Salem vs. Meredith | Saturday, October 8th | 2:00 p.m.
Varsity Field | Winston-Salem, N.C.
LAST TIME OUT
Salem's Darilyn Nieto netted her 11th goal of the season and third game-winning strike in the 87th-minute, following a pass from Alyson Gammons, to even the team's record at 1-1 in the USA South Conference with a 1-0 victory at Mary Baldwin on Wednesday afternoon in Staunton, Va.
While Nieto sparked the offense, Jordan Tomberlin held the Fighting Squirrels scoreless in net, making five saves on the afternoon. It marked Tomberlin's first solo shutout of the season after combining for three alongside Alexcina Wartski and Mireya Sanchez this season. The Merritt Island, Fla., native has five matches with at least five saves for Salem.
FIRST OF TWO HOME MATCHES
Salem soccer returns to Varsity Field for a two-match home stretch against both Meredith (Oct. 8) and Southern Virginia (Oct. 11).
The Spirits are 2-3 at Varsity Field this season, posting wins over Sweet Briar and Johnson & Wales along the way. Salem has scored 11 goals at home this season and aside from a nine-goal outburst by Methodist, allowed just one goal to the combination of Randolph and Carolina University.
SHUT DOWN
Salem goalkeeper Jordan Tomberlin picked up her first solo shutout of the 2022 season on Wednesday afternoon in the 1-0 defeat of Mary Baldwin. That marked the fourth shutout of the season for Tomberlin, who has three combined shutouts.
In her career, Tomberlin has combined for six shutouts since the 2019 season, marking the second-most in program history. Only Paige Ketchum, who played at Salem from 2012-15, has more combined career shutouts in program history with seven.
Tomberlin, along with teammates Alexcina Wartski and Mireya Sanchez, have placed themselves in a five-way tie for most combined single-season shutouts in program history with Kenzie Rathe and Ketchum, who each had three in 2013.
ALL-TIME SERIES WITH THE AVENGING ANGELS
Salem enters the weekend with a 3-6-3 all-time record in the head-to-head series with Meredith, winning three matches since the 2017 campaign. The Spirits have surrendered only one goal in their last four matches with Meredith, which came on October 7, 2017, when Salem claimed a 2-1 victory.
Two of the Salem wins were by virtue of a shut out for Salem, which came in 2018 (4-0) and 2019 (3-0). The match last season went to double overtime, but ended in a scoreless tie.
Meredith comes into the match with a 1-5-1 overall record, boasting a 0-2-1 mark in USA South Conference. The Avenging Angels are 0-3 away from home in the 2022 campaign and are 0-5-1 in their last six matches, scoring just one goal in that span, which came at N.C. Wesleyan on Wednesday afternoon.
Morgan Thomas is the lone player on the Meredith roster with multiple goals, netting two goals in six shots on goal. Both Claire-Emma Britt and Lauren Webster have netted one goal each on the season.
The pair of Mackenzie Butler and Kasey Wilkins have spent time in goal for the Avenging Angels, surrendering 16 combined goals while making 48 saves. Wilkins leads the way with 46 saves (.780 save percentage).
SALEM'S STATISTICAL LEADERS
The three most significant statistical changes that have taken place since Wednesday's match against Mary Baldwin came from the trio of Darilyn Nieto, Alyson Gammons and Jordan Tomberlin.
In the case of Nieto, the Salem first-year moved herself into a fourth-place tie with Brooke Bukas for most single-season goals by a Spirit rookie. Nieto needs two goals to place herself in a tie for third with Maddie Crumpton's 2015 mark and four to equal the first-year record (15) held by Tarryn Johnson (2014) and Alexi Saganich (2010).
As for Gammons, she placed herself in a tie with teammate Olivia Nivens for most assists (three) on the season. With both Gammons and Nivens dishing out three assists each, they have one more than the duo of Caelan Gaul and Miriam Moctezuma, who have two assists apiece for Salem.
After making five saves in the shutout of Mary Baldwin, Tomberlin improved her overall mark to 4-5-0 on the slate. She also has 50 saves to her credit, 10th-most in a single season in program history. Tomberlin is the third goalkeeper in Salem history to have at least 50 saves in a season on multiple occasions. The others are Hannah Wagner (3x) and Jazmine Bridgeman (2x). She is also third in career saves for the Spirits with 152, trailing only Bridgeman (186) and Wagner (279) in that category.