LR to Face Bears Seeking Fourth Straight Home Win

GM 08  >> Little Rock vs. Missouri State
Sunday, Sept. 13 • 1 p.m. (CST)
Little Rock, Ark. • Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex
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LITTLE ROCK – The Trojans are riding high after an 8-0 defeat of UAPB on Tuesday night. Next up for the team will be a more challenging home contest against Missouri State. Kickoff between the Trojans and Bears is set for 1 p.m.
 
LEADING OFF

• The Little Rock offense was on fire on Tuesday night, putting eight goals on the scoreboard in a shutout victory over UAPB.
• Shannon Shields earned her first Trojan hat trick, scoring two goals in the first half and another in the second. Fali Garuba also had two goals.
• Caitlyn Eddy recorded two assists on the night to bring her season total to four, tying for 10th in the nation in that category. Arola Aparicio Gili also had two assists on Tuesday.
• Twenty-three different Trojans saw action against UAPB.
• Little Rock has won 10 straight home games against non-conference competition.
• The Trojans hold a 3-13 record all-time against Missouri State but have won the last two games in the series.
   

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ABOUT MISSOURI STATE

• The Bears, who play their home games in Springfield, Mo., are 2-2-1 on the season entering Friday night. Missouri State tied Oral Roberts 2-2 on Wednesday, and the team plays at Central Arkansas on Friday night.
• The Bears are coming off a three-game homestand that saw them defeat UMKC, lose to Tulsa and tie Oral Roberts. Their other win on the year came at Idaho State.
• Alix Opfer is Missouri State's leading scorer this year, posting five of the Bears' six total goals. She has one assist as well for a team-best 11 points. Brooke Prondzinski and Masen Stamp are tied for the team lead with two assists.
• In net, Jessica Perry has started every game and holds a 1.76 goals against average. She is saving 72 percent of shots taken at her.
• Rob Brewer is Missouri State's head coach, and he holds a 235-178-44 overall record. He is in his 19th year with the program.

 
THE SERIES AGAINST MISSOURI STATE
The Bears hold a large advantage in the historical series against the Trojans, but Little Rock has had the edge in the last two seasons. Missouri State leads the series 13-3, but 2013 and 2014 were years for 1-0 Trojan victories. Last year in Springfield, the Trojans got a game-winning goal from Fali Garuba to make it a two-game winning streak over the Bears.
 
A WIN AGAINST MISSOURI STATE WOULD…
…be the Trojans' third straight in the series…be the Trojans' third consecutive home victory over Missouri State…keep Little Rock perfect at home this season…extend the Trojans' home non-conference winning streak to 11 games.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE
Little Rock has played almost none of the current members of the Missouri Valley Conference, and the Trojans' 3-18 record lifetime against those schools is owed largely to its 3-13 record all-time against Missouri State. Little Rock has an 0-3 record against Evansville and an 0-2 record against Illinois State. The Trojans have never faced Bradley, Drake, Indiana State, Loyola Chicago, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois or Wichita State.
 
HATS OFF
Shannon Shields had the best night of her young Little Rock career on Tuesday, recording a hat trick against UAPB with two goals in the first half and another in the second. Shields also added an assist in the game on a goal by Quin Wilkes in the first half, giving her seven total points on the night. She is the first Trojan to record a hat trick since Lexux VanPelt did the same against UAPB last season.
 
GARUBA GETS GOALS
Besides Shields' big night, another Trojans also got her name in the goals column twice. Fali Garuba scored her first two goals of the season against the Lions after leading the Trojans in scoring last season. Garuba struck in the 13th and 31st minute, moving her immediately up to third on the team in scoring. She had been the team's leader in shots and shots on goal during the year entering Tuesday's game but had not scored a goal.
 
HELPING FEET
The goal scoring was certainly impressive for Little Rock on Tuesday, and the passing was just as special. Caitlyn Eddy and Arola Aparicio Gili were instrumental on many Trojan goals, as each of them picked up two assists in the contest. Aparicio's two assists were the first two points of her Trojan tenure.
 
TENTH IN THE NATION
Thanks to her two assists on Tuesday night against UAPB, Trojan freshman Caitlyn Eddy has four assists total on the year. As of Wednesday morning, that number was good enough to put Eddy in a tie for 10th in the entire country in total assists. Combined with her one goal this year, Eddy is second on the Trojans with six points.
 
DEFENSIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
After her first collegiate shutout on Sept. 2 and a 13-save performance against Ole Miss on Sunday, Trojan goalkeeper Sara Small was honored on Tuesday afternoon with the Sun Belt Conference's Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week Award. Small is the first Trojan to win a weekly Sun Belt award this season and is the first for Little Rock since then-sophomore Ariel Galletti was given the Offensive Player of the Week honor in October 2012.
 
NON-CONFERENCE HOME WINNING STREAK
The Trojans have excelled at home in non-conference games lately, winning all seven non-conference games at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex in 2014 and extending that streak to 10 with three wins so far this year. Little Rock's last home non-conference loss came in September 2013 against UAB.
 
BALANCED ATTACK
Little Rock's offensive attack has been highly balanced so far this year, as eight different players have recorded goals for the Trojans. The same can be said of the assist numbers, as eight different players have at least one assist this year. All told, 13 different players have at least one point this season, and that total is more than half of the field players who have seen action in 2015.
 
SMALL LOOMS LARGE
Sara Small had the best game of her college career on Sunday night at Ole Miss, making 13 saves against a Southeastern Conference team that attacked almost the entire game. Small even made a save on a penalty kick in the 40th minute, keeping the Rebels off the board. Her 13 saves are tied for the seventh-most all-time in Little Rock history. That performance comes just three days after Small earned her first collegiate shutout in a 1-0 win over Central Arkansas. Before the overtime goal scored by Ole Miss, Small had posted 191 consecutive shutout minutes.
 
IRON WOMEN
The Trojans had five iron women against Ole Miss; five different players never substituted out of the game once and saw all 96 minutes of action. Besides Small in goal, Hali Long, Nora Hellmers, Bailey Fithian and Mikayla Uyokpeyi all stayed in the entire game for Little Rock, fending off attack after attack from the Rebels.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against UAPB:

• Fali Garuba scored her 10th career goal and 25th career point.

Coming soon:

• Mikayla Uyokpeyi's next assist will give her 10 total.
• Shannon Shields is one point away from 10 in her Trojan career.
• Sara Cavanagh is two saves away from 60.
• Quin Wilkes' next point will be her 20th.
   

UP NEXT
After two games at home, the Trojans head on the road next week with two big games. First, Little Rock will face Mississippi Valley State on Thursday before traveling to Austin, Texas, for a game against the Longhorns on Sunday.