The Presbyterian College women's soccer squad will play their sixth game of the season and fifth from the friendly confines of Martin Stadium, welcoming Alabama A&M tomorrow for the 2025 edition of Senior Night.
Head coach Matt Smith will be recognizing a large batch of nine seniors once the match with the Bulldogs is complete, holding a postgame ceremony for Hannah Austin, Abby Ferris, Lindsey Malysezk, Lina Müller, Lauren Clark, Ella Williams, Isabel Lasota, Sloan Spees, and Isabel Manders-Lamcken.
That group has all been at Presbyterian for the same amount of time (2022 onward), as they get set for their last non-conference meeting at home. Kickoff in Clinton will occur at 7:00 PM.
Thursday will be the first-ever meeting between the Blue Hose and Alabama A&M. PC has already played – and whipped – another school from the SWAC, as they dominated Alabama State 5-0 back on August 24.
GAMEDAY INFO – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4
Presbyterian (2-2-1) vs. Alabama A&M (1-5)
WHERE / WHEN: Martin Stadium (Clinton, S.C.)
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
PC's PROBABLE STARTERS
(Based on most recent match vs. Wofford)
#4 Maddi Merryweather (Fr. | Lexington, Kentucky)
#6 Lindsey Malyszek (Sr. | Aiken, South Carolina)
#9 Cassidy Oldham (So. | Southport, North Carolina)
#10 Allie Williams (So. | Oak Ridge, North Carolina)
#12 Emma Brown (R-So. | Burlington, North Carolina)
#15 Lauren Clark (Sr. | Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina)
#16 Ella Williams (Sr. | Dacula, Georgia)
#18 Emilia Lieber (Jr. | Pullach, Germany)
#20 Lyla Chadd (Jr. | Charlotte, North Carolina)
#28 Sloan Spees (Sr. | Dacula, Georgia)
#99 Febe Dombrecht (Fr. | Damme, Belgium)
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
- Alabama A&M published a similar story to that of PC last season, with both clubs winning seven matches and advancing to the semifinal round of their respective conference tournaments.
- In A&M's case, they were bumped from the SWAC semi's at the hands of Texas Southern 2-1 which was coincidentally the same score of Presby's spirited loss to eventual Big South champion USC Upstate in the final four.
- Fast forward to 2025, and third-year head coach Prince Borde is off to a sluggish start. All six of the Bulldogs' games thus far have seen one team shut out, and A&M has been on the losing end of all but one of them.
- Following a 1-0 win against Howard on the same day that PC blasted Alabama State, the Bulldogs have taken an L in their last two efforts versus Southern Illinois (4-0) and more recently Jacksonville State (2-0).
LAST TIME OUT
- Both of Presbyterian's matches last week came against Southern Conference adversaries, unable to stop Furman or Wofford in respective losses of 5-0 and 3-1 varieties.
- PC hopes to steer the ship back in the right direction on Thursday, finding their lone goal against the Terriers from the foot of senior Lindsey Malyszek (the 11th score of her career).
- The Blue Hose are currently tied with Radford for the third-best record in the Big South as they await only three more non-conference contests.
- Malyszek's three goals in '25 are tied for the second-most in the league at this stage of the semester. Harlan Lyons, Sloan Spees, Emma Brown, and Anna Hussey have joined her with at least one score through the first five games.
SENIOR NIGHT
- Austin, a member of the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team last year, has played nearly 2,800 career minutes with 51 appearances and 32 starts. A native of Rock Hill, she has surpassed 80 minutes on 10 different dates while missing just five games since her freshman campaign.
- Ferris (a Florida product) has fought through injuries in the last couple seasons, still able to log 1,200-plus minutes and appear in 37 matches. With five starts on her resume, she has posted three career assists. Ferris dished out those passes against The Citadel and Gardner-Webb back in 2022, finding her last point versus Winthrop last fall.
- Malyszek is one of the most accomplished goal-scorers in the Big South, suiting up 50 times (3,400 minutes) and racking up 24 total points. A native of Aiken, she has secured seven goals since the start of 2024 and has been included in the starting lineup 46 times. Eight of her 11 scores have occurred against non-conference competition.
- Müller enjoyed a breakout '23 season after being forced to sit out her true freshman year due to injury, an All-Big South Second Team pick and one-time conference Player of the Week. She and Malyszek both have 24 career points, with Müller's 10 assists leading all active Blue Hose players. During a win over The Citadel last fall, the German became PC's first player with three assists in a single game since the school jumped to the Division I level in the late 2000's. She has seven career goals, including a brace versus South Carolina State in 2024.
- Clark is another well-traveled player, evidenced by her 2,600 minutes and 48 games played. A native of Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, she has played at least 80 minutes against 15 different schools. Last postseason, she never left the field at any point (110 minutes) in the Big South Quarterfinals as Presby upended Longwood via penalty kick shootout.
- Williams holds one of the most impressive statistics on PC's entire roster: she has never missed a single game in her entire college tenure (56 opportunities). Ella is the only current Blue Hose to achieve 4,000 career minutes, making 52 combined starts and chosen for All-Big South Second Team status last year. A native of Dacula, Georgia, she scored her first career goal in a win over The Citadel 12 months ago and was named CSC Academic All-District.
- Lasota enjoyed a breakout season under Smith's watch last year, now with nine points to her credit and named the Big South Offensive Player of the Week in October after torching Gardner-Webb for two goals and an assist. Hailing from Connecticut, she has played in 49 matches (23 starts) which is good for 2,000 minutes.
- Spees will enter tomorrow's game needing just one more goal to tie the program D-I record, sitting with 15 at this moment. Her 33 career points are tied for fourth in that same time span, part of three consecutive postseason All-Big South accolades (2022 All-Freshman, 2023 Honorable Mention, 2024 Second Team). From the same hometown as Williams, Spees has played in 51 games (48 starts) which adds up for 3,200 minutes. She has scored a goal versus 10 different opponents, calculating 10 in her first two seasons alone and hitting in the 85th minute of the conference semifinals against USC Upstate.
RESULT:
It was a successful Senior Night for the Presbyterian College women’s soccer team in hosting Alabama A&M for their final non-conference home meeting, as Sloan Spees (one of nine that were honored in a postgame ceremony) scored the game’s only point in a 1-0 win Thursday.
The sixth game-winner of an illustrious career that shows no signs of letting up, Spees broke a scoreless tie in the 62nd minute and the Blue Hose defense did their part to earn their third shutout of the campaign.
Spees has now evened the career numbers of program record-holder Sara Simpson (2010-13) by scoring her 16th goal and the second of her individual season. She is now one score away from becoming PC’s new leader in that department across the Division I era (2007 onward).
Head coach Matt Smith will send his squad where they’ve only been once this year: on the road. Up next for the Scotsmen will be their first encounter outside Martin Stadium in 21 days as they take a trip to Navy on September 7. First touch in Annapolis is tabbed for 1:00 PM.
FINAL SCORE – Presbyterian, 1 – Alabama A&M, 0
RECORDS – Presbyterian (3-2-1) – Alabama A&M (1-6)
LOCATION – Martin Stadium (Clinton, S.C.)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Blue Hose stayed persistent on the offensive end for the bulk of the night, outshooting Alabama A&M 17-8 and scattering 10 on-goal attempts.
- Eventually, Spees found the avenue to submit the lone goal of the evening with 28 minutes left on the clock. She has now calculated at least one goal against 11 different schools dating back to 2022, joining classmate Lindsey Malyszek and Harlan Lyons with multiple scores this year.
- Sophomore Gracie Moulton made her first regular-season appearance at the goalkeeper spot, passing the test by not giving up any A&M strikes. She was challenged with just two shots-on-goal as the Presby back line performed exquisitely.
- Five other PC players went the full distance on Thursday (Malyszek, Cassidy Oldham, Ella Williams, Lyla Chadd, and rookie Jaida Savoie, who like Moulton, started for the first time in her career).
- This was the first-ever matchup between the Blue Hose and A&M, as Presbyterian has now defeated two institutions from the Yellowhammer State (having also squashed Alabama State 5-0 a week-and-a-half ago).
UP NEXT
- PC will make a northern voyage this weekend in what will be the program’s first-ever trip to Navy. The Midshipmen have faced Presby twice in the past, both in Clinton (a two-all tie in 2010 and a Navy win two years back by a 3-1 count).
- Navy started the current campaign with three straight clean sheets over Robert Morris, Temple, and Wofford, but has now taken an L in three of the past five attempts after falling to VCU on Thursday 2-1.
- ESPN+ will have coverage of this weekend’s duel, with only two non-conference clashes left on PC’s radar until the schedule flips to Big South territory.
