SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The second installment of The Southern Conference’s “All Eyes On” initiative is Sunday’s women’s soccer match between ETSU and Samford. The two teams face off in Birmingham, Alabama, at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT.
 
Tale of the Tape

• ETSU Buccaneers (9-2-4, 5-1-1 SoCon) at Samford Bulldogs (9-3-4, 5-1-1 SoCon)
• The two teams are tied for second place in the conference standings with two games left to play. The top two seeds in the conference standings host the quarterfinals and semifinals of the SoCon Tournament on Oct. 27 & 29
• In the coaches preseason poll, Samford was predicted to win the league and ETSU was chosen seventh
• The two teams tied 1-1 in their matchup a season ago. Samford won each of the previous nine meetings before last season’s tie. ETSU’s last win over the Bulldogs came in 2014
• ETSU and Samford are the top two defensive teams in the SoCon. The Buccaneers are ranked third in the NCAA in goals against average (.429), while Samford is 21st in the country in goal differential (22)
• The two coaches in the contest, Jay Yelton (ETSU) and Todd Yelton (Samford), are brothers and coached together at Samford for 17 seasons prior to Jay taking over the Bucs in 2020.
• Samford has won at least a share of the last nine regular season crowns
• The winner of the match moves into at least second in the conference standings. An ETSU win puts Samford in jeopardy of not hosting games in the first weekend of the conference tournament for the first time in 12 years.