CLINTON, S.C. – Two teams trying to cement their spot in the upcoming Big South Tournament will go head-to-head tomorrow night at Martin Stadium, as the Presbyterian College women's soccer squad returns home on Wednesday to meet UNC Asheville.
The Blue Hose will begin the second-to-last regular season matchup at 7:00 PM, with ESPN+ streaming the conference contest.
Aspiring to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2019, PC will encounter a Bulldog visitor who presently is in a similar position to the Scotsmen. Just two games are left until the curtain closes, with Presby pursuing a top-six finish in the division.
The winner of the PC/Asheville match has flipped back and forth over the last seven meetings between the two conference enemies. Presbyterian has beaten the Bulldogs five times in their Division I history and all of them have been via shutout.
GAMEDAY INFO – WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23
Presbyterian (6-4-4, 1-1-3) vs. UNC Asheville (3-9-1, 1-2-0)
WHERE / WHEN: Martin Stadium | 7:00 PM
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
- UNC Asheville was significantly impacted by Hurricane Helene last month, forced to make numerous alterations to their schedule as a result. They've been able to play three Big South matches, winning one and dropping the other two.
- All of the Bulldogs' league affairs have seen one team fail to score a goal, blanking Gardner-Webb last week (2-0) but also getting shut out by Longwood and USC Upstate.
- Asheville's adversaries have doubled them up in total goals (30-15), as fourth-year head coach Andy McNab currently sits on the outside looking in when referring to the Big South standings.
LAST TIME OUT
- While the offense has entered a bit of a rut recently, the Presbyterian defense remains as tough as ever, touting the second-fewest goals allowed in the conference and playing to a scoreless tie at Longwood last weekend.
- In 14 appearances, the Blue Hose have surrendered just 16 scores and have held the other unit to one goal or less nine times.
- They earned their third shutout of 2024 in Farmville and their sixth clean sheet over the past two campaigns.
HALL AT THE TOP
- During the draw with the Lancers, senior keeper
Kelly Hall moved to the upper echelon of Presbyterian's D-I record book by garnering her ninth career shutout. That mirrors Sarah Beth Anderson (2008-11) for the most by a PC goalie over the last 17 years.
- Hall has never left the field at any point this season for head coach
Matt Smith, closing in on 4,000 career minutes. Her all-time save percentage sits at .758, ranking second in Presby's D-I era behind Anderson.
- Should Hall maintain her career goals-against average (1.67) down the stretch, that would be the best by any Blue Hose goalie since the school made the D-I leap in 2007. No one has a better save percentage in the Big South this year than Hall (.830), stopping a grand total of 226 shots since her freshman year in 2021.
LYLA CHADD – STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
- On Monday afternoon, sophomore defender
Lyla Chadd was selected as the Adidas / Game One PC Student-Athlete of the Week following the Longwood tie. She has started every match that she's played in over the past 15 months (30 opportunities).
- This semester, Chadd has sat on the bench for all of two minutes while leading all Blue Hose players minus Hall in that category. Out of 2,700 possible minutes in the last two seasons, Lyla has played 2,663 of them.
