Blue Raiders Look To Continue Home Field Success

Friday, October 8

Blue Raider Field

3:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

Arkansas-Little Rock

10/7/2004 5:57:00 PM | Women's Soccer

By: MT Media Relations

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee will look to even its record in Sun Belt soccer play when it plays host to Arkansas-Little Rock in the home league opener at Blue Raider Field Friday at 3 p.m. The Blue Raiders (6-4, 0-1) will play host to Arkansas-Little Rock Friday and Arkansas State on Sunday at 2 p.m., as they look to continue their winning ways at home. Middle Tennessee is 4-0 at home, where it has allowed just one goal, this season and has a six-game home win streak dating to last season. Middle Tennessee suffered a tough 3-2 loss at Florida International in the Sun Belt opener last Friday and will look to get in the win column in conference play against two teams it has enjoyed success against through the years. The Blue Raiders are 7-2-0 all-time against Arkansas-Little Rock, including a seven-game winning streak, and they are 4-0 all-time against Arkansas State. "We have to defend our home field so this is an important weekend for us," Middle Tennessee senior forward Laura Miguez said. "We are focused on Arkansas-Little Rock and we've spent all week preparing for Friday's game. We have to get our conference mark to .500 and go from there. It's very early in conference play but every game is important." Middle Tennessee features one of the highest-scoring teams in the country. The Blue Raiders' 2.78 goals per game ranks tied for No. 21 nationally, while senior forward Debs Brereton is No. 26 nationally with an average of 0.89 goals per game. Brereton leads the Sun Belt in points (20) and goals (nine), while Miguez is the league leader in assists (seven). "We've had some success offensively, but I'm most pleased by our continued improvement defensively," Middle Tennessee coach Aston Rhoden said. "Much of our offensive success has been the result of good defensive play, at times, but we want to be a consistent team in all areas. Hopefully we will have good support this weekend because we are playing two very important league games."