Game Notes

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State Bobcats are set to travel to South Alabama on Friday to open up the 2013 conference slate. Friday night marks the first night for any conference play in the Sun Belt. The Bobcats will then continue their Alabama road trip as they head to Troy for a 1 p.m. kick off on Sunday afternoon.

Friday evening boasts the second meeting all-time between Texas State and South Alabama. The first meeting against the Jaguars was back in 1999, the first year for Bobcat soccer. Texas State fell in a 1-0 shutout in Mobile, Ala.

South Alabama went 7-3-1 in non-conference action this season including a perfect 4-0-0 on its home turf. Coming into the weekend, though, the Jaguars have dropped their last two contests.

Through the first 11 games, South Alabama has scored 36 goals behind the lead of Lauren Allison with nine. The South Alabama defense allowed just 10 goals in the non-conference portion of its schedule. The Jaguar defense has also contributed to five shutouts so far this season.

Sunday's contest marks the first regular season meeting between the Troy Trojans and the Bobcats.

Troy finished last season in the middle of the Sun Belt Conference, posting a 4-5-1 conference record and 9-10-2 overall record.

To start the 2013 regular season, the Trojans are 4-6-0 with a 3-1-0 record at home. Troy will open up its portion of the conference schedule on Sunday against Texas State.

Necee Jennings is the primary threat on offense for the Trojans as she has scored five of the team's 18 goals this season. Abby Reynolds, Maddie Tieken, and Cecilia Thorngren have each contributed three goals apiece this season.

Caitlin Buono is the primary goalie for the Trojans as she has recorded almost 800 minutes in the net. She has allowed 18 goals and has a total of 38 saves so far this season.

Pregame quotes from senior midfielder Sydney Curry:
What is your mentality going into the game on Friday?
"I'm just really excited. I know we have some work to do from our non-conference play. We are all just confident in the fact that we know what to do. I'm also excited because I'm one of the first and only classes to play in three different conferences. I like playing new teams because you have no precedent for it. You don't have to think that we won or lost to them last time we played."

What are your keys to focusing on Sunday's game?
"I think since we haven't played everybody before, we're just going to try and focus on playing our type of soccer. We are going to try and capitalize as we have been a little shallow in that area (serve and collect). We are definitely looking to score and win big at these Alabama games."

Head coach Kat Conner:
With an off day from play on Sunday, how has the extra bit of rest helped the team prepare for the upcoming weekend?
"We've played some good competition and I didn't want them to get to down and out about it. I wanted to have them get rejuvenated, so we gave them an extra day off over the weekend to kind of help their mental state. They came back pretty good and we had a great practice on Tuesday. They look like they're ready to go and of course when you go into conference, everything is a clean slate. It doesn't matter what you have done outside of conference, it's all just new now and that is what you are playing for."