Little Rock Off to Austin to Face Longhorns

GM 10 >> Little Rock at Texas
Sunday, Sept. 20 • 1 p.m. (CST)
Austin, Texas • Mike A. Myers Stadium
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Trojan soccer team is closing out non-conference play in difficult fashion on Sunday, heading to Austin, Texas, to take on the Longhorns in a rematch from last season. Little Rock and Texas kick off at 1 p.m. on the Longhorn Network.
 
LEADING OFF

• Little Rock scored two second-half goals on Thursday night, knocking off Mississippi Valley State by a 3-1 scoreline. The Trojans have never lost to the Devilettes in four meetings.
• The Trojans' three goals all came from different players, and each gave that player her third goal of the season.
• Mikayla Uyokpeyi got her 10th career assist on the night, Quin Wilkes recorded her 20th career point and Fali Garuba earned her 30th point.
• Freshman Jaclyn Purvine has now scored a goal in two straight games. Junior Fali Garuba has recorded a point in three straight games.
• Little Rock ranks in the top five among Sun Belt Conference teams in shots, assists, saves and corner kicks.
• Texas leads the all-time series with Little Rock by a 2-1 margin.

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

• The Longhorns, based in Austin, Texas, hold a 3-2-2 mark so far this year. They are most recently coming off a 2-1 victory over Abilene Christian on Sunday, and they have not lost since Sept. 4.
• Texas is receiving three votes in this week's NSCAA Coaches Poll.
• The Longhorns have scored just six goals so far this season, getting two from Lindsey Meyer. She is the only player on the roster with multiple goals. Texas also has just three assists total on the season.
• Though the offense has been struggling, Texas' defense has been stellar. The Longhorns have allowed only seven goals all season, and keeper Abby Smith has posted a 0.94 goals against average.
• Texas is coached by Angela Kelly, now in her third year with the team. She has a 34-26-10 record with the Longhorns.

 
THE SERIES AGAINST TEXAS
Little Rock and Texas have met just three times in their history, and the Longhorns claimed a 2-1 series lead last year. Little Rock topped Texas 3-2 in the programs' first meeting in 1993. That game went into overtime. The next year, Texas got revenge with a 3-0 victory in Austin. After 20 years without a meeting, the Longhorns picked up a 2-0 victory when the teams played in 2014. Little Rock defended for most of the evening and held its shape well after conceding an early goal, but a penalty kick in the 71st minute gave the Longhorns their final 2-1 edge.
 
A WIN AGAINST TEXAS WOULD…
…even the teams' lifetime series at 2-2…be the Trojans' second consecutive win…give the team a better-than .500 record for the second straight season in non-conference play…give Little Rock six non-conference wins for the second straight year.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE BIG 12 CONFERENCE
The Trojans have historically limited success against the Big 12, going 7-22 all-time against current members of the conference. Most of the team's success comes against Texas A&M, who has been beaten by Little Rock four times. The Trojans have never played Iowa State, Kansas State, West Virginia. Sunday's game will be Little Rock's second of the year against a Big 12 team after a 4-0 loss at Oklahoma in late August.
 
SUN BELT STAT RANKINGS
With conference play fast approaching, the Trojans compare well with other teams in the league. Through Friday morning, Little Rock is tied for the league lead with five wins, as Georgia State, South Alabama, Louisiana and Troy all also have five wins. In other categories, the Trojans are second in the league with 146 shots, tied for third in the league with 17 goals, tied for second with 16 assists, fourth with 37 saves and fifth with 39 corner kicks.
 
On the individual side, Sara Small is second in the league with 31 saves, Shannon Shields is tied for fourth with nine points and tied for third with four goals.
 
LOCAL TALENT
Little Rock's roster this season is loaded with players from Texas, and plenty will be returning close to their home with the trip to Austin this weekend. Fali Garuba and Talia Graves are both from nearby Pflugerville, Bailey Fithian hails from Georgetown and Nora Hellmers is from Austin (Round Rock High School). Mikayla Uyokpeyi (Garland), Sairra Tucker (Arlington) and Deyaris Perez (Houston) also hail from the Lone Star State. No other state is better represented on the Little Rock roster.
 
SCORING STREAKS
Two Trojan players are on multi-game scoring streaks entering Sunday's contest at Texas. Sophomore Fali Garuba has recorded a point in each of the last three games. She  started her steak with two goals against UAPB on Sept. 8, continued it with an assist against Missouri State on Sept. 13 and then added a goal on Thursday at MVSU. Jaclyn Purvine, meanwhile, scored a goal against Missouri State and then got another one on Thursday.
 
THIRD GOAL'S THE CHARM
Little Rock picked up three goals in its win against MVSU on Thursday, and all three goals were scored by players who had two goals on the season entering the game. That means each player's goal on Thursday night was her third goal of the season and resulted in the Trojans' 3-1 win.
 
ROUND NUMBERS REACHED
The Trojans had three players achieve career milestones on Thursday night. Mikayla Uyokpeyi picked up her 10th career assist on Quin Wilkes' game-winning goal, moving her to ninth all-time in Trojan history. Wilkes, for her part, scored her 20th career point. And Fali Garuba reached the 30-point mark with her first-half goal.
 
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 nine different players have at least one assist this year. All told, 14 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.
 
OUT-ASSITING THE OPPOSITION
Through nine games, Little Rock has held its opponents to only five total assists this year. Despite opponents scoring a total of 11 goals, only five of those goals were assisted. For comparison, Little Rock's 17 goals have seen a total of 16 assists.
 
HATS OFF
Shannon Shields had the best night of her young Little Rock career on Sept. 8, 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 Lexus VanPelt did the same against UAPB last season.
 
DEFENSIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
After her first collegiate shutout on Sept. 2 and a 13-save performance against Ole Miss on Sept. 6, Trojan goalkeeper Sara Small was honored on Sept. 8 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.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against MVSU:

• Mikayla Uyokpeyi earned her 10th career assist.
• Quin Wilkes picked up her 20th point.
• Fali Garuba reached 30 career points.

Coming soon:

• Shannon Shields is one point away from 10 in her Trojan career.
• Sara Cavanagh is two saves away from 60.
• Quin Wilkes needs just 8 more minutes to reach 1,500 and one more goal for 10.
   

UP NEXT
With non-conference play now behind them, the Trojans head into Sun Belt action on Friday. Little Rock will travel right back to Texas to take on Texas State on Friday at 7 p.m.