SOCCER WELCOMES ETSU IN FRIDAY MATCHUP AT SPORTS COMPLEX
 
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's soccer team will host ETSU Friday afternoon in a Southern Conference matchup at the UTC Sports Complex.
 
MATCH DAY INFORMATION
TIME: 4:00 p.m.
SITE: Chattanooga || UTC Sports Complex
LIVE STATS: GoMocs.com
VIDEO: ESPN+
Links available on the women's soccer schedule page at GoMocs.com
 
CHATTANOOGA vs. EAST TENNESSEE STATE
The Mocs lead the series 7-5-3 with the Bucs and have won the last four matches. In Chattanooga, UTC leads the series 4-1-2. This will be the first meeting between the two teams at the UTC Sports Complex.
 
ABOUT CHATTANOOGA
The Mocs' 17-game fall slate was altered drastically this year due to COVID-19. The entire non-conference season was cancelled and all Southern Conference matchups were moved to the spring. UTC added out-of-league foe North Alabama to the spring season and opened with a 2-0 win over the Lions. Senior Chloe Arnold scored the game winning goal on a penalty kick in the 12th minute and earned SoCon Player of the Week honors. Junior Samantha Shaw added a second goal off an assist from Mackenzie Smith late in the second half. In the Mocs' SoCon opener they battled SoCon defending champion Samford to a scoreless draw, snapping a 13-game losing skid to the Bulldogs. Keeper Ashton Shields made six saves in the match and was named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Week. UTC leads the SoCon in fewest goals allowed with two shutouts this year.
 
ABOUT EAST TENNESSEE STATE
The Bucs are 1-2-1 overall and 1-0-1 in league play. ETSU opened SoCon play with a 2-1 win over UNCG at home and then battling to a 1-1 draw against VMI in Johnson City. Jocelyn Nehls leads the team with a goal and an assist while four others have one goal for two points in the team stats. Maegan Sours has the Bucs' game-winner against the Spartans. Ashton Blair has played all four games in goal with 21 saves and six goals against.
 
MOCS GAMES AIR ON ESPN+ THIS SEASON
The Mocs play six home games this season with all five Southern Conference matchups on ESPN+. UTC 's broadcast team Chris Goforth and Todd Agne will be on hand for the call.
 
TEAM POLL
Samford was picked the preseason favorite to win the women's soccer title in voting of the league's 10 head coaches. The Bulldogs edged Furman 1-0 in the 2019 Southern Conference Championship to claim their third tournament title and first since 2016. The Mocs were picked fifth behind Furman, UNCG and Mercer.
 
2021 Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll

Place	Team (first place votes)	Points
1	Samford (7)	79
2	Furman (3)	74
3	UNCG	63
4	Mercer	53
5	Chattanooga	46
6	Western Carolina	41
7	The Citadel	39
8	East Tennessee State	26
9	Wofford	19
10	VMI	10

 
 
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
The coaches also selected a 12-member preseason all-conference team, which features an extra player due to a tie in the voting. Samford picked up a league-best four selections, while Furman claimed three, Mercer claimed two, and The Citadel, UNCG and Chattanooga each placed one on the team. Chattanooga junior defender Maggie Shaw was selected to the Southern Conference Preseason All-Conference squad by the league coaches. In the 2019 season, Shaw and the Mocs' defense set school records for shutouts with nine, goals-against average 0.75 and the fewest goals allowed with 15 in the season. Five of the Mocs shutouts came against league foes and the Mocs held VMI without a shot on goal in their regular season win over the Keydets while allowing just two three more times. Shaw was selected team captain this season. She was named to the 2019 SoCon All-Tournament Team. She helped the Mocs to a win over Wofford with one goal and assisted on the game-winning goal against Eastern Kentucky.
 
2020-21 Women's Soccer Preseason All-Conference Team

POSITION	PLAYER	SCHOOL
F	Suzuka Yosue	The Citadel
F	Jasmine Greene	Furman
F	Nicole Icen	Mercer
F	Taylor Yount	Samford
MF	Isabella Gutierrez	Furman
MF	Ciara Whitely	Mercer
MF	Alyssa Frazier	Samford
D	Faith Hauberg	Furman
D	Kayla Campbell	UNCG
D	Lexi Orman	Samford
D	Maggie Shaw	Chattanooga
GK	Morgan McAslan	Samford

 
SHIELDS NAMED SOCON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Ashton Shields was named the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week after earning a shutout with six saves against league-favorite Samford. The Mocs and Bulldogs battled to a 0-0 draw in the SoCon-opener for both teams.
 
MOCS BATTLE SAMFORD TO DRAW
The Mocs battled Samford to a 0-0 draw in double-overtime in the SoCon-opener, snappinga 13-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. The Mocs are now 1-14-1 against Samford. UTC's lone win came in 1999 prior to the Bulldogs' joining the Southern Conference.
 
ARNOLD NAMED SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Chloe Arnold scored the game winner against North Alabama in the season-opener on a first-half penalty kick. It is the first POTW honor for the senior who was the 2017 SoCon Freshman of the Year, the first-ever for UTC.
 
SEASON-OPENING WINS
UTC is 11-14 in season-openers. Chattanooga's win over North Alabama was the fourth consecutive season-opening win. In home openers, UTC improved to 13-10-1 with the win over the Lions. McKinney is now 3-2-1 In his first match the Mocs went double-overtime against Austin Peay before falling 1-0. The next season saw Kennesaw State come away with the victory, 1-0. McKinney led the Mocs to back-to-back wins over Austin Peay (3-2) and Alabama A&M (3-0) the next two seasons. Last year UTC and the Lady Govs battled to a doule overtime 1-1 tie in the first match at the newly constructed UC Sports Complex.
 
MOCS OPEN SEASON WITH A SHUTOUT
The Mocs posted a 2-0 season-opening shutout against North Alabama. Emily Szymanski was taken down in the box and Chloe Arnold connected on the penalty kick for the eventual game-winner. Samantha Shaw picked up a pass from across the front of the goal off the foot of Mackenzie Smith late in the second half.
 
MOCS MOVE SEASON TO SPRING
With the postponement of the 2020 fall Southern Conference soccer season, the Mocs will play all league matches in the spring for the first time in program history. UTC's lone non-conference match against Georgia State was cancelled and the Mocs added North Alabama to the spring slate.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
The Mocs are no strangers to the international flavor of futbol. From the coaching staff to the players on the pitch, the Mocs have a host of international flavor. Head coach Gavin McKinney is a native of Canada born to Irish parents. Assistant Martyn Blankley comes to the U.S. from England as does new graduate assistant Jess Shepherd. Seniors Lauren Dluzewski and Osa Iyare are both from Canada and newcomer Ao Yamada is a native of Japan.
 
McKinney begins sixth season with mocs
Gavin McKinney begins his sixth season as the Mocs' head coach.  Last season he picked up his 100th career victory in a weather-shortened (84:45) match that saw three delays.
 
25 SEASON OF MOCS SOCCER
The 2020-21 season marks the 25th for the Mocs who fielded their first team in 1996. UTC has had three head coaches and called four locations home.
 
THE LINEUP
The Mocs return 19 letterwinners and add three newcomers to the 2020-21 roster. The team has five seniors ... six juniors ... nine sophomores and three freshmen.
 
2019 POSTSEASON HONORS
Hollie Massey was named to the SoCon All-Conference Second Team, Mackenzie Smith earned All-Freshman honors and Maggie Shaw was an All-SoCon Tournament selection.
 
SECOND SEASON AT HOME
This marks the second season the Mocs soccer team will call the UTC Sports Complex home. The complex, located next to historic Engel Stadium, former home of the Chattanooga Lookouts professional baseball team, houses three soccer fields, a clubhouse and a sand volleyball court that serves as home to the Mocs Beach Volleyball team founded in 2019.
 
SOCON ANNOUNCES POSTPONEMENT OF ALL FALL SPORTS
The Southern Conference Council of Presidents announced that the league will not have fall league competition due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for non-conference contests at each institutions' discretion. It is the intention of the SoCon to move the fall sports' regular-season competition and championships to the spring. The student-athletes impacted by this decision are football, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and volleyball. Practice and competition for some sports that have their championships in the winter/spring but traditionally have fall practice and competitions (men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's lacrosse, baseball, softball and rifle) will be determined by each institution. "The Southern Conference made the difficult decision to postpone fall league competition today," stated UTC Vice President and Director of Athletics Mark Wharton.  "We will continue to explore the feasibility of non-conference games in the fall and those decisions will be made in the coming days. While I am deeply disappointed for our student-athletes and coaches, this decision was made in the best interest of everyone's health and safety.  We have worked tirelessly over the last five months to determine a safe return to play. That effort continues as we explore options for competitive opportunities, while fulfilling the NCAA safety requirements set forth earlier this month.  I commend all of our student-athletes who gave every effort over the summer to get ready preparing  for the 2020 season.  Not only have they prepared physically and mentally, but they are also doing an outstanding job following new guidelines for testing, quarantining, wearing masks and social distancing. We continue to support their physical and mental health, as well as their academic and athletic experience at UTC. This is a stressful time for everyone involved and the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff remains our top priority.  I look forward to the return of competition under the safety requirements set forth by the NCAA."