WINCHESTER, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's soccer team takes on the first of two nationally ranked opponents this week as it hosts No. 13 Johns Hopkins tonight in a 7 p.m. non-league contest.
The Blue Jays (9-1-2) enter tonight's matchup on an eight-game winning streak (unbeaten in past nine) while Shenandoah (11-2) is currently riding a seven-game win streak.
Hopkins has played six one-goal games this year (plus two ties) and as such is outscoring opponents 2.48 to 1.04.
The Hornets have posted 10 shutouts in their 11 wins this season and boast a 3.23 goals scored per game average while giving up just .46 goals per outing. Only three teams: Swarthmore, Frostburg State and Randolph College, have scored goals against SU this season.
Offensively, freshman Emily Yergin leads not only Shenandoah and the ODAC, but the entire nation in game winning goals with six. Yergin has scored at least one goal in 11 of the Hornets 13 games this season and has at least one tally in the past nine straight. In her last five games, a stretch in which she has been named ODAC Player of the Week three straight times, Yergin has 11 goals and three assists for 25 points.
With at least six games remaining in the season, Yergin is now five goals and 18 points away from setting new program records in those two categories.
Yergin is also second in the nation in game-winning goals and fourth in total points.
For the Blue Jays, senior midfielder Megan Van de Loo leads with 11 goals and five assists for 27 points.
The Hornets and 'Jays have two common opponents this season: Swarthmore and Franklin and Marshall. Hopkins defeated the No. 10 Garnet 2-1 on October 1 and downed F&M 1-0 four days later.
Shenandoah split those two games, opening the season with a 1-0 victory over the Diplomats in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on September 1 while dropping a 2-0 decision to Swarthmore in a neutral site game in Camden, New Jersey on September 10.
"This is a big week for us," Hornets head coach Liz Pike said. "We have had a great start, but we play two extremely talented teams this week and we are going to see where we stack up.
"I know the women are ready to play."
Following tonight's game, Shenandoah travels to Lynchburg College on Saturday for a 3 p.m. ODAC contest with the No. 14 LC Hornets.
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