BOONE, N.C. — As if fated from the ending of last season, Appalachian State University women's soccer will once again do battle in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Championship tournament with South Alabama on Friday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex.
In the same scenario as last year's tournament, the fourth-seeded Mountaineers will play the top-ranked Jaguars in the semifinal round to decide who advances to the championship game.
In back-to-back heartstopping games, these two teams have combined for 220 minutes (four overtimes), 11 goals, six assists, eight yellow cards and 19 penalty kicks.
Just 11 days ago, the Mountaineers hosted South Alabama for its Senior Day in Boone. The Black and Gold were motivated as they needed a win to secure their place in the postseason.
Before that, App State took the Jaguars to double-overtime and then a shootout where the Mountaineers fell one PK shy, taking it all the way to the 11th kick.
Appalachian enters the game, ranked tied for second in shots (314) with South Alabama, fourth in points (90 – one behind South Alabama), fourth in goals (31 – two behind), second in assists (28 – three ahead) and first in corners (130 – 11 ahead), making the teams extremely close-matched.
Individually, senior Jane Cline remains the conference leader in shots (87), points (25), goals (11) and game-winning goals (five). Redshirt sophomore Erin Settle also ranks in the top 10 with 18 points (tied-fourth) and seven goals (tied-sixth).
Senior Jackie Nieradka and redshirt senior Jenn Bass now both rank tied for fourth in the league with five assists, while Settle ranks tied for seventh in assists with four.
Junior goalkeeper Sam Steyl is coming off her fourth clean sheet of the year, holding UL Lafayette scoreless on Wednesday in the first round matchup. So far this season, Steyl has logged 1,449 minutes, made 66 saves upon facing 198 shots.
Jamming the Jaguars (Round 2)
South Alabama entered the tournament with the best overall record in the Sun Belt Conference, going 12-5-1 overall and 7-3 in conference. The Jaguars went 3-1 to finish out the season.
The Jaguars' only five losses were against Auburn (1-0), Mississippi State (2-1 2OT), Troy (1-0), UL Lafayette (3-2) and Appalachian State (4-3 2OT) in the final game of the season.
In the first round of the tournament, South Alabama defeated the No. 8-seeded Troy 1-0, after behind held scoreless for 79 minutes. Finally, in the 80th minute, a defensive error by the Trojans allowed a breakaway that would seal the game for the Jaguars.
South Alabama ranks unbelievably close to the Mountaineers in offensive categories, within one or two of them in points, goals, assists and shots. Jemma Purfield was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year as well as the overall Player of the Year for her season.
She finished with 60 shots, 23 points, eight goals and seven assists.
Not far behind Purfield for the Jaguars was Rio Hardy, who was also a season-long offensively. She finished the season with seven goals and one assist for 15 points.
In the net for the Jaguars has been Justice Stanford. Stanford has logged 1,356 minutes in the net, made 52 saves and collected nine clean sheets – only allowing 10 goals all year.
The Mountaineers have faced the South Alabama four times in program history, with South Alabama leading 2-1-1 all-time.
