Eagles set to play Warhawks

Despite the cancellation of this weekend’s Southern Miss soccer tournament, the women’s soccer team will still play against one of its would-be opponents: the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

The players are working to put forth the same effort into Louisiana-Monroe game as they did Sunday.

“The main focus is getting 90 minutes of full effort,” said Southern Miss head coach Scott Ebke. “We need to work on our energy and putting in a full game’s effort. We did that Sunday but there’s still room to improve.”

The Lady Eagles (1-1-1) will play Louisiana-Monroe (2-1) Monday. When asked about the opponent, Ebke said  the game would be a challenge.

“Our opponents are always really good at what they do and are going to play with a lot of tenacity,” Ebke said.

Louisiana-Monroe is certainly no pushover. They possess three offensive powerhouses – Taylor Epperson, Taylor Bonetti, and Alyssa Wooden – who scored 8, 15, and 18 goals last season, respectively.

The Lady Warhawks’ defense played exceptionally well in 2011. The opponent’s goalkeepers are the most experienced- and strongest- aspects of the defense. Louisiana-Monroe’s Alex Holland made 52 saves last season and clocked over 870 minutes in goal.

While Louisiana-Monroe poses various challenges to the Golden Eagles, USM players are eager to compete. “I'm really excited for this weekend,” said junior goalkeeper  Lindsey Schwaner, who had three saves against Southeastern Louisiana. “The team looks great at practice and you can just feel the energy and excitement from everyone for the upcoming game.”