1.40 goals against average. She’s also been in net for conference shutouts against South Carolina, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. Looking Back In History Georgia’s owns a decisive advantage over its two scheduled opponents for the week. Against Auburn, the Bulldogs own an 8-4-1 edge in the all-time series. In games played in Athens, Georgia has a 4-1-1 advantage and has gone unbeaten in the last four overall meetings with a 3-0-1 mark. The two schools have faced each other twice in the postseason, with Auburn winning both decisions. The last two contests have been 3-2 victories for the Bulldogs. Georgia also holds the advantage all-time against Alabama. Overall, Georgia owns a 8-3 lead in the series and has won three of the five contests in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Georgia has won the last three meetings between the two schools, outscoring the Crimson Tide 10-2 in the process. Georgia is 6-0 against the two schools since Patrick Baker took over in 2005. Last Weekend Against Mississippi St., Ole Miss Georgia made the Mississippi road swing last weekend and came away with their second straight weekend sweep. On Friday, Georgia took 32 shots, 11 of which were on net, and extended its winning streak to three with a 1-0 victory over the host Mississippi State Bulldogs. Georgia would dominate the offense throughout the game and the Georgia defense would allow just three Mississippi State shots, but Georgia would get its only goal of the game midway through the second half. In the 77th minute, Kelli Corless received a pass from Mariah Krase on the far sideline, beat a defender and served a ball to the top of the 18-yard box. Lauren Glancy was on the receiving end, where she turned and lifted a well bent shot into the right side of net to give Georgia the game-winning score. Georgia controlled both halves of the contest and had several possessions result in quality shots on goal, but nothing could materialize from those chances in the first 45 minutes. Conversely, Mississippi State had just two shots throughout the first half and the Georgia defense prevented MSU from mounting any dangerous offensive possessions during the first half. On Sunday, the Bulldogs used an overtime goal from freshman Jamie Pollock and extended their winning streak to four with a 1-0 win over the host Ole Miss Rebels. It is the program's first victory in Oxford since 1999. Off a Kelli Corless corner kick, the Rebels tried to clear the ball up the field, but the attempt deflected off Pollock. She then took one dribble to her left and fired a brilliant shot into the back right corner of the net in the game’s 106th minute. Pollock's goal capped a game that saw much more offensive scoring chances in the second half as compared to a defense-dominated first half. The first half went without many significant scoring chances as the half ended in a scoreless tie. Both teams put one shot on net, while Ole Miss outshot Georgia 6-5. The second half pace favored Ole Miss, where the Rebels brought solid pressure on the Georgia back line for much of the half. The Rebels forced Betos to make several outstanding plays in net to keep Ole Miss from getting the first score. The shut out was Georgia's third in four games. Betos Earns Defensive Player Of The Week Junior goalkeeper Michelle Betos was honored as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week Monday by the conference’s office. It is the first honor for Betos in her career and it is the second consecutive week a Georgia Player has won the defensive player award. On Oct. 13, Megan Tomlinson took home defensive player honors and it is the first time any SEC school was won back-to-back weekly distinctions in either the offensive or defensive categories this season. Betos was brilliant all weekend in net for the Bulldogs as she posted two, 1-0 shutouts in Georgia’s two games. On Sunday against Ole Miss, however, Betos made several spectacular plays during regulation that kept Georgia in the game. Betos saved five Rebel shots, several of which were in dramatic fashion, as the Bulldogs would end up winning in double overtime 1-0. Betos has earned three shutouts in Georgia’s four games from Oct. 10 to Oct. 19. With Georgia’s 1-0 win over the Rebels, Betos moved up into a tie for second in program history with 15 career shutouts. On A Roll With Georgia’s 1-0 victory over Ole Miss, the Bulldogs earned a four-game conference-winning streak for only the second time in school history. The longest conference-winning streak was five in 2007, when Georgia went undefeated from Oct. 25 to Nov. 9. This current winning streak, however, is the longest such streak during the regular season. In 2007, Georgia’s fourth- and fifth-straight wins came in the SEC Tournament. Up Next The Bulldogs will wrap up their regular season with a Halloween contest against the Tennessee Volunteers. The game is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. ET Oct. 31 in Knoxville, Tenn. The SEC Tournament will begin Nov. 5 in Orange Beach, Ala., where the top eight teams in the SEC will compete for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, beginning Nov. 14. |
Kristin Garman | |
| Megan Tomlinson | |
| Ashley Stinson | |
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