LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The final two home regular season games are here for the West Alabama women's soccer team as they will face Valdosta State on Friday at 5 p.m. before closing the week on Sunday against West Georgia at 1 p.m. at Tiger Stadium. UWA will honor their two seniors in Paige Laidler and Maria Mon on Sunday prior to the game against West Georgia.
Laidler has been a staple of the UWA women's soccer program arriving out of high school to join the program in 2019. From Windsor, England, Laidler saw time right away as a true freshman in 2019 starting all 18 games and was second on the team with 1,654 minutes played. She tallied a pair of game-winning goals during the year and was a key member of a defensive unit that held opponents to just a .125 shot percentage and 1.28 goals against per game. During the shortened 2020-21 season, Laidler saw time in nine starts, scoring three goals and adding an assist in 848 minutes. All of her goals came against Mississippi College recording the hat trick. This past season, Laidler played in 18 games that included 17 starts. She came away with two goals in 1,627 minutes played. Throughout her career, Laidler has been a regular on the Gulf South Conference All-Academic Honor Roll. This season, Laidler has played in 12 games that includes 11 starts, logging 968 minutes and posting four goals, good for second on the team, with an assist. Laidler picked up two goals against Spring Hill and also added an assist in the game. For her career entering this week, Laidler has played in 57 games that includes 55 starts and a total of 5,097 minutes, 11 goals and two assists.
Mon has put together an impressive one season with the Tigers this year. From Leon, Spain, Mon transferred as a graduate student this past year from Wofford College. A few of her strong highlights from her time at Wofford include playing in 56 games and collecting 317 saves. Mon set a school record for saves during the 2018 season with 119 and led the SoCon conference in saves that year as well. Mon has been strong in net all year for the Tigers. Entering this week, Mon has seven wins and a tie, while helping the team to four shutouts (two solo). In addition, Mon has 53 saves in 1,013 minutes played. Mon is recently coming off of arguably her best performance of the season with eight saves against Montevallo for a season-high and also came away with the shutout. She added a five save shutout against West Florida, handing the Argos their only loss of the conference season so far.
UWA (7-4-1, 6-2-1 GSC) enters the week on a four-game unbeaten streak, collecting wins against Christian Brothers, Union and Auburn Montgomery and tied Montevallo last time out. West Alabama sits in fourth in the GSC standings, with West Florida leading the way at 9-1 and 27 conference points. Mississippi College is second at 7-1-1 and 22 points and Lee is just ahead of UWA at 6-1-2 and 20 points. Right behind UWA in the standings is Montevallo at 5-2-2 and Christian Brothers at 5-3-2, both with 17 points. Delta State is also within range at 5-3-1 and 16 points. The top-four teams in the conference standings will host first round games on Oct. 30 at campus sites.
The Tigers have scored 24 goals and allowed just 15 this season. The offense has tallied 121 shots, with 61 landing on target. Opponents have taken 127 shots, with 70 being on target. Dana Cruz leads the team with 17 points, tallying six goals and five assists. Laidler is second with nine points, posting four goals and an assist. Mikayla Anderson has seven points with two goals and three assists. Aileen Charles, Selis Demirci and Anna Dickov all have five points. Charles and Dickov each have two goals and an assist, while Demirci has a goal and three assists. Venla Makela adds two goals. Saylor Richard has logged the most minutes at 1,060, with Lucy Horn second at 1,034.
In goal, Mon has started 12 games, picking up seven wins and 53 saves, along with four shutouts (two solo).
Valdosta State enters the week 3-8-1 overall and 2-7 in GSC play. They have lost five straight, with their last win coming on Sep. 23 against Shorter (8-0). Victoria Bahr leads the Blazers with four goals and eight points. Molly Wooldridge has three goals and six points. Taylor Morris and Amber Saunders each have five points. In goal, Emma Pruett has played in 10 games, coming away with three wins and 26 saves.
UWA has gone 5-5-2 against Valdosta State since 2011, which includes a 3-2-1 mark at home. The Tigers had won four straight in the series from 2018 until this past year before VSU picked up the 3-1 win last year in Georgia.
West Georgia enters the week 5-5-3 overall and 3-3-3 in conference play for 12 points. The Wolves tied the past two games out against Christian Brothers and Union. Hillary Resendiz leads the team with seven points (three goals). Kenna Kay adds three goals and Catherine Reeves has two goals and two assists for six points. Redendiz leads the way in minutes played for players on the field outside of the goalie at 901. In goal, Haley Brinkman has played in all 12 games, coming away with four wins, 35 saves and five shutouts. She has played in 1,080 minutes.
UWA is 6-4-2 against West Georgia since 2011, going 3-2-1 at home during that time. The Tigers have gone 4-1-1 over the past six meetings, as the teams played twice last year with West Georgia winning the regular season meeting, 3-0. The teams then played in the conference tournament with the game tying and eventually going to penalty kicks with the Wolves taking the victory.
Following the home games this week, UWA will travel to Lee and Shorter next week to close the regular season.
