Trojans Set to Take on Sun Belt Tournament Wednesday

GM 20 >> Little Rock vs. Appalachian State
Sun Belt Tournament Quarterfinal
Wednesday, Nov. 4 • 9 a.m. (CST)
Emerson, Ga. • LakePoint Sporting Community
Live Stats | Live Video
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock soccer team is ready to make some noise in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament this week after earning the highest seed in team history. The Trojans will take their No. 5 seed to Atlanta to battle Appalachian State on Wednesday morning in the conference quarterfinals.

Due to flooding at Georgia State's soccer complex, the tournament site was moved on Monday evening. The tournament will now be played at:

LakePoint Sporting Community 
LEADING OFF

• The Little Rock soccer team had a tough weekend to close the regular season, falling 5-0 to South Alabama on Oct. 23 and tying Troy 0-0 on Oct. 25.
• Earning that one point in the tie with Troy enabled Little Rock to finish the conference schedule with 13 points, tying Georgia State in the standings for the fifth seed. The Trojans earned the No. 5 seed based on its head-to-head win over Georgia State earlier in the year.
• Sara Small picked up her sixth shutout of the season against Troy, breaking the school record for shutouts in a season for an individual. If the season ended today, Small would hold the school record for goals against average and save percentage in a season as well.
• Little Rock's RPI is up to 100 this week, the all-time program best.
• Little Rock took points from seven out of nine conference matches this season, tied for the second-best in the league.
• The Trojans and Appalachian State tied 1-1 when the teams met in the regular season in Boone, N.C.

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

• The Mountaineers, who hail from Boone, N.C., posted a 9-6-3 record this year and went 5-3-1 in Sun Belt play to earn the league's No. 4 seed. Appalachian State's victories in league play came against Arkansas State, Texas State, ULM, Louisiana and Georgia Southern.
• The Mountaineers ended the regular season with a split weekend, downing Georgia Southern 1-0 before falling to Georgia State by the same score. A win in the regular-season finale would have given them the No. 3 seed.
• Appalachian State's offense was the worst in the league this year as it was tied for last in the conference with just 21 goals scored, dead last in the conference in points and ninth out of 10 in assists.  Jane Cline was the team's leading scorer with seven goals and 16 points. No other Mountaineer player had more than three goals or 10 points.
• Conversely, the Mountaineers' defense ranks near the top of the league. Appalachian State has the fourth-best goals against average at 1.18. Megan Roberson had a 1.22 goals against average for seventh in the league, and her save percentage of .753 was 10th in the league.

 
THE SERIES AGAINST APPALACHIAN STATE
The Trojans and Mountaineers have met just twice in their history, both times since App State joined the Sun Belt in 2014. The Mountaineers defeated the Trojans 3-0 in 2014, and the teams tied 1-1 in Boone earlier this year. Mikayla Uyokpeyi had Little Rock's goal in that game in the first half.
 
A WIN AGAINST APPALACHIAN STATE WOULD…
…be the Trojans' first-ever victory against Appalachian State…even the lifetime series with App State at 1-1-1…move the Trojans to the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinal for the first time since 2009.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE SUN BELT
Since the Trojans joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2000, the team has compiled a record of 37-103-9 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 but will finish in seventh at worst this year.
 
LITTLE ROCK AT THE SUN BELT TOURNAMENT
The Trojans will be making their third consecutive appearance at the Sun Belt Tournament, and the team does have a long history of making it this far in the past. The SBC Tournament dates back to 2000, and Little Rock has reached the postseason nine times in those 15 years. The Trojans made it to the tournament in 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013 and 2014, earning a victory in 2007 and two in 2009. The team's highest seed before this year was No. 6, which it earned in 2003. In the Trojans' last appearance in 2014, the team faced top-seeded South Alabama and lost 2-1 despite a 34th-minute goal by Fali Garuba.
 
TAKE THE POINTS
Little Rock had an incredible year in the conference when it came to not losing, claiming points in seven out of nine league games. That total is tied for second in the league this season, trailing only undefeated regular-season champ South Alabama. The Trojans won three Sun Belt games, tied four and lost two. Little Rock had a six-game unbeaten streak in the middle of league play that only ended with the loss to South Alabama on Oct. 23.
 
SHUTOUT RECORD HOLDER
Sara Small continued her tremendous year with a shutout of second-place Troy on Oct. 25, silencing the Troy offense for 110 minutes. That shutout was her sixth solo shutout of the year, breaking the Little Rock record for shutouts in a season. The previous record of five was established in 2007, 2008 and 2009 by Jane Picarelli. If the season ended today, Small would hold the school record for goals against average (0.97) and save percentage (.812) in a season as well.
 
OVERTIME OVER AND OVER
For the eighth time this season, the Trojans played an overtime game when they went to Troy on Oct. 25. Little Rock escaped with a 0-0 tie – its second such tie of the conference season. The eight overtime games played is a new program record, easily beating out the previous record of four. Little Rock is 1-2-5 in overtime games this year.
 
BEST RPI EVER
When the NCAA released its weekly RPI numbers on Monday, the Trojans found themselves ranked No. 100 in the nation. That ranking is the highest the Trojans have ever been.
 
SUN BELT STAT RANKINGS
Entering the conference tournament, the Trojans compare well with other teams in the league and are close to the top of the league in many categories. Through the final regular-season games, the Trojans are third in the conference with 21 goals allowed, third with a 1.03 goals against average, third with seven shutouts and fourth with 89 saves.
 
On the individual side, Caitlyn Eddy is tied for fourth with six assists while Sara Small is fourth in the league in goals against average (0.97), third in saves (82) and six in save percentage (.812).
 
BALANCED ATTACK
Little Rock's offensive attack was highly balanced this year, as nine different players 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 had at least one point this season, and that total is well more than half of the field players who saw action in 2015.
 
OUT-ASSITING THE OPPOSITION
Little Rock held its opponents to only 12 total assists this year. Despite opponents scoring a total of 21 goals, only 12 were assisted. For comparison, Little Rock's 26 goals have seen a total of 25 assists.
 
WILKES DOUBLES UP
With the Trojans trailing 1-0 thanks to a first-half own goal at Arkansas State on Oct. 16, things were starting to look bleak as the minutes ticked off the clock. But in the 81st minute, Quin Wilkes got a tying goal that sent the game to overtime. In the waning seconds of the first extra period, Wilkes buried the game-winner, clinching the tournament berth for Little Rock and starting a celebration on the Jonesboro field. Wilkes was the only Trojan to score two goals in a game during league play this year, and she had not tallied a multiple-goal game since August 2014.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against South Alabama and Troy:

• Sara Small reached 75 career saves.
• Caitlyn Eddy played her 1,500th minute, Talia Graves and Shannon Shields played their 1,000th minutes and Jacqueline Borucki played her 500th career minute.

Coming soon:

• Sara Cavanagh is two saves away from 60.
• Quin Wilkes is three points away from 30.

 
UP NEXT
With a victory against Appalachian State, Little Rock would move on to the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinal. The Trojans would play the winner of South Alabama-Georgia Southern on Friday at 4 p.m.