HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The UAH men's soccer team will end the regular season portion of what has been a stunning turnaround performance on Sunday as it welcomes West Florida to Charger Field for a 2:30 p.m. showdown. The Chargers own a 10-4 (3-1 Gulf South Conference) record going into Sunday while UWF sits at 8-5-2 (3-1 GSC).
The contest will mark an interesting opportunity for the two teams to put together a good scouting report as they will square off in the conference tournament on Friday with the only thing left to settle this weekend being who will be the home team on the scoreboard in Pensacola, Fla.
That is not to say that a win would not be important for the Chargers as a victory would certainly help in UAH's quest to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1997.
Five seniors will be honored on Sunday –
Kyle Goncalves,
Brandon LeMier,
Oscar Leon,
Tim Mead and
Jarrod Muggleton.
Headlining the group is Muggleton who has been a strong defender during his time in Huntsville while also nearly single-handedly pushing the Chargers into the postseason a year ago as he moved forward and scored six goals in October.
This season Muggleton has been able to focus on defense, and the results have been fantastic as the team has matched a school record with seven shutouts on the season, ranking it 13th in the country in shutout percentage.
The squad – which finished last season at 4-13 – has also featured an impressive offensive performance this season led by freshman
Kyle Simmons. The Huntsville native scored a pair of goals the last time out for the Chargers to give himself 13 goals and 29 points on the year, and he can do no worse than finish tied for the GSC regular season lead in points.
He sits tied with Jose Ferraz of Christian Brothers, and the two will battle for the scoring title into the postseason.
The last – and only – time UAH had the top scorer in the conference was 1996.
The Argos enter the contest on a bit of a slide having lost three of their past four games, scoring just two goals in the stretch. Dillon Gallet and Matthew Aldred lead the squad with both totaling 11 points.
The all-time series between the two programs has recently swung in UWF's favor at 11-9-2 with UAH's last win coming in 2000.
Live stats for the contest will be available at uahchargers.com, and fans are encouraged to follow the Chargers on Twitter (@uahchargers).