Trojans Return to Troy for Home Finale, Look to Bolster Sun Belt Positioning

TROY, Ala. -- The Troy Trojans soccer program returns home Thursday night for a 7 p.m. matchup with Little Rock.

The game will be the Trojans (9-2-4, 4-1-2 Sun Belt) final home contest of the season, as Troy looks to close out the program's first undefeated home regular season since 2014 when the Trojans went a perfect 9-0 at Troy Soccer Complex.

So far this season, the Trojans are 6-0-1 at home, which are the most home victories since 2015, when Troy went 6-1-1 at home.

Last weekend the Trojans played just once, earning a key point at Arkansas State last Friday. After allowing an early goal to the Red Wolves, Troy quickly answered when Melissa Kuya-Strobel received a perfect pass from classmate Caroline Tully and scored her four goal of the season. The tie extended the Trojans five match unbeaten streak (4-0-1).

The score remained 1-1 for the rest of the match, as neither Troy nor Arkansas State were able to find the back of the net. Senior Haleigh Mercer recorded six saves to preserve the point. It was the goalie's fifth game this season with at least five saves.

PROMOTIONS:
• Cardinal Out: Fans are encouraged to wear cardinal.
• Students: First 100 students receive a cardinal Troy t-shirt.

CHECK OF THE STANDINGS:
Heading into the weekend, Troy currently sits in second place in the crowded Sun Belt Conference standings. South Alabama, who have just two matches remaining, currently sit in first place and are five points ahead of the Trojans. Troy has the tiebreaker over the Jaguars after defeating South 2-0 back on Oct. 4.

The Trojans need just one more victory (three points) or losses by Appalachian State and Georgia State to clinch a spot in next month's Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Troy looks to earn the first Sun Belt Conference regular season title in program history. The Trojans finished second in the SBC standings in 2014 and 2015.

This year's Sun Belt Conference Tournament will be held at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex from Nov. 6-10.

THREE-GAME SEASON:
The Trojans have just three-matches remaining in the regular season. Following Thursday's matchup with Little Rock, Troy will head to Texas State (Oct. 25) and Louisiana (Oct. 27) to conclude regular season action.

EDLUND'S RE-WRITING THE RECORD BOOK:
Senior Kiersten Edlund needs just one more assist to break Troy's all-time single season assist mark. She is currently tied (10 total assists) with Alissa Jones who set the mark back in 2014. Edlund needs two more total assists to break the program mark (17) also set by Jones.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE:
The Trojans have enjoyed one of the best and biggest home field advantages in soccer this season. Heading into Thursday's matchup, Troy is outscoring opponents 25-3 at Troy Soccer Complex this season and have recorded nearly six more shots-per-game then they have allowed. Troy has won six consecutive home matches.

TROJAN vs. TROJAN:
The Little Rock Trojans enter Thursday's matchup with a record of 5-5-6 overall and 2-1-4 in Sun Belt action. The Trojans of Little Rock are also riding a lengthy unbeaten streak, as Little Rock is 2-0-4 since dropping their Sun Belt opener at Georgia State. Little Rock has lost just once (3-1-5) since Sept. 8, and currently in a three-way tie for fifth place (10 pts) in the crowded Sun Belt standings. Julia Edholm (5 goals, 1 assist) and Morgan Smocovich (1 goal, 5 assists) have led the way for the Trojans offensively, recording the most goals and assists on the team. In net, goalie Julia Curatolo has made 15 starts, recording a shutout in seven of them. She has allowed just 14 goals in her 16 games and has made 60 saves. Her 0.87 goals-against-average is the third-lowest mark in the Sun Belt Conference.

GED TALKS:

"This has been a challenging week for us weather wise. We had the bye last Sunday after the game at Arkansas State which was played in sub-optimal conditions. We've really only had one training session since that game last Friday because of the weather. Today we're going to be out on the turf because we want to give our field an extra-day to dry. It's certainly been a challenge for us, but if we lose it won't because of any of those reasons. We should be doing our homework and go out tomorrow night prepared. We need to take it one game at a time. Winning is the by-product of everything that we do daily. We have 14 points and the aim is to have 17 at the end of tomorrow night. Then we'll assess where we're at on Friday heading into the final weekend. The more we think about that stuff, the less we focus on the stuff we control. Winning should be the result not the goal. If we take care of the stuff we can control the wins should come from that."

On the senior class:
"This class is a special group for so many different reasons. It's only fitting that they go out and they have players around them that respect them and what they've meant to Troy University and the soccer program. They've done a great job of representing this university both on the field and off it. This group is leaving at the end of this year, but they're doing so much for us as we assemble this next class, despite the fact that they won't play with them. They're fantastic kids and hopefully we can close out the undefeated home schedule for them."

On Little Rock:
"Little Rock is a very good team and has an outstanding coaching staff. They don't concede many goals and they find a way to grind out results, which is a sign of resilient program. We're undefeated at home and they haven't won on the road. So hopefully the trip and the travel combined with our ability to play well at home will put a bit of pressure on them. They probably need another win to guarantee making the tournament, so it should be an interesting game. If we have aspirations of winning the conference and making a run in the tournament we need to win this type of game on our home field."

Trojans Return to Troy for Home Finale, Look to Bolster Sun Belt Positioning

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Players Mentioned

Kiersten Edlund

Melissa Kuya-Strobel

Haleigh Mercer

Caroline Tully

Troy University Athletics