Athens, GA - The 13th-ranked Georgia soccer team wrapped up a
5-1 road swing over the weekend and now returns home for five
straight home games, beginning with a pair of SEC rivals in
Mississippi and Mississippi State this weekend. The homestand begins
with Friday’s 7 p.m. match-up with Ole Miss (8-3-0, 2-1-0), which
will be televised on Fox Sports South. This weekend’s matches are set
for the UGA Soccer Stadium, where UGA earned its 100th win earlier
this season. The Bulldogs have won eight of their last nine games,
including 5-0-1 at home this season.

"We are very excited to finally be back at home and look forward to a
great game on Friday,” said head coach Patrick Baker. “Coach [Steve]
Holeman always does a great job with his teams and this year is no
different. They are coming off a big win against Florida and we know
we will have our hands full. Our team has matured over the past four
weekends being on the road and each player continues to work hard to
get better. This is a very important weekend for us and we must show
marked improvement throughout both games."
“We have had a good week of practice and have really been focusing on
some key areas to improve on in order to get two wins this weekend,”
added senior defender Natalie Farley, who was named Top Drawer
National Player of the Week on Wednesday. “We are all excited to be
returning home to finish out the majority of our SEC season and
hopefully we can put together some good performances and get some
important wins.”

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: Georgia picked up wins over Kentucky and
Vanderbilt last weekend to improve to 10-1-1 (3-1-0) ... The team has
now won by at least three goals on four occasions, with Sunday’s win
over Vanderbilt marking the fifth time this season the Bulldogs have
scored at least three goals in a game ... The 10-1-1 start tied the
best 12-game start in program history (2007) ... The Dogs have gone a
staggering 11-2-2 in SEC road contests dating back to 2007 ... today
marked Vanderbilt’s first home loss and first time being shut out
this year ... Georgia is one of four SEC teams in the top 20 of the
RPI, at No. 12. The NCAA released its first such ranking this
week ... Georgia’s shutouts vs. Arkansas, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt
marks the first time in program history with back-to-back-to-back
shutouts in SEC contests.

ONE OF 12: Entering the weekend, Georgia is one of just 12 teams in
the country with 10 or more wins. The 3-0 win over Vanderbilt
clinched the Bulldogs’ fifth straight year with double-digit wins,
matching the five consecutive seasons from 1995-99 with at least 10
victories. In the five years before head coach Patrick Baker arrived
in 2005, the Bulldogs had double-digit wins in three seasons.

BAKER NEARS RECORD: With a 10-1-1 record so far this season, Patrick
Baker is now 61-31-6 in his fifth season as Georgia’s head coach.
Bill Barker is the winningest coach in program history at 65-30-8 in
five seasons from 1995-99.

CONFERENCE PLAY: Following two wins this weekend, the Bulldogs stand
at 3-1-0 in conference play in 2009, which sits them in second place
in the SEC East behind still unbeaten South Carolina (11-0-1, 3-0-1).
Georgia is now 83-65-11 all-time in Southeastern Conference
competition, including a 33-19-4 mark under Baker’s leadership since
2005. In 2008, the Bulldogs posted a 7-3-1 ledger in conference play
on their way to a second-place finish in the SEC East.

IN THE RANKINGS: The Bulldogs were tabbed No. 13 in the nation this
week in the latest Top Drawer Soccer poll. The squad also came in in
the top 20 in each of the three other major polls, including NSCAA
(18), Soccer America (16), and Soccer Times (16). On Sept. 15, UGA
attained its first top 10 ranking in program history after starting
out ranked No. 18 in the nation heading into the season.

RANKED FOES: With Mississippi coming to Athens this Friday ranked No.
24 in the Soccer America poll, Georgia will be going up against its
second ranked foe of the season after tackling No. 17 Minnesota in
just its second game of the year back on August 28. The Bulldogs
earned a convincing 2-0 victory that day, leaving them with a 1-0
record against ranked teams on the year. Georgia has two games
remaining on the regular-season slate against currently ranked teams,
both set for next weekend against No. 7 South Carolina and No. 14
Florida.

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Natalie Farley was named the Top
Drawer National Player of the Week after tallying the game-winner vs.
Vanderbilt on her second goal of the year. Farley and the UGA back
line have been crucial to the team’s success this year, as the
defense has allowed just 0.83 goals per game and only 90 shot
attempts on keeper Michelle Betos in 12 games, an average of just 7.5
per game.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior goalkeeper Michelle Betos posted
two shutouts and finished with eight saves over the weekend on her
way to SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors, the league office
announced Monday afternoon.
Betos came up big between the posts as the Georgia soccer team went
2-0 this past weekend. Betos has not allowed a goal in the Bulldogs’
last three games and now has six shutouts on the year. It marked the
second such honor of her career for the Flushing, N.Y., native, who
is currently in second place all-time in both shutouts and wins at
UGA, and third in shutouts.

SCOUTING OLE MISS: At 8-3, Mississippi enters this weekend with two
of its last three games resulting in double overtime wins. One of
those was a 3-2 thriller against Florida, while the other was the
squad’s SEC opener vs. Auburn. In between those, Ole Miss suffered a
tough 1-0 loss to South Carolina, its only conference loss to date.
The Rebels are led by three players with at least five goals, in
Taylor Cunningham (6g, 3a), Kelsey Breathitt (5g, 2a), and Hannah
Weatherly (5g, 1a). The team is allowing just 0.73 goals per game and
starting keeper Alley Ronaldi has four shutouts, 29 saves, and a .784
save percentage.

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE: The Bulldogs are coming off a tough
weekend against both Florida and South Carolina, earning ties in both
contests for an overall record of 8-2-2 (0-2-2) to this point. Both
of those games were in double overtime fashion. The team is led by
Kat Walsh’s seven goals, while Rachel Wannek has four. Keeper Taryn
Holland, who has started 11 of 12 games, has 49 saves and four
shutouts. MSU’s losses both came in SEC games, against Auburn and
Alabama.

100 POINT CLUB: With her assist on Alex Hooker’s goal vs. Vanderbilt,
Carrie Patterson now has 100 points -- the UGA record -- for her
career. Patterson is the only player in Bulldog history to reach the
century mark. The senior out of Atlanta is also the Georgia leader in
career goals witht 39, and is just one off the school record in
assists, with 23.

SEC RECORDS WATCH: Carrie Patterson currently ranks first among
active players in the SEC in points (100) and is just seven away from
moving into a tie for ninth all-time in that category in an always-
competitive soccer conference. Her 39 career goals ranks first among
active players as well and is just four off moving her into a 10th
place tie all-time. With 22 career assists, Patterson is third among
active players. Keeper Michelle Betos, with a 1.00 goals-against
average for her career, stands in fourth among active players in that
category in the SEC. Tenth place is 0.91. Betos’ 274 career saves is
second among active players and her 24 shutouts is first, placing her
sixth all-time in the SEC in that category.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Just 12 games into the 2009 season,
sophomore forward Jamie Pollock has already more than quadrupled her
output from a year ago. She finished last season with two goals and
an assist for five points in 18 games, and this season already has
six goals and an assist for 21 total points. She is tied with Carrie
Patterson for the team lead in goals and is second in points. Pollock
is also tied for Patterson with three game-winning goals this season,
including her game-winners against Florida Atlantic, Georgia State
and Arkansas.

FRESHMAN IMPACT: In the first 12 games this season, Georgia’s Rebekah
Perry is among the SEC’s most productive freshmen. She is fifth on
the team is points with a pair of goals and a pair of assists this
season. Perry had the game-winner early in the second half against
2008 NCAA Tournament team Minnesota, and she had the game-winning
assist in just her second ever SEC game last Sunday at Arkansas. ...
After coming to Georgia recognized as the reigning state player of
the year as a midfielder, freshman Laura Eddy has stepped into a
starting role at center back for the Bulldogs. Eddy has started all
11 games in which she appeared for the Bulldogs, and has helped the
back line limit the opposition to just 90 shots through 12 games.

SHUT DOWN & SHUTOUT: Georgia is tied for second in the SEC with eight
shutouts this season. Under Patrick Baker, Georgia had 10 shutouts in
2005 and 2007, which is tied for the second most in a season, and
seven shutouts in 2006 and 2008.

ANOTHER TOP 10 PROGRAM FOR BAKER: Georgia head coach Patrick Baker
spent six seasons as head coach at Florida State, where he turned
around a struggling program and took the Seminoles to a top-10
national ranking and the program’s first appearance in the College
Cup. He won 80 games at FSU, and has now turned around a struggling
program in Athens since arriving in 2005. After three impressive wins
over 2008 NCAA Tournament teams Minnesota, Mercer and Charlotte in
which the Bulldogs outscored those three teams 6-2, Georgia achieved
the program’s first ever top-10 ranking Sept. 15 and maintained that
spot in the poll released Sept. 22 for the first ever back-to-back
top-10 ranking.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE: The Bulldogs will enjoy national media exposure as
four of the team’s upcoming contests will be televised. First,
Georgia’s Oct. 9 home meeting with Ole Miss will be carried on Fox
Sports South at 7 p.m. followed by the Sunday, Oct. 11 game vs.
Mississippi State at 2 p.m. on CSS. The Oct. 18 game against No. 15
Florida will be aired on ESPNU at 3 p.m., while the Oct. 25 road game
at Auburn will be shown on FSS at 3:30 p.m. EST.

GXTRA TO BROADCAST ALL 2009 HOME GAMES: GXtra, the online destination
for exclusive LIVE and on-demand video & audio for Georgia athletic
events, will offer free live coverage for all 12 home games including
video for games against Minnesota, Georgia State, Ole Miss, Alabama
and Tennessee. Live audio will be available for the remaining seven
home games.

THREE IN A ROW?: Georgia will try to set school history by advancing
to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. The Bulldogs went
to two straight NCAA Tournaments in 1997 and 1998, then again in 2007
and 2008. The other two trips came in 2001 and 2003. The 1998 team
advanced to the third round - Georgia’s best run in the NCAA Tournament.

ON DECK: After concluding the road trip, the Bulldogs remain home to
welcome No. 7 South Carolina for a 7 p.m. match-up on Friday, Oct. 16
and No. 14 Florida for a 3 p.m. game Sunday, Oct. 18. That game will
be televised on ESPNU.