Pensacola, Fla. --- Coming of a thrilling weekend of wins against the past No. 11 Lee University team and a 10-0 win against Shorter, the University of West Florida women's soccer team has risen to No. 13 in the national rankings and have a whopping seven-point gap between the Argos and the second ranked GSC team, Lee University.
 
The Argos have a one-game weekend at home against Spring Hill Friday, Oct. 14 at 6:00 p.m.
 
A Look Back
Last Friday was a top 25 contest as #25 UWF defeated #11 Lee in a close 1-0 win to increase the record to 11-2-1 overall and 9-1 conference and give Lee their first loss of the season and their first loss since November of 2021.
 
Despite being outshot 11-8, the Argos had a 9-4 advantage in corner kicks with one of the Argo corner kicks ending in a goal. In the 55^th minute, the Argos scored off a set piece that was taken by Ahnalie Layman. On the following day, the call was changed from an own goal to a Manami Okada goal that headed the ball in from Layman's kick. The goalkeeper attempted to tip it over the crossbar but was just not enough as the ball traveled to the top right corner.
 
It was back in 2018 the last time the Argos defeated the Flames in a similar 1-0 score.
 
Maciah Lipsey had a stellar game and had six saves – a single-game high.
 
The Argos continued the momentum the following match on Sunday against Shorter and scored a thrilling amount of 10 goals to be the largest margin of victory between the Argos vs. Hawks.
 
Pensacola native Brianna Pope hit a single-game high of four goals and now sits at the one ranking with only 13 other players in Division II in goals single-game high. The last time an Argo played scored four goals in one game was back in 2010 by Shakira Duncan in a 7-0 win.
 
Defender Bailey Erwig and goalkeeper Charline Favier saw some action in the attacking third and scored their first career goal. Favier also recorded an assist along with her goal after getting game-time in other positions outside of her primary goalkeeper spot.
 
Freshman Madison Dulay added a goal to her name and now has two on the season.
 
Alyssa Wilson also scored her second goal of the season off a penalty kick.
 
In 50 minutes of play, Blair Cowan had her first two-goal game and earned four assists to help lead the team alongside Pope.
 
Staying at GSC Best and Rising to Nation's Best
After Cowan's two goal and four assist performance, it became the most a division II player has assisted in a single game for the season – Cowan is tied at the top of the list with three other players. Cowan and Pope are tied for sixth in the nation with individual points single-game high after recorded eight points apiece. The five players above recorded just one point more in a single game.
 
Pope single-game high of four goals joined her at the one ranking with only 13 other players in Division II in goals single-game high.
 
The Argos tallied a total of 31 points in the game against Shorter to have the fourth most points among the nation for team points single-game high. Outside of the two penalty kicks, every goal was assisted and three of the goals included double assists.
 
In the GSC, Cowan remains on all six leader boards. She is top 15 is shots, shots on goal, game-winning goals (3), tied for first in the conference with most goals (14), tied for first in the conference with most assists (8) and has the most points in the conference with 36.
 
Brianna Pope now has the sixth most goals in the conference at seven and has 14 points to be ranked seventh in the conference.
 
Okada's lone goal over Lee has her tied with Cowan for three game-winning goals.
 
Assists is where the Argos shine as they have shown to be team players. Joining Cowan in the top 15 board for assists is Whited, Layman and Swinton despite not playing the last two games.
 
Player of the Week
After an outstanding performance by Pope, she was named GSC offensive player of the week. Despite not having any stats being listed against Lee, she was active up top to help create chances to lift the team to a 1-0 win over the nation's ranked 11 seed and finished off the weekend with four goals that all came on Shorter.
 
Updated Regional and National Rankings
After strong weekend play to improve their overall record to 11-2-1 and 9-1 in conference, West Florida is now No. 13 in the polls, announced Tuesday afternoon by the United Soccer Coaches.
 
Scouting the Spring Hill Badgers
Badgers are 1-11-1 overall and 1-8-1 in conference to sit at 13 in the GSC standings.
 
The Badger's one win on the season was 3-1 against Shorter and Samantha Thomsit earned her first Spring Hill win as a head coach after joining the program in January of 2022.
 
The team has scored a total of five goals: one goal in non-conference play against Thomas that resulted in a 3-1 loss and the remaining goals were against conference opponents.
 
Their second goal of the season was scored by freshman Ashley Drennon in a 1-1 tie against Alabama Huntsville (Sep. 11) who earned her first career goal. The Badgers were able to get one goal in against Montevallo (Sep. 30) from defender Carson Reeves and Auburn Montgomery (Oct. 2) by Hanna Einardottir but was not enough and ended in a 2-1 loss for each game.
 
Over the previous weekend, the Badgers took on Shorter (Oct. 7) where Drennon scored her second goal of the season and Ciara Bridges and Annie Kratz scored their first goals to uplift the team after being down 1-0 in the first half.
 
The following match ended differently as the Badgers were defeated by Lee 7-0 and was held to two shots that both came on target.
 
Three of the seven total goals have been assisted. Freshman Thyri Willumdottir leads the team with two assist and Cecilia Light has one assist in only four games played.
 
Argo vs. Badger History
Tallying 97 goals against the Badgers, the Argos have not lost a game in the past 19 meetings.
 
Cowan led the team in last years game after recording an assist and goal in a 4-0 win. The Argos held the Badgers to one shot in the game to keep goalkeeper Favier happy in the net.
 
2018 was the last time the Badgers played at the UWF Soccer Complex where the Argos successful took down the team in a 7-1 win.