by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-The Barton College women's soccer team can secure a home playoff game with a win against Conference Carolinas foe Converse College on Senior Night Saturday at the Barton Outdoor Athletic Complex. Kick-off for the regular-season finale is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Lady Bulldogs are currently in fourth place in the league standings with a 5-3 conference record. A win would secure the third seed for Barton while a tie and a North Greenville loss to Belmont Abbey would position the Lady Bulldogs as the fourth seed. Barton would host a quarterfinals match in the 2013 Conference Carolinas Tournament as either the third or fourth seed on Monday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. If BC tied and NGU won or if BC lost then the Lady Bulldogs would drop to either the fifth or sixth seed and would have to go on the road in the quarterfinals Monday.
The Valkyries are currently tied for fifth in the league with North Greenville at 4-4 and are just one game behind the Lady Bulldogs. A Converse win would give the Valkyries the tiebreaker advantage over Barton and a home playoff game in Spartanburg, S.C., as the fourth seed.
Barton will celebrate Senior Night on Saturday and the coaching staff and underclassmen will honor its senior class of five before the match. The Lady Bulldogs seniors are defender Kasey Byzewski, midfielder Ashley Mahoney, forward Taylor Parrish, defender Adrianna Jimenez and midfielder Taylor DeMartini.
Barton College Women's Soccer
The Lady Bulldogs have won three consecutive games after posting their most lopsided win of the season in an 8-1 road victory at non-conference Chowan University on Wednesday. The offensive outburst included a hat trick by sophomore Jodi Barber; a pair of tallies by both junior Amber Brush and freshman Kathryn Smith; and freshman Gisselle Dominguez' first collegiate goal.
Barton is 12-5 overall and 6-1 at home.
The Lady Bulldogs have won three straight matches on four occasions this season but were unsuccessful on extending the streak to four games each of the first three chances.
Barber sits atop the Conference Carolinas statistical rankings in all three major offensive categories with 13 goals, eight assists and 34 points. Barber's eight assists are tied for the league lead with Byzewski.
Sophomore Emily Futral also slips into the top-10 of the league in scoring in a six-way tie for fifth with eight tallies.
Barton has had eight different goal scorers on the season with Parrish (7 goals), Smith (5) and Brush (2) scoring multiple times.
The Royal Blue and White ranks third in the conference in both most goals scored per game (2.2) and fewest goals allowed per game (1.1).
Junior Carson Moore lowered her goals against average to 1.10 and increased her save percentage to .830 with a scoreless half of work against Chowan on Wednesday. Moore, who has all 12 of the Lady Bulldogs wins in net including six shutouts, ranks fourth in the league in both categories.
Barton lost to Converse, 3-1, last season in Spartanburg, S.C. DeMartini had the Lady Bulldogs lone goal. BC did beat Converse, 1-0, the last time the two programs met in Wilson with Breanna Briggs scoring the game-winner.
Converse College Women's Soccer
The Valkyries are coming off a dramatic 2-1 double overtime win against King University on Wednesday. Alex Marquez tied the match in the 37th minute and Darby Boyd netted the golden goal in the 102nd minute.
Converse maintains a winning record at 9-8 overall despite going 3-5 in the month of October. The Valkyries are 5-3 on the road but have lost their last two commutes.
Georgia Jones leads the Valkyries with six goals and 14 points. Converse has had a dozen players score this season, including Boyd (5 goals), Olivia Grose (3), Natalie Johnson (3), Joy Keith (3), Emily Taylor (2) and Halley Wisner (2) more than once.
The sophomore duo of Boyd and Johnson were both named All-Conference in their rookie seasons last year for reigning Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year John Constable.
The Valkyries have five shutouts on the season. Gabie Chamberland leads Converse's goalies with a 1.75 goals-against-average and .694 save percentage in 15 games.
Johnson, Boyd and Grose all scored in Converse's 3-1 win against Barton last season. Chamberland had the win in net making six saves.
Multimedia
Barton sports information will be providing live stats to Saturday's match against Converse.
Barton soccer fans can follow the Bulldogs throughout the season on www.BartonBulldogs.com and via social media including Twitter and Facebook.
