Women's Soccer | 9/11/2014 4:43:00 PM

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - After a strong opening week in which the Hilltoppers won their first two matches of the season, more good news came Wednesday afternoon as the St. Edward's national ranking rose from fifth to fourth in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Poll.
 
St. Edward's (2-0) outscored its first two opponents, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and Colorado State Pueblo, by a count of 6-0, and outshot the opposition, 48-11. This Friday's contest will be key, as the Hilltoppers will host 12^th-ranked Colorado School of Mines.
 
Riana Soobadoo and Whytneigh Duffie currently hold the team lead with two goals each, while Lauren Heller leads the team with two assists. Soobadoo is one of the senior leaders on the team and has helped pace the offensive attack to what should be one of the highest scoring teams in the nation this year. 
 
Not only do the Hilltoppers have one of the most potent offenses in the country, but they are complemented by a very tough defense. Katie Donahue, Viktoria Malmros and Jennifer Boudreau anchor the back line for the Hilltoppers, which has only allowed four shots on goal. Lorrie Santoy turned away all four shots with some impressive play-making ability and tremendous reflexes at the goalkeeper position.
 
The Orediggers currently have a 1-0-1 record in which they tied Dallas Baptist, 1-1 and later put together an impressive 2-0 victory over West Texas A&M. They have a number of returning starters from last year's team, which finished with an 18-1-1 record. They also feature talented freshmen that have accounted for two of their three goals to start the year.
 
Head coach Nick Cowell said that, "We want to be consistently excellent from game to game and hopefully improve as the season goes on. We have never mentioned rankings to our players, because they have zero impact on the outcome of a game". Cowell went on to say, "If you do the right things, you will win and you will get ranked. It doesn't work in reverse unfortunately."      
 
The two teams will square off Friday with kickoff set for 4 p.m. at Lewis-Chen Family Field. St. Edward's is No. 1 in the South Central Region, while the Orediggers are ranked second. Live video and stats will be available on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.