BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb (1-3) travels to Spartanburg, S.C. for a matchup with Wofford (2-3) on Saturday afternoon as the race for spots in the Big South Tournament continues to heat up with each team under the direction of new head coaches. GWU is led by Maddie Martin while Wofford is under the direction of Jessie Aguglia, the all-time winningest head coach in Gardner-Webb history.
 
Last time out, GWU lost 20-16 to Campbell in Spangler Stadium. The Runnin' Bulldogs tied it at 14-14 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Camels were able to create separation late in the quarter to hold on for the win and remain undefeated in the league.
 
Gardner-Webb was led by Bria Foley as she tallied nine points in the effort for a career-high. The nine points marked the most by a player from Gardner-Webb since Jada Preston had 10 against Delaware State in 2019. She had four goals for the second time in her career and notched a personal best five assists. She's leading the team in goals and points with 21 and 34 respectively.
 
Jada Preston is coming off back-to-back with three goals while dishing two assists against Radford and one against Campbell. She has averaged 1.68 assists per game for 50^th in the NCAA and 4^th in the league with 18 on the year. Foley has also been one of the conference leaders in the statistic as she has dished 1.08 per game for 9^th.
 
Also on the offensive attack, GWU has had six other players score over ten points per game. Freshman Emma Duchscherer is third on the team with 21 points as she had netted at least one in every game this year. In conference play, she has averaged 2.75 per game. Brittany Sherrod has tallied 20 with 18 of them off goals.
 
Alera Cornett and Aimie Perino have each reached 18 on the year with Perino hitting her 50-career point earlier this year. Another freshman, Rylee Gonzalez has had 15 points and ranks third on the team in assists with eight with Lauren Connor rounding out the team with 13 points, all off goals.
 
Heather Lobas had five groundballs on Wednesday to move up to 23 on the year and move over 100 for her career. Lobas caused three turnovers as well to have 21 on the year. She ranks 2^nd in GWU history with 88 across her career. That was her fourth game of 2023 with at least three caused turnovers. She's 37^th in the NCAA and 4^th in the league in CTs per game at 1.75.
 
Grace Briggs has been one of the team leaders statistically on defense as she is top of the Big South in CTs per game and ranks 10^th in nation at 2.42. Briggs has recorded 29 this year, which is third most by a GWU player in a single season and is away from tying for second and four away from tying for first. She has also been scrappy on the mat as she averages 3 GBs per game which is 18^th in the NCAA and 3^rd in the conference.
 
Danielle Burke has continued to be the primary person between the pipes for the Runnin' Bulldogs this year playing 577:21 minutes. She has stopped 104 shots this year and is second in league history with 465 career saves. Burke is second in the league in saves per game at 8.67.
 
Olivia Abe has led the Terriers' attack this year with 28 points and has dished 16 assists also for the team lead. Emma Krasinski leads Wofford with 20 goals this year while Addison Witkowski and Emma Stalteri each have 17 scores.
 
Wofford has used a pair of goalies this year with Aislinn Washburn making 68 saves and a 31.9% save percentage over just under 500 minutes played. Ella Smithers has been in for 288 minutes this season with 33 saves and stopped 32.7% of shots on goal and has a record of 4-0.
 
The game will be live streamed on ESPN+ with Mike Vaillancourt on the call for it. The first draw is slated for 1:00 p.m. inside Gibbs Stadium.