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MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois women's soccer (13-5-0 Overall, 5-3-0 Summit League) enters the 2012 Summit League Women's Soccer Championships, hosted by South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D., as the No. 4 seed. It is the eighth conference tournament appearance in Western women's soccer history.
The Leathernecks open play with a rematch against conference regular season champion and the No. 1 seed Oakland (9-5-3, 6-2-0) on Friday (November 2) at 3 p.m. The victor will face the winner of the 5 p.m. match between the No. 2 seed Fort Wayne (9-7-1, 5-2-1) and the No. 3 seed North Dakota State (8-9-0, 5-3-0) in the championship match scheduled for Sunday (November 4) at noon.
In action last weekend, Western played to a 1-0 shutout win over Fort Wayne on Friday (October 26) and fell to Oakland 1-0 in the Summit League regular season title match on Sunday (October 28). Chrissy Campbell's one-on-one, match-winning goal against the Mastodons highlighted the action.
THE BREAKDOWN
WHO: No. 4 Western Illinois vs. No. 1 Oakland
WHEN: Friday, November 2 at 3 p.m.
LOCATION: Brookings, S.D.
STADIUM: Fishback Soccer Park
LIVESTATS & TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: HERE
TWITTER: HERE
WEEKLY NOTES
A LOOK AT THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES: Oakland enters the Summit League Championship as the No. 1 seed after posting a top regular season conference record of 6-2-0...Kyla Kellerman leads the team in points with 19 and goals with eight...Abigail Haelewyn has a team high nine assists...Meghan Reynolds has three game-winning goals on the year...Keeper Shannon Coley boasts a record of 8-4-2 in net with a goals against average of 0.92 (13 goals allowed) and a save percentage of .827 (62 saves)...She has 6.1 shutouts on the year.
LAST TIME OUT: Oakland recorded a 1-0 victory over the Leathernecks in the regular season title match last Sunday (October 28) in Rochester, Mich....The game-winning goal was scored by Brianne Horne.
MAKING THE CUT: The top four teams in the Summit League earned berths to this weekend's championship hosted by South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D....Oakland (9-5-3 Overall, 6-2-0 Summit League) took the No. 1 seed, Fort Wayne (9-7-1, 5-2-1) is the No. 2 seed, North Dakota State (8-9-0, 5-3-0) is the No. 3 seed and Western Illinois is the No. 4 seed (13-5-0, 5-3-0).
TOURNAMENT HISTORY: This is the eighth time in school history that the Leathernecks have appeared in the Summit League Championship since their debut season in 1997...Western has appeared in the Summit League Championship match on three occasions (2006, 2007 and 2010) and were runners-up each time.
NATIONAL RANKS: Western Illinois is ranked nationally in several categories including: save percentage (5th-0.88), goals-against average (15th-0.61), shutout percentage (28th-0.5), scoring offense (35th-2.11) and won-lost-tied percentage (41st-0.722)...Keeper Laura Atkinson is sixth in save percentage (0.889) and 25th in goals-against average (0.643)...Sarah Hall is 35th in game-winning goals (4).
SUMMIT LEAGUE STATS: Keeper Laura Atkinson paces the league in wins (8), shutouts (6), save percentage (0.889) and is second in goals against (7) and goals-against average (0.64)...Fellow keeper Victoria Kappel is first in goals against (4) and goals-against average (0.56) and second in save percentage (0.852)...Sarah Hall leads the conference in game-winning goals (4), is second in shots (47) and third in goals (5)...Also ranking third are Katie Condon in goals (5), Kellie Julius in assists (5) and Sloane Levin in shots (45).
SNAPPING RECORDS: The Leathernecks have broken several Western Illinois school records thus far...The team set new season records in shots with 367 (was 296 set in 2006 and 2011), shots on goal with 175 (was 153 set in 2006) and are tied for most goals in a season with 38 and shutouts with nine...Laura Atkinson currently holds a goals-against average of 0.64 which is a new school record and Sarah Hall is tied for most game-winning goals in a season with four.
CAPTAINS: Three members of the Leatherneck women's soccer senior class, Sarah Blaase, Katie Condon and Kellie Julius, will captain the squad this season.
AT THE HELM: Ted Flogaites became the fifth Western Illinois women's soccer head coach in July 2012...He joins the Leatherneck family following a five year stint at Hastings College where he amassed a record of 76-22-9 for a .729 winning percentage...In his 11-year coaching career, Flogaites has a record of 123-85-13...Flogaites graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1999 and was a member of the Gaucho men's soccer team...To view his bio, click HERE.
PRESEASON POLL: The Leathernecks were picked to finish tied for sixth along with IUPUI in the 2012 Summit League Women's Soccer Preseason Poll. Western Illinois tallied 22 points in the all Summit League coach vote. Oakland, last year's Summit League Tournament Champion, was picked to finish first with 61 points and regular season champions South Dakota State took second with 59 points.
