Soccer Looks To Continue Win Streak Against Missouri
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas soccer team hopes to stay unbeaten at home and extend its win streak Thursday when it takes on Missouri in the newest installment of the Battle Line Rivalry. The match is scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. first kick and will be televised nationally on the SEC Network.
Jenn Hildreth (PxP) and Heather Mitts (Analyst) will have the call live from Razorback Field. It will be Arkansas’ second nationally televised game this season.
Match 12 Info
Opponent: Missouri Tigers (4-5-2, 1-0-1)
Date: Thursday, Sept. 26th
First Kick: 6:05 p.m.
Live Stats: http://bit.ly/2NIOwT9
TV: SEC Network
The Razorbacks (7-2-2, 2-1-0), coming off an undefeated weekend, will be looking to keep the home field advantage alive as they are 5-0-1 at Razorback Field this year. This is the fourth time under head coach Colby Hale that the Razorbacks have been unbeaten through the first five home matches of the season.
Junior Tori Cannata was a big reason Arkansas was able to keep the near-perfect record alive as she secured her first career brace in the 3-2 win over No. 2 Texas A&M last week. It was Cannata’s first four-point match of her career and gave the Razorbacks their fifth result over a top-10 team in the last three years.
Cannata is second on the team with four goals and nine points this year and is one of the more efficient attackers on the team with 13 of her 18 shots finding the target, good for a team leading .722 percentage.
On the defensive side, sophomore Haley VanFossen was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week earlier this week, becoming the fourth different Razorback to earn a conference weekly award. VanFossen joins Parker Goins, Kayla McKeon and Carly Hoke as weekly award winners and the four nods are two more than any other team in the SEC.
VanFossen has played 90 or more minutes in eight matches this season and highlights a defense that has limited teams to 33 corner kicks and under 10 shots a game on average this season.
In comparison, Arkansas has 86 corner kicks on the year and over 18 shots a game on average. The defense has also kept chances off set pieces at a minimum with five on the season, one coming from corner kicks and the other four from free or penalty kicks.
Quick Kicks
>> Arkansas will only have one match this week as it looks to continue its undefeated home streak when the Missouri Tigers visit Razorback Field on Thursday. The match will be televised nationally on the SEC Network.
>> Arkansas is 5-0-1 at home this year, scoring an average of 2.5 goals per match. In four of their last five matches, the Razorbacks have scored three or more goals, including against former No. 2 Texas A&M.
>> Last week, Arkansas slayed another giant when it defeated No. 2 Texas A&M, 3-2, its first win over the Aggies since 1993. The win snapped a 25-match unbeaten streak the Aggies had coming in.
>> Since 2016, Arkansas has beaten or tied five opponents (No. 2 Duke, No. 4 Florida, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 9 West Virginia, No. 2 Texas A&M) that were ranked inside the top 10 at the time of the match. Those five results are the most of any team in the SEC in that time span.
>> Junior forward Tori Cannata secured her first brace of her career in the 3-2 win over the Aggies last week. It was also the first four-point match of her career and she’s now second on the team with four goals this year.
>> On Sunday last week, Arkansas won its second-straight conference match by defeating Alabama, 1-0, in Tuscaloosa, it’s second shutout of the year. The Razorbacks have won four of the last seven true road matches, all four have been shutouts.
>> Junior Kayla McKeon scored the game-winner against the Crimson Tide, her team-leading fifth goal of the year and sixth match with at least one point this season.
>> Sophomore defender Haley VanFossen was awarded as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Arkansas’ fourth player to earn a weekly award this year.
>> VanFossen led a defense that limited the Aggies to only two shots on goal in 90 minutes, neither coming in the run of play and their lowest total in a match this year.
>> Sophomore Taylor Malham picked up her team-leading sixth assist of the year last week at Alabama. It was the third-straight match the Tulsa-native picked up an assist and she ranks in a tie for second in the SEC.
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