Opponent:
Salem at Southern Virginia | September 27 | Buena Vista, Va. | 7 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE SPIRITS
Carolina University netted a pair of second half goals after Salem's Mireya Sanchez to earn its second consecutive win in the head-to-head series with a 2-0 victory at Varsity Field on Saturday, September 23rd.

The match marks the final non-conference contest of the 2023 season for the Spirits, who close out the month with a pair of contests at Southern Virginia and Methodist before returning home to open October against Brevard.

Sanchez put together a strong performance in net, facing 16 shots in the first half, making six saves along the way. Salem countered with four in the frame, attempting two shots on goal.

With Marissa Doutrich in net in the second half, Carolina University's Destini Wilson found the back of the net in the 53rd-minute following a corner kick attempt from Ashlyn Herzog, who was credited with the assist.

Teammate Grace Nelson added an insurance goal in the 82nd-minute for Carolina University on an unassisted goal. The Bruins attempted 16 shots in the second half, mirroring the first, to close with 32 in the match.

Aubrey Sutton finished the match with nine shots for Carolina University, attempting five in the direction of the goal. Angie Hernandez capped off the match with seven, including a pair of shots on goal.

Darilyn Nieto was one of four Spirits with a shot attempt on the match, finishing with two, while Taylor Gable, Sky Sykes and Giselle Ramos had one shot apiece.

FOURTH TIME WITH AT LEAST TWO TIES
With ties during a four-day span from September 15-19, the 2023 Salem soccer team became the fourth unit in program history to have at least two ties in a single season. The others came in 2011, 2013 and 2022.

The 2011 unit became the first team with multiple ties in a single season, finishing in a double overtime scoreless deadlock with Ferrum (Sept. 23) and one-all tie with Covenant (Oct. 18).

Two years later, in 2013, Salem had consecutive matches with 1-1 ties at both Meredith (Sept. 11) and Methodist (Sept. 14). This marked the only time in program history that Salem has had ties in back-to-back matches.

The most recent season with multiple ties was 2022, where the Spirits knotted both Meredith (Oct. 8) and Greensboro (Oct. 29). The clash with the Avenging Angels came with both units scoring two goals, while Greensboro's match in late October was scoreless.

LOOKING TO BECOME THE FIFTH
In Salem's match with Agnes Scott, sophomore Darilyn Nieto netted her ninth goal of the 2023 season. With her next goal, Nieto will become the fifth player in program history to score at least 10 goals in multiple seasons in her career as a Spirit.

Nieto, who tallied 14 goals in her rookie campaign of 2022, will join Tia Bringhurst, Brooke Bukas, Sawyer Ferguson and Jordan Lanier as the only Spirits to reach double figure goals in multiple season. Three of those players (Bukas, Ferguson and Lanier) had at least 10 goals in three separate seasons.

Coincidentally, Nieto tied Bringhurst for ninth-most goals in a Salem career with 23. She is two shy of Ellie Montes for eighth on the all-time list (25) and three away from tying Tarryn Johnson and Taylor Norman, who are deadlocked for sixth-most career goals (26) in Salem soccer history.

SPIRITS WITH AT LEAST 10 GOALS IN MULTIPLE SEASON

EARNING THEiR STRIPES ON DEFENSE
Through the first six matches of the season, three of which have resulted in starts, the Salem goaltending pair of Mireya Sanchez and Marissa Doutrich have combined for 33 saves. Sanchez and Doutrich, who have each spent 270:00 minutes between the pipes, have combined for two shutouts for the Spirits.

The pair each had one save in Salem's 7-0 victory against Hollins and have notched at least two saves apiece in the last five matches. Doutrich's best single-match performances came at St. Andrews and Randolph, where she tallied four each, while Sanchez's best outing of the season came with a six-save outing versus Carolina University on Saturday, September 23rd.

The pair have been joined by solid defensive efforts by Sky Sykes, Isabel Scott, Jasmin Solorzano, Marabeth Huffman and Serenity Powell throughout the course of the season. The group has held opposing offenses to just seven goals in six matches.

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Salem has faced off against Southern Virginia on four occasions entering Wednesday's contest.

The Spirits took the first two games of the series, both by 2-0 scores, on September 10, 2016 and September 12, 2017. However, the Knights have since responded with two victories of their own, in both the 2021 (5-4) and 2022 (4-2) campaigns.

Last match vs. Knights (Sept. 22, 2021): Carolina University battled through two lightning delays and a halftime deficit to earn a 2-1 victory at Truist Soccer Park.

Cameron Dubuc delivered the game-winning goal in the 91st-minute after receiving a pass from teammate Mary Jester in front of the net. Dubuc delivered the game-winning goal to the right of Salem goalkeeper Tori Long.

It was the second Carolina goal of the half after Alondra Ramon knotted the match at one-all when she punched home a goal in front of the net following a pass from Dubuc in the 72nd-minute.

Salem received its goal from first year Ashley Linden just before the intermission. Linden drove a shot high over the top of the outstretched arms of Bruins' netminder Zee Ventura for the 1-0 lead.

The Spirits wrapped up the first half with 17 shots before attempting 12 in the second half. Meanwhile, Carolina was limited to five shots in the first period before attempting 14 in the second half. Ashley Linden was responsible for 10 of Salem's 29 shots, directing six of those attempts towards the net. Caelan Gaul tallied five shots (four SOG) and Baylee Greenwood finished with four shots.

The duo of Dubuc and Natasha Mariam shared the Bruins' team lead in shots with four, while Aaliyah Rubio finished with three shots on the evening.

Alexcina Wartski, the Salem starting goalkeeper, finished with two saves in the first half. Long assumed goalkeeper duties in the second half, making five saves in 46:32. Ventura converted 14 saves in just over 91 minutes of action for the Bruins.

Head-to-Head Series vs. Southern Virginia

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA AT THIS POINT OF THE SEASON
The Knights enter the week with a 2-4-1 mark overall and a 1-0-0 record in USA South Conference play, which came following a 1-0 victory over preseason league favorite Methodist on Saturday afternoon.

Southern Virginia is 2-2-1 in their last five outings, a stretch that began with a 2-0 defeat of Mary Washington on September 6th. The tie came in a match against Ferrum, which was followed by consecutive 2-0 setbacks to Washington & Lee and Lynchburg. The second win of the five-match stretch came versus Methodist.

Makinna Winterton leads all Southern Virginia scorers with three goals and is tied with Maybel Harris in points with six. Harris is the only other Knight with multiple goals, netting two on the season, while handing out a team-best two assists along the way.

Three goalkeepers have logged time between the pipes for Southern Virginia, including Katrina Gardner (13 saves), Ensley Anderson (11) and Chloe Miller (six). Anderson has the best save percentage (.846) of the trio, while sharing the team lead in individual wins (one) with Gardner.