The USCB women's soccer team aims to continue the best season in the program's history and earn its first-ever postseason victory when the Sand Sharks travel to face rival SCAD Savannah in the Sun Conference Tournament quarterfinals at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

It's the third time in the last four seasons the geographical rivals have met in the opening round of the playoffs with the Bees having won the first two, 4-0 at USCB in 2013 and 3-1 at SCAD in 2014. 

The teams played to a 1-1 draw earlier this season at Fin Land Field, as both teams missed opportunities to put the match away in extra time. The Bees enter the postseason as the No. 4 seed in the tournament but have lost three of their last four games – albeit against the league's top three teams. 

The Sand Sharks are riding a two-game winning streak and enter the playoffs as the No. 5 seed following a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory at Webber International on Oct. 28. 

USCB already is assured of the best winning percentage in program history and has tied the school record with nine wins. The Sand Sharks have set a single-season program record for goals (38) while allowing only 31 goals – 10 fewer than the school record of 41 in 2013.

FIN FACTS

• Head coach Ed Heberling will return to the sideline Saturday after missing the Webber International game. Heberling and his wife, USCB softball coach Laura Heberling, welcomed their first child Oct. 27 with the birth of a healthy baby boy. 

• Junior F Hayley Pina scored the game-winner in overtime against Webber International, adding to her single-season program records for goals (11) and points (26). Pina also is USCB's career leader for points (59), goals (23) and assists (13). 

• USCB won its first two road games to start the season and is 5-3-1 away from home after winning at Webber International, breaking the school record of four road wins in a season set in 2012 and matched in 2013.

• The Sand Sharks have outshot the opposition in 15 of their 18 games this season and have held a double-digit edge in 11 of those matches. USCB has allowed five or fewer shots on goal 10 times and has permitted five or fewer total shots six times.

• Fifteen different players have scored goals and three more have registered assists for the Sand Sharks. Pina (11), senior F Taylor Superior (5), senior MF Sam Satterlee (3), freshman F Felicia Alpenmyr (3), freshman F Anna Gignilliat (3), sophomore MF Brittney Neser (2), senior F Cameron Croney-Clark (2), and junior MF Karen Pimentel (2) each have scored multiple goals. 

• USCB opened the season with back-to-back shutouts – the first consecutive clean sheets since the Sand Sharks recorded consecutive 1-0 wins over St. Andrews and Southeastern in October 2013. The Sand Sharks have five shutouts on the season, matching the program record set in 2012 and tied in 2013.

RELATED LINKS

USCB Schedule and Results

USCB 2016 Statistics

Sun Conference Women's Soccer Standings

USCB Sand Sharks on Facebook

USCB Athletics on Twitter