The Chattanooga women’s soccer team finished the regular season tied for fifth and earned the No. 6 seed in the Southern Conference Championships. The Mocs will take on sixth-seeded Samford Friday night at ETSU in the quarterfinal round.
SOCON CHAMPIONSHIPS GAME DAY INFORMATION
#6 Mocs vs. #3 Samford
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Site: Johnson City, Tenn.
Stadium: Taylor-Summers
Links for live stats and video streaming on ESPN+ are available on the women’s soccer schedule page at GoMocs.com.
Chattanooga got its first win in the Southern Conference Tournament beating ETSU 3-1 in 2003.
In 2021 the Mocs advanced past Wofford. After a double-overtime tie, the Mocs bested the Terriers 5-2 in a shootout. Last year the Mocs, as the No. 1 seed for the first time in program history, beat Wofford 2-1 before falling to UNCG in the semifinal round in double-overtime.
This will be the second time UTC and Samford have met in the SoCon Tournament. The Bulldogs earned a 2-0 win over the Mocs in 2021 on their home field
Samford leads the series with the Mocs at 17-1-2. The Mocs win against Samford came in 1999 before the Bulldogs joined the Southern Conference. Twice in the last four games, the Mocs have tied Samford. Last season the pair tied for the SoCon regular season title.
Samford put in a pair of goals to get a 2-0 win over Chattanooga in the season finale for both teams with each fighting for seeding in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament this week. Samford got its first goal just before the half, getting past Chattanooga's defense in the 42nd minute. The second goal came in the 81st minute. The Bulldogs outshot Chattanooga 21-7 and had a 9-2 shots on goal advantage. Mocs keeper Caroline Ekern recorded seven saves in the match, one shy of her season high. Mackenzie Smith had a team-best three shots for UTC and Birna Johannsdottir added two.
The Mocs posted a program-record six game win streak in the non-conference season and are currently tied with Furman for fourth. UTC opened the league season with an exciting victory over Mercer and followed it with a win over The Citadel on the road. The Mocs added shutout wins against VMI and Wofford and tied Furman for the second straight season. Caroline Richvalsky (seven goals, three assists) and Birna Johannsdottir (three goals, seven assists) lead the team with 17 points each. Mackenzie Smith has 10 points on four goals and two assists. Caroline Ekern has four shutouts on the year with 57 saves, .770 save percentage and a 115 goals-against average.
The Bulldogs have wins over #5 Alabama and Oklahoma as well as a tie with Auburn and Ole Miss in the non-conference season. Against the league, Samford has wins over Wofford, VMI, UNCG, The Citadel and Mercer but fell to league champion Western Carolina while tying Furman and ETSU. Mary Raymond and Kyla Reynolds each have a team-leading 12 points on five goals and two assists. Layla Brown leads the team with five assists and is third in scoring with 11 points. Zoe Clevely has started all 17 matches and has 42 saves with a .792 save percentage and a 0.69 GAA on 11 saves.