Concord Looks to Continue Strong Start at Urbana, Versus West Virginia Wesleyan

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ATHENS, W.Va- The Concord University women's soccer team will look to continue its unbeaten conference start when it travels to Urbana to face the Blue Knights 2:30 p.m. Thursday before returning home to face MEC preseason favorite West Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.  

LIVE COVERAGE
The Urbana University Sports Information Department will provide live coverage of Thursday's matchup, while the Concord University Sports Information Department will cover Sunday's matchup against WVWC.  To access the live coverage, follow the links at the top of the page or click here. 
 
Mountain Lion Notes
Concord goes into the matchups at 2-1-1 on the year.  Urbana is looking for its first win of the season after coming out of the gates at 0-4.  WVWC is unbeaten on the year with a 2-0-2 record.

Urbana and Concord are tied 3-3 in the all-time series, with the two teams each winning their home game last year. 

The Mountain Lions won 3-0 in Athens last season, before losing 1-0 in Ohio. 

Junior defender Sarah Akers opened the scoring for the Mountain Lions last season after converting a free kick from about 20 yards out.

Sophomore forward Pilar Elias added the second goal just three minutes later. 

An Akers free kick was also helpful in the third goal for CU, as the Beckley, West Virginia native struck the crossbar before Kari Simon tapped in the rebound to seal the win for the Maroon and Gray. 

At Urbana, both teams managed eight shots on target, but Urbana found the lone goal of the match in the 36^th minute. 

In fact, the two teams combined for 30 shots over the two games last season. Concord attempted 15 each game, while UU had 16 and 14 over the two matchups. 

The Mountain Lions have hit 46.8 percent of their shots on target while allowing opponents to shoot 41.5 of shots on frame.    

CU has two clean sheets on the year, marking a tie for second in the Mountain East Conference. 

The two clean sheets have come in the last two games vs. Fairmont State and Shepherd. 

After giving up three goals in the opening game against Tusculum, CU has allowed only one goal over the last 290 minutes.

Not only has sophomore goalkeeper Emily Simpkins been instrumental in limiting opponents to score, but CU's backline defense of Akers, sophomores Joanna Aiello and Alison Backel and senior Kiana Brown have stepped up to the challenge as well. Junior defender Carley Graves stepped in for Aiello versus Shepherd to hold the Rams scoreless for 110 minutes.

Against West Virginia Wesleyan last season, CU tied the Bobcats 0-0 in Beckley, West Virginia after dropping a narrow 1-0 decision to WVWC in Buckhannon, West Virginia.   

The 0-0 draw last season was Concord's first point earned against the Bobcats since CU drew 1-1 against WVWC on September 15, 2013.

Simpkins denied 10 shots from the Bobcats in that game to preserve the shutout.

The Linthicum Heights, Maryland native is coming off of a week in which she was named the Mountain East Conference Defensive Player of the Week. 
 
SCOUTING URBANA
Urbana has given up 12 goals through four games this season. 

Chanelle Bondurant and Monica Tenoria each have a goal for UU this season. 
 
SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN
The Bobcats finished last season as both the MEC regular season and tournament champions. 

WVWC has started the season with two wins and two draws, defeating Fairmont State and Slippery Rock before tying consecutive games against Notre Dame and Charleston.

WVWC has given up just two goals this season while scoring four. 

Shannon Shawgo, Lauren Hill, Audrey Barber, and Mary Cooper have each scored for the Bobcats.