Bowling Green, Ky. Entering in this weekend’s matches with Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe, the Western Kentucky University soccer program is looking to accomplish something that it has never done before win back-to-back regular season Sun Belt Conference championships. In 2007, the Lady Toppers stunned the league winning the regular season title and the overall number one seed in the conference tournament.
WKU enters the weekend undefeated, 10-0-3 overall and 4-0-2 in league action. No squad in the SBC can say they are unbeaten through this point in the season. The Lady Toppers and Denver are the only two unbeaten teams in league play.
WKU’s success can not be attributed to just one person, however. The Lady Toppers have used a solid team performance throughout the entire year.
The Lady Toppers have scored 30 goals on the year or 2.31 per match. Kristin Cocchiarella leads the squad with seven scores while Amanda Buechel and Megan Meinke each have recorded five. Four Lady Toppers have reached double-digit point totals for the year Cocchiarella (16), Buechel (15), Meinke (13) and Kellie Walker (10). Fourteen WKU players have recorded at least one point this season. The Lady Toppers lead their opponents in all categories.
WKU is ranked 27th in the nation in scoring offense and ninth in win-loss-tie percentage. The Lady Toppers are ranked first in all categories in the SBC in offensive statistics first in shots (217, 16.69 per match), points (89, 6.85 per match), goals (30, 2.31 per contest), assists (29, 2.23 per goal) and assists per match (2.23).
Libby Stout has set new WKU records for goalkeeping. The freshman took the lead for most shutouts in a season (9) and has a 0.28 goals-against-average which ranks her as the top freshman goalkeeper in the country. She ranks fifth in GAA and third in save percentage (.932).
The Lady Topper defense anchored by 2007 SBC Player of the Year Morgan Thomas, Hayley Marsh, Katie Walker and Rachel Friedman have allowed only four goals on the year and have only surrendered 136 shot attempts by their opponents. The swarming defense is ranked first in goals allowed (0.31), goals against average (0.28) and shutouts (9, 0.69 per contest).
At this time last season, WKU was 11-1-1 going into the the matches with the Louisiana’s. WKU defeated Monroe 2-1 before tying Lafayette 1-1 both on the road.
WKU will face Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday night at 6 p.m. (CDT) and Louisiana-Monroe on Sunday at 1 p.m. The match on Sunday also marks Senior Day. The WKU Soccer Complex will say farewell to three seniors Alaina Atcher, Catie Chase and Cocchiarella.
WKU
