ETSU and its nationally-ranked scoring offense prepare for pair of weekend SoCon matchups; Senior Night is Friday

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 15, 2014) - The Buccaneers, winners of four of their last five contests, will host a pair of Southern Conference matches this weekend, taking on VMI Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m., and UNC Greensboro Sunday, Oct. 19 at 1:00 p.m. Prior to Friday's match, ETSU will honor the achievements of its outgoing senior class.

GETTING UP TO SPEED

On the road last weekend, the Bucs (12-4, 4-2) responded to a narrow 2-1 overtime setback at Mercer with a five-goal outburst at The Citadel, coming away with a weekend split.

Friday, Oct. 10, ETSU was two minutes from becoming the first SoCon team to defeat Mercer; however, the Bears netted an equalizer in the 88th-minute before winning in overtime. Two days later, the Bucs got back on track, beating The Citadel, 5-3, in Charleston, S.C.

With the win at The Citadel, ETSU matched the program's record for wins in a single season (12). Under the tutelage of head coach Adam Sayers, who is currently in his fourth season as headman of the program, the Bucs also won 12 games in 2011 and 2012.

Hannah Short (Bristol, England) scored a hat trick in ETSU's win at The Citadel, while Sarah Zadrazil (St. Gilgen, Austria) dished out an assist in each of the Bucs' weekend contests.

Zadrazil has recorded at least one point in each of ETSU's last five matches, recording four goals and five assists during that span.

The Bucs currently rank third in the SoCon, behind Mercer and Samford, and ahead of UNC Greensboro. To view the complete standings, click here.

HIGH-SCORING BUCS

The Bucs feature one of the nation's most potent scoring attacks, ranking second in the country for scoring offense (3.56), trailing only No. 10 Virginia (3.57).

ETSU's 57 goals leads the Southern Conference and is nearly double the scoring output of any other league opponent. Samford's 30 goals is next highest in the SoCon.

The Bucs are paced by Short, the nation's leading goal scorer (20), and Zadrazil and Jasmin Dutton (Kinmel Bay, Wales), who have each recorded 15 assists this season, ranking second in the nation.

Zadrazil and Dutton have each surpassed ETSU's previous single-season assist record of 11, which was set by Zadrazil in 2012 and 2013. Meanwhile, Short is just one goal shy of matching Ramey Kerns' program record of 21 goals set in 2012.

In addition to leading the nation in goals, Short also leads the country in total points (46), having recorded 20 goals and six assists. Her current mark of 20 goals is fifth most in Southern Conference history for a single season.

ETSU has scored at least three goals in all but five matches this season. The Bucs lead the nation in assists per game (3.63), points per game (10.75), total assists (58), total goals (57), and total points (172).

Impressively, 16 of the Bucs' 19 field players have found the scoring column on the year, including sophomores Simona Koren (Graz, Austria) and Molly Collinson (Cramlington, England) and senior Kristi Davis (Edmond, Okla.), who have each recorded 10 points or more.

Koren is the Bucs' third leading scorer this season (11G, 4A).

WEEKEND PREVIEW

VMI Keydets - Senior Night

LIVE STATS - Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m.

The Keydets (3-10-1, 2-3) will enter Friday's matchup coming off a 4-0 win at Chattanooga Sunday, Oct. 12.

VMI is led by Emma Quirk and Kristen Whitehurst, who have each scored three goals this season.

The Keydets rank 27th in the nation for saves per game (6.57).

VMI has been outscored by opponents, 35-12, on the year.

UNC Greensboro Spartans

LIVE STATS - Sunday, Oct. 19 at 1:00 p.m.

The Spartans (7-5-3, 3-1-1) have won five of their last seven contests. The lone loss during that span came to Samford, while UNCG earned a draw against league-leading Mercer.

UNCG ranks fourth in the SoCon in both scoring offense (1.93) and goals against average (1.021)

The Spartans are paced by Chesney White's 13 goals. White is the older sister of ETSU freshman Jil White (Franklin, Tenn.).

This season, UNCG has outscored its opponents, 29-16.

SENIOR NIGHT

Prior to Friday's match versus VMI, ETSU will honor the achievements of its outgoing class, which is made up of Short, Dutton, Davis, Emilee Engelhaupt (Charlotte, N.C.), Ellis Parsons (Cardiff, Wales), Summer Peterson (Lorton, Va.), and Andie Stone (Austin, Texas).

The Bucs' senior class will graduate as the winningest class in program history, having helped lead ETSU to a 43-24-3 (.636) record over the past four seasons, including three 12-win campaigns.

To download a hi-res version of the Senior Night poster created by Dakota Hamilton (DoCo Photography), click here.

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