ULM Warhawks

MATCH 8: ULM WARHAWKS (4-1-2) at GRAMBLING TIGERS (2-3-3)
5 p.m., Thursday, September 14, 2023 | GSU Soccer Complex | Grambling, Louisiana
TV/STREAM: Grambling State University on YouTube | LIVE STATS: GSUTigers.com

MATCH 9: ULM WARHAWKS (4-1-2, 0-0-0) at MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD (5-1-1, 0-0-0)
12 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. CDT, Sunday, September 17, 2023 | Hoops Family Field | Huntington, West Virginia
TV/STREAM: ESPN+ | LIVE STATS: HerdZone.com

MATCH NOTES

MONROE, La. - After suffering its first loss of the season last Sunday at Mississippi State, 1-0, ULM looks to rebound in its final non-conference game of 2023 at 5 p.m. Thursday at Grambling before opening Sun Belt Conference action at 12 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. CDT Sunday at Marshall. ULM and Marshall are two of five SBC teams with no more than one loss this season.

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.

LAST TIME OUT -
MONROE, La. – Inge Konst became ULM's all-time leader in career penalty kicks made while Libby Holmes added her first career goal late in the first half, as the Warhawks remained unbeaten with a 2-0 win over Southeastern Thursday night at Brown Stadium.
 
A foul on Southeastern's Emma Jones inside the penalty area led to Konst's attempt in the 14th minute, burying the opportunity and giving ULM a 1-0 lead. It was the sixth converted penalty kick by Konst in her career and third this season, giving her the ULM career record and tying the single season penalty kick record.
 
ULM doubled the lead in the 41st minute as Libby Holmes scored for the 2-0 advantage.
 
The Warhawks (4-0-2) outshot Southeastern (1-5-0) 15-10 and had an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal. Konst had four shots with three on frame to lead ULM, while Mya Guillory had three shots and put one on net for SLU.
 
Alexa Castro and Mickaela Leal once again split the goal keeper duties, with Castro making two saves and Leal one. Olivia Griffin had six saves for SLU.

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Maggie Wadsworth's goal in the 49th minute was enough for Mississippi State, as the Bulldogs shutout ULM 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Mississippi State Soccer Field.
 
It was the first loss of the season for ULM (4-1-2), which came in its first match against an opponent from a Power 5 conference since 2017.
 
The Bulldogs dominated the opportunities in the second half, with MSU firing 12 shots to ULM's two. MSU finished with 19 shots, putting eight on goal, to ULM's seven shots with four on goal. It marked the first time this season ULM was outshot in a match.
 
Emelie Kobler came off the bench to fire two shots on goal for ULM. Wadsworth led MSU with five shots, putting three on goal.
 
Mickaela Leal played the first half in goal for ULM, playing 45 shutout minutes while making three saves. Alexa Castro played the second half, allowing the goal to go with four saves. Maddy Anderson earned the shutout for MSU, making four saves.

RALLYHAWKS - 
ULM has displayed a flair for the dramatic by trailing in five of its first seven matches, but rallying for either a win or a draw in four of those matches.

The Warhawks trailed Jackson State 1-0 at the half on Sept. 3 before scoring two second half goals, including the go-ahead goal by Janet Stopka in the 82nd minute, for the 2-1 win. ULM trailed Texas A&M-Commerce 1-0 in the first half before scoring three unanswered goals for the 3-1 victory.

The Warhawks 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 on Aug. 24, but rallied in the final 20 minutes of the match. First, 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.

ON THE MARK -
ULM ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference and 13th in NCAA Division I in shots on goal per game at 10.0. The Warhawks also rank second in the SBC and 29th in Division I with a .565 shot accuracy (percentage of shots put on goal). ULM has fired the third-most shots of any SBC team at 17.71 per game, which ranks 35th nationally.

STOPKA APPROACHES TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN - 
ULM junior Janet Stopka scored her first goal of the 2023 season on Aug. 24 against Louisiana Tech and scored the game-winning goal on Sept. 3 against Jackson State to continue to move up ULM's career points and goals lists. The goal against JSU gave Stopka her 18th career goal, which ranks third in program history behind Cindy Barker (22, 2000-03) and former teammate Courtney Marten (19, 2020/21-22). The game-winner against JSU was her fifth game-winning goal, good for a tie for third-most in program history and one off the record, held by Marten and Tara Balogh (2001-05).

Stopka scored her first assist of 2023 last Thursday against Texas A&M-Commerce. She has 40 career points (18 goals, four assists), which ranks fourth in program history behind Karlea Fehr (56, 2012-15), Barker (53, 2000-03) and Chelsea Shriner (45, 2000-02).

She has started each of the last two matches as she continues to work her way back from a knee injury.

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.

KONST CONTINUES TO MAKE MARK, MOVE UP RECORD LISTS - 
Junior Inge Konst has piled up 10 points over the first seven 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, became ULM's all-time leader in made penalty kicks with her goal in the 14th minute against Southeastern on Sept. 7. She then added an assist on a goal by Libby Holmes later in the match. It was the fourth goal of the season and 15th of Konst's career, as she ranks eighth in career goals scored at ULM. Her assist was her second of the season and 10th of her career, moving her into eighth-place on the ULM career assists chart.

Konst scored in the second minute and added an assist in the second half in the August 24 3-3 tie at Louisiana Tech. She tallied two penalty kick goals against Sam Houston on Aug. 20, with her second goal in the 76th minute putting ULM ahead for good.

Konst has now moved into ninth on the career shots list with 103 shots, two ahead of teammate Mara Grutkamp and five ahead of Janet Stopka.

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 101. Her goal on Aug. 31 against Texas A&M-Commerce gave Grutkamp her first goal of the season and 11th of her career, putting her two goals away from cracking the career Top-10 list. She also sits just outside the Top 10 in career points (34) and game-winning goals (3).

LOBATO MAKING MOST OF FINAL SEASON -
One of just three seniors on ULM's 2023 roster, Lucia Lobato has had a quick start to the season. The native of Galway, Ireland, scored the equalizing goal in the 88th minute at Tarleton State and added a goal in the comeback effort at Louisiana Tech. Out of her four shots, three have been on goal.

In her three seasons at ULM, Lobato has four goals with five assists for 13 points, while firing 31 shots and putting 17 on goal. She had two goals and two assists over her two seasons at Akron prior to transferring to ULM.

FRESHMAN HOLMES MAKING AN IMPACT - 
Freshman Libby Holmes scored her first career goal off an assist from Inge Konst to put ULM up 2-0 against Southeastern on Sept. 7. She earned her first career points on a pair of assists in the Aug. 24 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 five times in her first collegiate season, and has started all seven matches.

NAVARRO NETS FIRST CAREER GOAL - 
Sophomore Sara Navarro gave ULM a key insurance goal in the 82nd minute of the Aug. 20 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 five matches in 2023, Navarro's three shots on goal have surpassed the total of two in her true freshman campaign in 2022.

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 five matches of the season. Leal played the first half at Tarleton State, at Sam Houston, at Jackson State, vs. Southeastern and at Mississippi State while Castro played the first half at Louisiana Tech and vs. Texas A&M-Commerce. The two keepers switched spots at halftime.

Leal is ULM's all-time career leader in goals against average at 1.18. She is fifth with five career shutouts and third with 14 career wins. She entered the program's Top 10 list for career saves this season with 82. Castro has not allowed a goal in five of her seven appearances in 2023, posting 22 saves.

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 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 continues Sun Belt Conference play at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, against Georgia State at Brown Stadium. The Warhawks head back on the road on Sunday, Sept. 24, to take on the Ragin' Cajuns.