Salem at William Peace| Saturday, October 15th | 4:00 p.m.
WakeMed Soccer Park | Raleigh, N.C.

LAST TIME OUT
Southern Virginia broke a one-all deadlock with three second half goals, including the game-winner from Hailey Gadd, to earn a 4-2 victory over Salem in USA South soccer action on Tuesday afternoon at Varsity Field.

The Spirits grabbed the lead early when Ashley Linden scored on a penalty kick, driving the ball through the right side of the net, in the 11th-minute, following a handball by a Southern Virginia defender.

Madison Sollis evened the score at 1-1 just over 11 minutes later on an unassisted pass as the two teams remained scoreless throughout the remainder of the half.

Just over six minutes into the second half, in the 51st-minute, Sollis provided the Knights their first lead of the game with her second strike of the afternoon. Salem answered with a goal from Darilyn Nieto, who drove a ball over the outstretched hands of Brooklyn Larson to even the match at 2-2 in the 71st-minute.

The tie was brief as Southern Virginia forged back in front at the with the Gadd strike just over four minutes after Nieto's goal. Morgan Romney drove home an insurance goal in the 84th-minute for the Knights, resulting in the 4-2 final.

Salem closed out the game with nine shots, including six shots on goal, while Southern Virginia's offense countered with 23 shots (11 shots on goal) in the match.

Jordan Tomberlin (5-6-1) capped off the match with seven saves for the Spirits, while the tandem of Alyssa Trueman and Larson combined for four saves in the triumph for Southern Virginia. Larson picked up her first win of the season in net after making a save and facing two shots on goal in the second half.

RARE COMPANY
With her second half goal against Southern Virginia on Wednesday afternoon, Salem first-year standout Darilyn Nieto netted her 12th goal of the season.

Nieto broke a tie with Brooke Bukas (2014) for fourth-most goals by a Salem rookie and now sets her sights on Maddie Crumpton, who has third-most goals with 13. The program record for most goals by a Salem first-year player is shared by Alexi Saganich and Tarryn Johnson.

Salem All-Time First Year Goal Scoring Leaders

LINDEN ONE GOAL FROM 10 ALL-TIME
Ashley Linden, who has scored at least one goal in each of the last two matches for Salem, is second on the unit with six strikes this season.

Linden entered the 2022 campaign with three career goals and quickly moved that number to five with a pair of strikes in a 9-0 shutout victory over Regent in the season-opener. She followed that by netting her third goal of the season in an 8-0 win over Sweet Briar.

Linden drove home her first goal in conference play in a 2-2 tie with Meredith and followed that with a strike against Southern Virginia on Wednesday afternoon.

SALEM WHEN FACING THE PACERS
Salem will take a 12-0-0 mark all-time into its match against William Peace on Saturday afternoon. The Spirits have earned three of those victories in Raleigh and one at a neutral site.

Since the two teams first met on September 6, 2008, Salem has dominated the head-to-head series. Along the way, Salem has posted eight shutouts, including a 2-0 win on October 20, 2018, the last time the two teams met in the capital city.

Salem has scored at least three goals in 10 of the 12 matches, including a series-record 12, which came on September 21, 2010.

SALEM'S STATISTICAL LEADERS
The Spirits have tallied 30 goals over the course of the 2022 season, receiving 12 from Darilyn Nieto and six off the foot of Ashley Linden.

Olivia Nivens is third on the team in scoring with three goals, netting her most recent goal in a 2-2 tie against Meredith on October 8th. Meanwhile teammates Cristina Battistini, Nathaly Berrezueta and Layla Locklear are tied for fourth-most goals with two each.

Nivens and Alyson Gammons have proved complementary to their teammates, leading the Spirits with three assists. The trio of Linden, Caelan Gaul and Miriam Moctezuma have also been instrumental with two assists each for Salem.

Salem's unsung defensive standouts, which include Isabel Scott, Kylie Clark, Battistini, Berrezueta, Serenity Powell and Mireya Sanchez, have held opposing offenses to 53 shots (.111 shot percentage) and 97 shots on goal (.513 SOG percentage).

That defense has allowed the goalkeeping trio of Jordan Tomberlin, Alexcina Wartski and Sanchez to total 75 saves. Tomberlin is tops among the unit with 58 saves (.784 save percentage), while Wartski has made 13 saves and Sanchez two.

ANALYZING THE PACERS
William Peace is 1-3 during the month of October, suffering a 4-2 setback to Methodist that opened October play. The Pacers then dropped a 1-0 decision to Greensboro three days later and rebounded with a home win against Pfeiffer (Oct. 11) to mark their first USA South Conference win of the slate.

The most recent match for William Peace came on Thursday, where they were handed a 2-1 defeat by Mary Baldwin in Staunton, Va. Raine Greene provided the goal for the Pacers, while Makenzie Jones made five saves.

William Peace, which enters the weekend 7-4 overall and 1-3 in the USA South, is lead in scoring by the duo of Kyra Delaney (10 goals) and the aforementioned Greene (eight). Teammates Victoria Finklea and Dayna Kenworthy have netted four goals each for the Pacers, who are outscoring their opponents 37-13 on the season.

Greene has attempted a team-best 33 shots on goal (.516 SOG pct.), while Delaney is second in the same category with 23 (.657 SOG pct.). Meanwhile, William Peace is allowing opponents just 52 shots on goal (.578 SOG pct.) on the season.

Four players have served as goalkeeper on the season for the Pacers, including Makenzie Jones, who leads the unit with 34 saves (.791 save percentage) and a 5-4-0 record. She has one shutout and two combined shutouts on the season for William Peace. Mackenzie Kirk has protected the net on three occasions, making two saves, while Abigail Mosteller has two saves on the season.