JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Sep. 20, 2023) –?All the preparation, conditioning, and hard work builds to the moment when the curtain goes up, and the games really count. ETSU women's soccer travels to Greenville on Thursday for its Southern Conference opener against the Furman Paladins. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Stone Stadium on the campus of Furman University. 

THE MATCHUP  

ETSU (4-1-3) at Furman (4-3-1) 

Thursday, September 21 | 7 p.m. | Stone Stadium (Greenville, S.C.) | ESPN+ | Live Stats  

ABOUT THE BUCS  

• ETSU comes in hot on the heels of a 6-0 rout of South Carolina State on Sunday. The six goals are the most for the Bucs in a single game since a 6-1 win over King on October 1, 2018, and their most against a Division I opponent since a 7-1 win over Wofford on September 23, 2018.
• ETSU's six goals came from five different scorers. Reagan Fitzgerald (Oviedo, Fla.) scored her first career brace while Ella Parker (Jefferson, Ga.) and Natalie Cappanelli (Ontario, Canada) scored their first career goals against the Bulldogs.
• The Bucs will be without attacking midfielder Sinoxolo Cesane (Cape Town, South Africa), who joined the South African national team in Cincinnati on Monday. Cesane will compete for Banyana Banyana against the United States in Julie Ertz's final match at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati on Thursday and in Megan Rapinoe's final international match at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday. Cesane and Fitzgerald lead the Bucs with three goals apiece.
• ETSU is the stingiest team in the SoCon, allowing just 0.57 goals per game. Goalkeeper Ashton Blair (Knoxville, Tenn.) leads the SoCon in goals against average (0.689) and is third in save percentage (.818) and solo shutouts (3).
• ETSU is 1-2-0 in SoCon openers under Jay Yelton and 5-4-0 in conference openers since rejoining the SoCon in 2014. 

ABOUT FURMAN 

• Furman comes in after a week-long layoff following a 2-0 win over South Carolina State on September 14. Valentina Mosquera scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season in the 51st minute to put the Paladins in front.
• Furman head coach Andrew Burr entered the season tied for the highest winning percentage in SoCon history (.671) alongside Samford head coach Todd Yelton. Burr's career record at Furman is 233-109-29.
• Senior Nieva Gaither was named to the preseason All-SoCon team. A two-time postseason All-SoCon pick and the 2021 SoCon Player of the Year, Gaither has one goal and one assist in five appearances and has not played since August 31 against
• Senior goalkeeper Addison Corn leads the SoCon with an .831 save percentage and is second in the conference with 6.13 saves per game. Only VMI has allowed a higher rate of shots on goal than Furman in 2023.
• The Paladins were picked sixth in the SoCon preseason poll.

SERIES HISTORY 

• This is the 19th all-time meeting between ETSU and Furman. The Paladins lead the series 16-2.
• The last Buccaneer win came on September 21, 2018, when Rachel Harbin intercepted an outlet pass from the goalkeeper and buried it in the 41st minute, and Lee Ann Cutshall made nine saves for ETSU in a 1-0 win at Summers-Taylor Stadium.
• Furman is 10-0-0 against ETSU at Stone Stadium. 

UP NEXT  

ETSU returns home for a Sunday matinee against VMI. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. at Summers-Taylor Stadium.  

For more information on Buccaneer women's soccer, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's soccer tab.