Middle Tennessee heads to Louisiana for final extended road trip

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee soccer team will head to Louisiana this weekend for the last extended regular-season road trip of the campaign when it takes on ULM at 4 p.m. Friday in Monroe, La., and Louisiana at 1 p.m. Sunday in Lafayette, La.

The pair of games takes on extra importance due to the Blue Raiders dropping a 2-1 decision to UALR at home Sunday. Middle Tennessee, with a 10-3-1 overall and 4-2 Sun Belt record, is one-and-a-half games out of first place in the conference race behind leader North Texas.

"It was a disappointing loss, but it is in the past," head coach Aston Rhoden said. "We have to focus on these next two games. Both teams have had good results recently and should be strong opponents that we will have to be ready to play."

Middle Tennessee, off to the second best start in school history, is led in scoring by sophomore Shan Jones with 19 points. The 2008 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year has a team-best eight goals and three assists.

Junior Vanessa Mueggler heads another set of Blue Raiders with at least five goals with her career-high six. Senior Jen Threlkeld and freshman Whitney Jorgenson have each tallied five for the well-balanced offense, which has seen 13 different players score this fall.

Defensively, sophomore Rebecca Cushing continues to receive the majority of the minutes in net and takes a 1.20 goals-against average into the weekend. She has posted three solo shutouts during the campaign and has collected 61 saves in the 14 matches-to-date.

Middle Tennessee will return home next weekend for the final homestand against North Texas and Denver before ending the regular season Oct. 30 at Western Kentucky.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter @MTAthletics for continued updates.