Nov. 5, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The JU women's soccer team will travel to Kennesaw, Ga. this week to compete in the A-Sun tournament.

The Dolphins, the defending champions, will look to become only the second team in A-Sun history to win back to back championships and will open their tournament schedule on Wednesday with Belmont at 4 p.m.

"We are very excited about the possibilities before us in the conference tournament," said JU head coach Chris Kouns. "As I said at the beginning of the year, this is the most talented team I've had since I came to JU. All we need to do is put together a consistent effort for 90 minutes each game and we will put ourselves in a great position to win out for our second straight A-Sun Tournament title. We have it in us and we've shown it in spurts all year long, but, the challenge before us is giving our very best for three straight games. We have to take it one match at a time!"

The Dolphins earned the No. 6 seed going into the tournament after finishing the regular season with a 7-11-1 record and were 5-5-1 in A-Sun play. Belmont went 12-6-2 overall and finished their A-Sun schedule at 6-4-1. The two teams met on Oct. 26 and the game finished scorless after double-overtime at the Ashley Sports Complex.

The winner of the game will take on No. 2 seed Mercer on Thursday at 4 p.m. The championship game will be held on Saturday at 6 p.m.

"We know that the road to the championship is going to be a tough one," Kouns said. "Belmont showed they were one of the best defending teams in the conference this year and they are in the midst of a record breaking season. Mercer seems like they could be a team of destiny this year. They put together a tremendous year, and save two games, they were unstoppable in the regular season. Then in the final, anyone who gets there is going to be fighting for a chance of a lifetime. Winning the conference tournament and going to the NCAA tournament should be every student-athletes dream and it is certainly one you expect to bring a great fight to attain."

The Dolphins won the A-Sun tournament last season after knocking off ETSU, No. 1 seed Kennesaw State and Stetson in three consecutive days.