As Samford soccer comes up on the halfway mark of its season, the players are starting to find their stride.
After a couple of losses, they managed to put together a three-game winning streak last week, with each game being a shutout, and now have a record of 4-2-2 as they look towards conference play.
Their season was supposed to start against Georgia, but after a cancellation, the season began with a win against Ole Miss. They then took a couple of losses to Alabama and Georgia Southern, but began to make a run after defeating Georgia State 3-0, and won a recent game against Western Kentucky 2-0.
“That was a hard game,” head coach Todd Yelton said. “It was hot, and to grind out a win in that scenario is big.”
Their most recent game ended in a 0-0 tie against Belmont.
Going into conference play, several players have started to stand out with the goal of repeating as conference champions. Offensive weapon and junior forward Sam De Luca leads the team with three goals and one assist, for a grand total of seven points. Martha Bishop and Sarah Holland have also contributed a goal and an assist, building an offense to be reckoned with.
Although the offense is finding its fire, it would be impossible to ignore the defensive superstar that is Peyton Hull. The redshirt sophomore holds a 1.000 goal-against average over 540 minutes of play. She was also given the award of Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week after back to back shutouts.
Samford’s numbers back up its success. With an average of 1.5 goals per game and an overall shot advantage of 87-64, Samford has been getting more comfortable on the field, just in time for SoCon play. Historically, the SoCon has been very competitive, but Samford often comes out on top.
For now, the midseason report is cut and dry: Samford is finding their momentum, and any team facing them for the SoCon title will have their work cut out for them.
