MATCH NOTES: Ospreys Make ASUN Road Debut at Bellarmine

Thursday, September 30

Louisville, Ky.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

Bellarmine

9/29/2021 11:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

KICKOFF - The North Florida women's soccer team makes its ASUN road debut and kicks off a four-match road swing on Thursday vs Bellarmine at 7 p.m.

MATCH DAY INFO

PITCH POINTS

North Florida slipped to 6-2-1 (1-1-0 ASUN) after a disappointing 3-0 loss to Central Arkansas on Sunday afternoon | The loss snapped UNF's unbeaten streak at six matches
Ospreys home win streak was also halted at seven with the defeat | UNF is now 15-5-0 at Hodges Stadium under head coach Eric Faulconer
UNF is 2-1-1 on the road this season with their last road tilt, a scoreless double-overtime draw at Florida on Sept. 19
The three goals surrendered by the Ospreys vs UCA marked the first time all season that UNF had allowed more than one goal in a match
Thais Reiss enters Thursday's match with Bellarmine ranked second in the ASUN this season for goals and points | Reiss now has 6 goals for the year and 39 for her career (1 shy of 2nd in UNF history) | Tied for 10th all-time in ASUN history
Reiss has scored the match winner for the Ospreys in four of the last seven contests and has netted a goal in five of last seven games | Her winner vs Lipscomb moved her into 2nd on the ASUN All-Time chart with 18 match-winner
She also moved into a share of the top spot for assists in the program's DI era following her helper on the match winner vs Charleston Southern
Kayla Bond and Ariana Munoz share the team lead for assists with three each this season, just one shy of the ASUN lead
Goalkeeper Mercedes Sapp has posted six wins with four shutouts this fall and is fourth in the ASUN with an .833 save percentage and 0.86 GAA | Sapp collected six saves versus UCA
North Florida roster features 27 of 31 players hailing from the state of Florida
11 Ospreys are from or played their prep/club soccer in the “904” area code (Jacksonville, Northeast Florida) | Group includes Haynes Grant, Sydney Hauth, Emma Voigt, Ariana Munoz, Carmel Oliveira, Hannah Farmer, Lauren Weiss, Marissa House, Analiese Anderson, Kate Carter and Brielle Maloney
UNF was picked as co-favorite to win the ASUN this Fall along with Lipscomb
North Florida returned nine starters from their successful spring campaign and welcomed 11 newcomers including several DI transfers
Thais Reiss and Mercedes Sapp were named the ASUN Preseason Player and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively | Ariana Munoz was also named to the preseason All-Conference list
Reiss was selected for the Watch List of the MAC Hermann Trophy, presented to the National Player of the Year
Ospreys announced their Leadership Council for the season: Captains Thais Reiss & Zara Siassi | Lauren Weiss (Fresh rep) | Averi Walraven (Soph rep) | Sydney Hauth (Jr rep) | Kendra Hoffman (SR/Grad rep) | Ariana Munoz (SR/Grad rep)
HONOR ROLL - Sapp was named ASUN Defensive Player of the Week (8/24) | Reiss chosen ASUN Player of the Week (8/31)
RANKING NEWS - Ospreys were #9 ranked in the latest United Soccer Coaches South Region poll, marking the fifth consecutive week UNF has been in the Top 10

SPRING REWIND

North Florida boasted an undefeated (6-0-0) record in ASUN play for the first time in program history and marked just the second time Ospreys have gone unblemished in conference play (2000: 5-0-0 in Peach Belt) | The Ospreys earned the ASUN South Division title
Going 10-2-0 during the spring season marked the second most wins in a season during the program's Division I era | UNF also amassed a double-digit win total for the second consecutive year after winning 11 contests in 2019
North Florida's seven-match win streak during the spring was the longest in the program's DI era and marked just the 5th time a UNF program has strung together 7 or more wins on the pitch (Record is 13 in 2000 followed by 8 in 2001 and 7 twice in 2002)
Ospreys had the ASUN Player of the Year (Thais Reiss), Goalkeeper of the Year (Mercedes Sapp) along with Ariana Munoz and Zara Siassi joining the duo on the First team All-ASUN list | Siassi and Haynes Grant were both named to the ASUN All-Freshman squad
Reiss led the ASUN in points (23), goals (9) and assists (5) | She ranked second in shots with 43 and topped the league with 7 multi-point matches
In the net, Sapp paced the ASUN in GAA (0.61) and wins (10) while listed second for Save% (78.8)
11 different Ospreys scored in the Spring with Reiss (9), Munoz (3), Oliveira (3) and Hoffman (3) amassing multiple goals scored
Ospreys were ranked No. 6 in the final United Soccer Coaches South Region poll (Spent six of eight weeks during the season in Top 5)

FAULCONER TALES
- Head coach Eric Faulconer's overall record stands at 267-108-32 in his 21st season | He owns a 27-10-3 mark in his third season leading the Ospreys | Faulconer-led team have reached double-digit victories in 18 consecutive seasons

SCOUTING REPORT

BELLARMINE: Enters the match at 2-3-5 (0-2-0 ASUN) following a 2-0 loss at FGCU on Sunday | The Knights have lost three straight and have been shut out in each of those losses
All-time Series Record: FIRST MEETING
Bellarmine is playing its second season at the DI level | BU's first DI season was the covid-shortened spring campaign earlier this year
BU has had a season of streaks including opening the year with five consecutive double-overtime ties followed by back-to-back wins and now their current three-match skid
Bellarmine is unbeaten (1-0-3) at home this year
The Knights have gotten goals from six different players led by two scores from Regan Kommor
Goalkeeper Elyssa Francis ranks second in the ASUN with 50 saves and a .847 save pct. | She owns a 1.05 GAA
Head coach Chris Tinius is in his 8th season at BU and owns a career record of 77-34-30

“I think this upcoming game will be a real gut check for our team. I was disappointed with our performance on Sunday and that obviously starts with me. I felt good heading into the match, as we had a lot of positive momentum, but it didn’t carry over into the game. I am confident we will put that game behind us and we will be ready for a tough road test against a very organized Bellarmine team. We are facing some adversity coming of the loss and picking up some injuries for the first time this season. We will need to raise our level if we want to get back to our winning ways.”

Head Coach Eric Faulconer