(Featured Image Credit: Greg Carroccio/Sideline Photos)
Sam Roff has been seeing Aussies everywhere she has looked lately, and things don’t look like changing this weekend as Fairleigh Dickinson take on La Salle, their third match this season against a team featuring an Australian, following games against Marshall and Hofstra earlier in the season. It won’t be easy against a La Salle team in good form though, particularly with the Explorers’ Australian goalkeeper Claudia Jenkins in outstanding form recently, making nine saves last week against Rutgers to ensure her side escaped with an unexpected point from their trip to New Jersey. However, Roff has been her ever-reliable self in defence for the Knights to this point, so La Salle are unlikely to find goals easy to come by themselves.
Wyoming have given a good account of themselves in the first part of the season, and it is no small part due to the play of their Australian foursome. The Cowgirls have dropped just one game to this point, a 4-1 loss to local rivals Northern Colorado, and aside from that blip have looked dangerous throughout. A victory over Big Ten side Iowa last week will no doubt have boosted the side’s confidence, and with Australian freshmen Indianna Asimus and Caitlin Pickett forcing their way into the starting lineup alongside seniors Annika Clayton and Jessie Gentle, Wyoming’s game against Southern Utah will no doubt be one to follow this week.
Grand Canyon may have started the season 1-7, but with Sandra Hill back in the lineup after making her first two appearances of the season last week, the time may just be right for the Antelopes to turn things around and set themselves up for conference play. Portland State and Cal State Fullerton won’t exactly roll over, with both sides having put together better records than Grand Canyon to this point, but the Antelopes aren’t without a chance in either game. GCU do have another couple of weeks before conference play starts, but they won’t want to come into league action still on a losing streak that has already extended to five games.
Demi Koulizakis opened her account for Texas Tech last week with a stunner of a goal, and was rewarded in the team’s second game of the week, being the first player called off the bench in the Red Raiders’ win over Oregon State. It will then be interesting to see how the junior gets on this week on the team’s trip to California to play Cal State Northridge and Loyola Marymount. At 6-1, Texas Tech will certainly come into both games this week as heavy favourites and will look to press on with what has been a successful non-conference slate to this point as they attempt to put together a season that culminates in an NCAA Tournament berth.
A couple of teams do kick off conference play this week, with Ashleigh Lefevre and Illinois in particular looking to parlay outstanding non-conference form into a solid league season. The Illini sit at 5-2 with a couple of big wins over Duke and Oklahoma State under their belt, and if they can pick up results against Minnesota and Wisconsin, it will not only be a great start to league play, but also add to an ever-improving resume for 2018.
Full Schedule (many cancellations in the southeast are expected due to Hurricane Florence):
Akron (Freyja Murray)
This week: @ Robert Morris – 5am, Saturday September 15
Albany (Claire Urquhart)
This week: v Northeastern – 9am, Friday September 14; @ Dartmouth – 3am, Monday September 17
Chicago State (Sarah Clark)
This week: v Western Illinois – 4am, Saturday September 15; @ Indiana State – 4am, Monday September 17
Colorado (Isobel Dalton)
This week: v Utah Valley – 7:30am, Friday September 14; v Denver – 5am, Monday September 17
Drexel (Emma Heckenberg)
This week: @ Providence – 6am, Friday September 14; @ Princeton – 8am, Monday September 17
East Tennessee State (Isabel Hodgson)
This week: @ South Carolina State – 6am, Monday September 17
Fairleigh Dickinson (Sam Roff)
This week: @ La Salle – 9am, Friday September 14; @ Hartford – 3am, Monday September 17
Georgia Southern (Hannah Allen)
This week: @ Georgia State – 9am, Saturday September 15; v Louisiana – 2am, Monday September 17
Grand Canyon (Sandra Hill)
This week: v Cal State Fullerton – 6am, Monday September 17
Hawaii (Kiri Dale)
This week: @ Nevada – 11:30am, Friday September 14; @ San Francisco – 6am, Monday September 17
Hofstra (Monique Iannella, Grace Watson-Carr)
This week: @ Columbia – 8am, Friday September 14; v Stony Brook – 3am, Monday September 17
Illinois (Ashleigh Lefevre)
This week: @ Minnesota – 9am, Saturday September 15; @ Wisconsin – 3am, Monday September 17
La Salle (Claudia Jenkins, Alyssa Van Heurck)
This week: v Fairleigh Dickinson – 9am, Friday September 14
LSU (Caitlin Cantrill)
This week: @ Texas A&M – 10:30am, Saturday September 15; @ Cincinnati – 3am, Monday September 17
Marshall (Laura Farrelly)
This week: v Florida Atlantic – 9am, Saturday September 15
Nicholls State (Tessa Calabria, Tenille Harberger, Kristy Helmers)
This week: v Lamar – 7am, Saturday September 15; v Southern – 4am, Monday September 17
Old Dominion (Gaby Bentley)
This week: v North Texas – 9am, Saturday September 15; v Richmond – 8am, Monday September 17
Southeast Missouri State (Siena Senatore)
This week: v Murray State – 9:30am, Friday September 14; v Tennessee-Martin – 5am, Monday September 17
St. Francis University (Shelby Milton)
This week: @ Duquesne – 9am, Saturday September 15; @ West Virginia – 3am, Monday September 17
Stanford (Beattie Goad)
This week: v Cal Poly – 12pm, Friday September 14; v Santa Clara – 9am, Monday September 17
Texas Tech (Demi Koulizakis)
This week: @ Cal State Northridge – 12pm, Friday September 14; @ Loyola Marymount – 6am, Monday September 17
Towson (Jodie Burchell)
This week: v Pennsylvania – 4am, Monday September 17
UCLA (Teagan Micah)
This week: @ Loyola Marymount – 12pm, Friday September 14; @ San Diego State – 11am, Monday September 17
Western Carolina (Kate Swartwout)
This week: @ South Florida – 9am, Friday September 14; v Davidson – 3am, Monday September 17
William & Mary (Lorena Bugden)
This week: v VMI – 4am, Monday September 17
Wyoming (Indianna Asimus, Annika Clayton, Jessie Gentle, Caitlin Pickett)
This week: @ Southern Utah – 8am, Saturday September 15
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