FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University women’s soccer squad closes out the regular season with a makeup match against Saint Leo on Thursday at 7 p.m., which will determine their conference postseason fate while also serving as “Think Pink” night for the team.
Throughout October, NSU has been partnering with Memorial Cancer Institute and Memorial Breast Care Services for Cancer Awareness month. The annual “Think Pink” night for women’s soccer at the NSU Soccer Complex on Thursday will include complimentary t-shirts for the first 200 fans in attendance and special pink promos throughout the night. For more information, please contact Kim Carbo at (954) 262-8254 or email carbo@nova.edu.
Currently, the Sharks (11-3-1, 4-2-1 SSC) are fifth in the conference standings with 13 points, and this match with Saint Leo (7-7-1, 3-4-0 SSC) is the last SSC matchup of the season league-wide. There are now just two different seeding scenarios for NSU for next week’s Sunshine State Conference Championship. If they defeat the Lions Thursday, they will gain three points to 16, leapfrogging Florida Tech and Rollins and tying Tampa for second place. The 1-0 win earlier this year over the Spartans would clinch the conference’s No. 2 seed for NSU and a first-round bye.
However, with a loss or tie to the Lions, they would stay in this current fifth slot and would have to travel to Melbourne next Tuesday, Nov. 3, to take on No. 4 Florida Tech. The Sharks would then need that road win to move on to Friday’s semifinal round (rather than be automatically placed there as the second seed with the first-round bye). Barry has clinched the top seed and the other first-round bye, and they will host the conference semis and final match (Nov. 8).
But before all of that plays out, the Sharks must face a Lions squad that has won three of their last five and will be the No. 6 seed next week no matter Thursday’s result. They feature two-time All-American and 2013 SSC Player of the Year Arielle Kabangu, who currently leads the team in goals with 10, one ahead of teammate Geplays out, nevieve Gignac. Kabangu is tied for second and Gignac third alone, in the conference behind Sierra Lelii‘s (R-Sr., Seminole, Fla.) 18 goals. Kabangu is also second in the league in points (25), points per game (1.7), goals per game (0.67), shots (68) and shots per game (4.53), behind Lelii in all five categories (39, 2.6, 1.2, 72 and 4.80).
Abby Evans has spent the majority of the time in the Lions’ goalbox, starting eight of 13 matches with a 4-4 record. She has a save percentage of .764 and has allowed 17 total goals (an average of 1.48). NSU’s Amanda Kopale (R-Jr., Cape Coral, Fla.) is second in the conference in save percentage at .828, and she is fifth in GAA at 1.13.
Saint Leo leads the all-time series between these two teams 10-4-2, and has won the last three matches (the most recent NSU win coming on Oct. 6, 2012 by a score of 4-0). Last year, on the road, the Sharks fell 2-1 in overtime. Lelii notched the NSU goal, with Gignac scoring first for Saint Leo and Saffron Jordan providing the penalty kick winner in the extra frame.
Thursday’s game time is 7 p.m. and will have live streaming HERE and live stats HERE.