MATCH 4: TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE LIONS (1-2-1) at ULM WARHAWKS (1-0-2)
6:30 p.m., Thursday, August 31, 2023 | Brown Stadium | Monroe, Louisiana
LIVE STATS
MATCH 5: ULM WARHAWKS (1-0-2) at JACKSON STATE TIGERS (0-2-0)
1 p.m., Sunday, September 3, 2023 | JSU Soccer Complex | Jackson, Mississippi
LIVE STATS
MATCH NOTES
MONROE, La. - ULM opens the home schedule at 6:30 p.m. Thursday against Texas A&M-Commerce at Brown Stadium in Monroe before heading back on the road for a 1 p.m. Sunday tilt against Jackson State at the JSU Soccer Complex. The Warhawks remain unbeaten (1-0-2) after rallying from a 3-1 first-half deficit for a 3-3 draw at I-20 foe Louisiana Tech last Thursday.
FOLLOW THE WARHAWKS -
Links to live stats and video streams for all matches, when available, can be found at ULMWarhawks.com. Navigate to the soccer schedule page and select that day's opponent.
SERIES HISTORY -
ULM and Texas A&M-Commerce meet for the second-straight season at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Brown Stadium in Monroe. The two programs met for the first time last season, with
Inge Konst scoring a hat trick in the second half for ULM's 3-0 win. Konst scored off an assist from Kedie Johnson in the 68th minute for the 1-0 lead. She added a penalty kick goal in the 74th minute. Konst then capped the scoring in the 81st minute on a shot from 30 yards out with an assist to
Mara Grutkamp.
Mickaela Leal made six saves to pick up the shutout.
ULM and Jackson State also meet for the second-straight season at 1 p.m. Sunday at the JSU Soccer Complex in Jackson, Mississippi. Last year's contest was initially scheduled to be played in Jackson, but the ongoing water crisis forced the match to be moved to Monroe. This year's match was initially scheduled to be played in Monroe, but was flipped to Jackson after last year's match. Last season, ULM led 1-0 at the half on Kedie Johnson's goal in the sixth minute. Johnson added another goal in the 51st minute, while
Eve Blakey scored in the 69th minute and
Efi Brame tacked on another in the 72nd minute.
Mickaela Leal made one save in recording the clean sheet.
LAST TIME OUT -
RUSTON, La. – Trailing by two goals with less than 20 minutes to play, the ULM soccer team rallied with a pair of goals to force a 3-3 draw against Louisiana Tech Thursday night at Robert Mack Caruthers Field.
Louisiana Tech led 3-1 at halftime and the lead carried to the 72nd minute.
Janet Stopka was able to find space on the right side of the box off a pass from
Inge Konst and fired a shot with her right foot to the back left of the net to bring the Warhawks within a goal, 3-2. Stopka's 17th career goal moved her into a tie for third place on ULM's all-time goals list.
ULM tied the match up 13 minutes later, as senior
Lucia Lobato knocked home a pass from freshman
Libby Holmes to level the match at 3 in the 85th minute.
ULM outshot LA Tech, 17-12. The Warhawks had 11 shots on goal to 10 for the Bulldogs. ULM also had six corner kicks to two for LA Tech.
Konst tallied three points for ULM in the draw and had three shots, including one on goal. Holmes had a pair of assists for her first two career points while adding three shots and putting two on net. Junior
Mara Grutkamp attempted four shots, all on goal, for ULM.
Senior
Alexa Castro played the first half in goal for ULM, allowing all three goals while making five saves. Junior
Mickaela Leal played the second half and did not allow a goal with two saves. Laerke Holst played all 90 minutes in goal for the Bulldogs, allowing three goals and making eight saves.
ROAD RALLY -
ULM has displayed a flair for the dramatic on the road in the early portion of the 2023 season. The Warhawks have rallied from deficits in the final 10 minutes to earn draws in two of the first three matches, picking up a 1-1 tie at Tarleton State on Aug. 17 and a 3-3 tie at Louisiana Tech on Aug. 24.
ULM trailed Tarleton State 1-0 inside the final three minutes when the Warhawks scored on a set piece.
Mara Grutkamp fired a ball into the box, where
Lucia Lobato headed it past the goalkeeper to level the match in the 87th minute.
The Warhawks fell behind 3-1 at Louisiana Tech last Thursday, but rallied in the final 20 minutes of the match. First,
Janet Stopka scored off an assist from
Inge Konst to get back within a goal in the 72nd minute. Then, Lobato knotted her second game-tying goal of the season, this time on an assist from
Libby Holmes, in the 85th minute to earn the 3-3 draw.
STOPKA RETURNS TO SCORING FORM -
ULM junior
Janet Stopka scored her first goal of the 2023 season and had another shot hit off the post in the final five minutes of last Thursday's match at Louisiana Tech. It was the 17th goal of Stopka's career, moving her into a tie for third place on ULM's all-time goals list, one goal behind former teammate
Courtney Marten for second.
Stopka set a then school record with 10 goals in the 2020-21 season. She added four goals in 2021 and two goals in 2022 before sustaining season-ending injuries in each season, playing in just 10 total matches between the two seasons.
Stopka's 37 career points ranks tied for ninth most in ULM history, matching teammate
Inge Konst.
KONST CONTINUES TO MAKE MARK, MOVE UP RECORD LISTS -
Junior
Inge Konst has piled up seven points over the first three contests of the 2023 season, moving her up on the career points, career goals, career assists and career penalty kicks made list.
The native of Balk, Netherlands, scored in the second minute and added an assist in the second half in last Thursday's 3-3 tie at Louisiana Tech. It was her third goal of the season and 14th of her career, moving her to eighth place on the career goals list. Her assist gave her 37 career points, to rank tied for ninth with teammate
Janet Stopka, and moved her into a tie for eighth on the career assists list with nine assists.
With her two penalty kick goals against Sam Houston on August 20, junior Konst moved into a tie for the ULM career lead in converted penalty kicks with five. The Balk, Netherlands, native buried a penalty opportunity in the fifth minute to give ULM the inital lead against the Bearkats, and then added another in the 76th minute to regain the lead at 2-1.
Konst, who tied the ULM single-season penalty kick record with three in 2022, now has five converted penalties in her career, tying her with Cindy Barker (2000-03) on top of the career list.
GRUTKAMP ASSISTING WARHAWKS TO SUCCESS -
Junior
Mara Grutkamp continues to move up the career record book, sitting in a tie for fifth most career assists in ULM history at 12 (Rachel Hobson, 2005-08). She picked up her first assist of 2023 in the season opener at Tarleton State by firing a free kick into the box, where
Lucia Lobato deflected it into the net to tie the match at 1 in the 87th minute.
Grutkamp will tie for third on the career assists list with her next assist (
Theoni Zerva, 2020/21-21, and Chelsea Shriner (2000-02). She needs two assists to tie Kelley O'Dwyer for second on the all-time list at 14. However, Grutkamp is only halfway to tying the ULM career assists record, held by Karlea Fehr (2012-15) with 24.
Grutkamp ranks 10th in career shots with 94, and sits just outside the Top 10 in career goals (10) and points (32).
HOLMES NOTCHES FIRST CAREER POINTS -
Freshman
Libby Holmes scored her first career points on a pair of assists in last Thursday's 3-3 draw at Louisiana Tech. Holmes fired off three shots, putting two on frame, while playing all 90 minutes. The Shefford, Bedfordshire, England native has played all 90 minutes in each of the last two matches and started all three matches of her collegiate career.
NAVARRO NETS FIRST CAREER GOAL -
Sophomore
Sara Navarro gave ULM a key insurance goal in the 82nd minute of Sunday's 3-1 win at Sam Houston. The Belton, Texas, native scored her first career goal on the play in her 13th career match as a Warhawk. In just two matches in 2023, Navarro's two shots on goal have equaled her the total of her true freshman 2022 campaign.
Navarro was assisted on the goal by fellow sophomore
Eve Blakey, who earned her second career assist on the play.
LEAL, CASTRO BATTLING FOR GOALKEEPER POSITION -
Junior
Mickaela Leal and senior
Alexa Castro have split time in net evenly through the first three matches of the season. Leal played the first half at Tarleton State and Sam Houston, while Castro played the first half against Louisiana Tech. The two keepers switched spots at halftime.
Leal is ULM's all-time career leader in goals against average at 1.19. She is fifth with five career shutouts and fifth with 12 career wins. She entered the program's Top 10 list for career saves this season with 75.
CLEAT-MELTING HEAT -
Despite moving up the Aug. 20 match at Sam Houston two hours to try and avoid the peak of the hot temperatures, ULM still experienced literal cleat-melting heat in the 3-1 victory. Head Coach
Will Roberts said some players needed to change cleats during the match due to them starting to melt on the hot artificial playing surface. According to the National Weather Service, the air temperature at first touch at 11 a.m. was 98 degrees. By the end of the match near 1 p.m., the air temperature had jumped to 106 degrees with a heat index of 112 degrees.
RECORD BREAKERS -
Since
Will Roberts arrived as an assistant coach ahead of the 2020-21 season, ULM's has put 29 entries in the team single-game Top 10 marks and 12 entries in the single-season Top 5 records lists, including the most points in a single season (146, 53 goals, 40 assists, 2021), goals (53, 2021), shots (383, 2021) and goals against average (1.04, 2021).
ROBERTS TAKES THE REIGNS -
After spending three seasons as an assistant coach at ULM,
Will Roberts accepted his first collegiate head coaching job with the Warhawks in January. A native of Denbigh, North Wales, Roberts has helped ULM reach new heights over the last three seasons, including just the second 10-win season in program history in 2022. The Warhawks increased their win total in each of his three seasons as an assistant coach, going from a winless season prior to his arrival to five wins in 2020-21, eight wins in 2021 and 10 wins in 2022. Roberts is assisted by
Matthew Caley, who was promoted from his role as a graduate assistant.
A LOOK AHEAD –
ULM returns to Brown Stadium for a 7 p.m. match against Southeastern on Sept. 6 before visiting Mississippi State at 1 p.m. Sept. 9.
