Little Rock Ready for Rivalry Game at Arkansas State

GM 17 >> Little Rock at Arkansas State
Friday, Oct. 16 • 3 p.m. (CST)
Jonesboro, Ark. • A-State Soccer Complex
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes
 
LITTLE ROCK – Rivalry week is here, as Little Rock begins its three-game, regular-season-closing road trip with a game at Arkansas State on Friday. The Trojans and Red Wolves are set to play at 3 p.m. with a guaranteed berth to the Sun Belt Tournament up for grabs for Little Rock.
 
LEADING OFF

• Little Rock had yet another strong weekend, picking up points in a 1-0 victory over ULM and a 1-1 tie with Louisiana. Entering the final two weekends of the regular season, the Trojans are fourth in the league standings. The team will clinch a tournament berth with a win on Friday.
• Before giving up a 60th-minute goal against Louisiana on Sunday, Trojan goalie Sara Small had earned a shutout streak of 375 minutes dating back almost two full weeks. She leads the Sun Belt with three conference shutouts, and she has played the fourth-most minutes of any goalkeeper in the country.
• The Trojans' RPI is up to 104, the new highest RPI in school history. Little Rock is up seven spots from last week.
• Trojan forward Shannon Shields had a goal and an assist on the weekend, upping her point total to 15. She is tied for fifth in the conference with six goals on the year.
• Little Rock has taken points from five out of six conference matches and is in fourth place in the league standings.
• The Trojans' five-game unbeaten streak is the longest in conference play in school history.

 
FOLLOW THE TROJANS
Fans can monitor all the action by following @LittleRockSoc on Twitter.
 
ABOUT ARKANSAS STATE

• The Red Wolves, based in Jonesboro, are 3-11-1 this year with a 1-4-1 record in the Sun Belt Conference. They are currently ninth in the league standings, one place out of a tournament spot.
• Arkansas State is coming off a 2-0 victory over ULM on Sunday and a 1-0 loss to Louisiana on Friday. The Red Wolves have lost in conference play against Appalachian State, Texas State and Georgia Southern.
• Jordan Adams is the team's leading scorer, and she is the only Red Wolf to have double-digit points on the year. Adams has scored a team-high four goals and also has two assists for 10 points. Katey Carmichael has also scored three goals for A-State.
• In net, Amanda Lee has seen the most game action with eight games played and 607 total minutes. Lee has a 1.49 goals against average and an .821 save percentage.
• Brian Dooley is the new head coach for the Red Wolves, joining the team in January 2015. He has a 195-135-22 record as a head coach at Arkansas State, Barry University and Florida Atlantic.

 
THE SERIES AGAINST ARKANSAS STATE
The Trojans and Red Wolves are familiar foes, squaring off 15 times since 2000 when they first met. Arkansas State holds an 8-5-2 edge in the series, though the Trojans claimed a 2-1 victory in Little Rock last season. The Red Wolves have won four of the last six games in the series dating back to 2009.
 
A WIN AGAINST ARKANSAS STATE WOULD…
…be the second straight against Arkansas State…be the Trojans' first road win against the Red Wolves since 2004…clinch a spot in the Sun Belt Conference tournament for Little Rock for the third straight year…extend the team's unbeaten streak to six games.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE SUN BELT
Since the Trojans joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2000, the team has compiled a record of 36-102-8 in conference games. Little Rock's best conference season came in 2007 when it went 5-5-1 against Sun Belt foes. The Trojans have never finished a conference schedule above .500. Little Rock has finished eighth in the Sun Belt for the last two seasons.
 
UNBEATEN STREAK
The Trojans have not lost a game since their conference opener against Texas State on Sept. 25. Since then, the team has rattled off two wins and three ties, making for an unbeaten streak of five games. This marks the longest unbeaten conference streak in Trojan history, bettering the previous record by two games.
 
CLEANING UP
Little Rock goalkeeper Sara Small added another shutout to her season total on Friday with the 1-0 victory over ULM, recording 90 minutes without a goal while making six saves. When Louisiana scored on her in the 60th minute Sunday, that was the first goal she had allowed in 375 minutes dating back to the Appalachian State game on Sept. 27.
 Small is the two-time Sun Belt Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week and now has five solo shutouts on the year. She is second in the conference in saves and third in goals against average.
 
SHIELDS POWERS OFFENSE
Shannon Shields had a hand in both Trojan goals this weekend, scoring the game-winner against ULM on Friday night before assisting on Caitlyn Eddy's goal in Sunday's game against Louisiana. Shields continues to top the Trojan point list, picking up a team-high six goals and 15 points so far this season. Eddy, meanwhile, leads the Trojans with six assists.
 
TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK
The Trojans are currently fourth in the league standings and appear to be in comfortable position to clinch a tournament berth. That mathematical probability can become a certainty with a victory over the Red Wolves on Friday. With a win, the Trojans would finish no worse than eighth in the league and make the tournament for the third straight year.
 
BEST RPI EVER
When the NCAA released its weekly RPI numbers on Oct. 5, the Trojans found themselves ranked No. 111 in the nation. That ranking was the Trojans' highest RPI in school history. But when the RPI updated itself on Monday, Little Rock had boosted up seven more spots to No. 104, now the new best in program history.
 
OVERTIME OVER AND OVER
With Sunday's 1-1 draw against Louisiana, the Trojans reached overtime for the sixth time this season. That number is a program first, as the team had never seen more than four overtime games in a season before 2015.
 
SUN BELT STAT RANKINGS
Now in the final two weekends of conference play, the Trojans compare well with other teams in the league. Through last weekend's games, Little Rock is second in the league with 249 shots, third in the league with 15 goals allowed, fourth in the league with 23 assists, second in the league with a 0.88 goals against average and fourth in the league with 76 saves.
 
On the individual side, Shannon Shields is tied for fifth in the league with six goals, and Sara Small is third in the league in goals against average (0.80), second in saves (70) and fourth in save percentage (.843).
 
BALANCED ATTACK
Little Rock's offensive attack has been highly balanced this year, as nine different players have recorded goals for the Trojans. The same can be said of the assist numbers, as 12 different players have at least one assist this year. All told, 15 different players have at least one point this season, and that total is well more than half of the field players who have seen action in 2015.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against ULM and Louisiana:

• Mikayla Uyokpeyi played her 4,00th minute, Hali Long played in her 3,500th career minute and Jaclyn Purvine and Claire Palmer played their 1,000th career minutes.
• Shannon Shields scored her 15th career point.

Coming soon:

• Sara Cavanagh is two saves away from 60.
• Sara Small needs five more saves for 75.
• Quin Wilkes one more goal for 10.

 
UP NEXT
Little Rock concludes the regular season with a two-game trip to Alabama. The Trojans first battle league leaders South Alabama on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. before ending the year at Troy on Oct. 25 at 1 p.m.