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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's soccer team travels to Santa Barbara, Calif. to face Westmont (Calif.) in the 2013 NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship Opening Round on Saturday. The game will be played at Thorrington Field on the Westmont Campus starting at 2 p.m. MST.

Westmont will stream the game live and also have live stats available. Griffin fans are encouraged to watch the game in the Shaw Student Center for the official viewing party. Links for the live features can be found by clicking here.

GRIFFIN NOTEBOOK
Westminster is making just its second trip to the NAIA National Championships in school history. The Griffins have recorded an 11-7-2 record as they enter the tournament and they qualified by winning the Unaffiliated Conference Tournament earlier this month. They enter Saturday's game riding a four-game winning streak and 2-3-2 in road games.

Westminster averages 1.95 goals per game and the 39 goals scored this season are the second-most by the team in school history. The Griffins are taking 14.5 shots per game with 58.3 percent of those attempts on goal. They have notched 23 assists and have taken 85 corner kicks.

Griffin opponents are scoring just 0.70 goals per game and Westminster leads the conference in that department. Westminster posted 10 shutouts during the season, the 11th-most in the NAIA, and they haven't allowed a goal in the last 396 minutes of action. The Griffins limit the opposition to 6.1 shots per game with 52.9 percent of those shots being on goal.

AGAINST THE OPPOSITION
Westminster is 0-2 all-time against Westmont and 0-1 in meetings in Santa Barbara. The last meeting was a 4-0 win by the Warriors at home on Sept. 7, 2012. The two also met at Dumke Field on Aug. 28, 2010, when Westmont won 2-1.

LOOKING BACK
The Griffins swept through three games at the Unaffiliated Conference Tournament to claim the title and the automatic berth into the NAIA National Championships. The Griffins routed Presentation (S.D.), 9-0, on Nov. 7. They then defeated Carroll (Mont.), 2-0, in the semi-finals on Nov. 8 before knocking off Rocky Mountain (Mont.), 1-0, for the title on Nov. 9.

NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
Westminster's only other appearance in the NAIA National Championships came in the 2011 season. The Griffins played an opening round game at Concordia (Ore.) where they lost 1-0. The game's only goal came in the 20th minute and Westminster was outshot 16-1 in the game.

GET THEM FIRST & EARLY
Westminster has dominated the first half of games this season, outscoring the opposition 23-3 in the first 45 minutes of play. They have a 136-65 edge in first half shots and a 40-24 advantage in corner kicks. The Griffins are 11-1 this season when scoring first and 9-1 when holding a halftime lead.

CARTER COMING ON STRONG
After scoring only one goal through the first eight games of the year, Nicole Carter finished the season with eight goals over the final 11 games to lead the team with nine goals during the year. She has scored at least one goal in five of the past six games, including a stretch of five straight at one point. Carter also tallied four assists during the year and she leads the team 22 points.

POINTS FROM TUCKER
Senior Lexi Tucker has recorded a team-leading six assists entering Saturday. Tucker has twice recorded two assists in a game this season and she has also picked up an assist in two of the last three games the team has played. Tucker also scored six goals during the season, including two against Presentation, and she is second on the team with 18 points.

CAREER HIGH FOR HARRIS
Senior Jessica Harris is second on the team with a career-high seven goals this season. After scoring three goals in the first four games of the year, Harris went 11 games before her next tally. She came on strong down the stretch, scoring four goals in the final five games while notching the game-winner in the championship of the conference tournament. Harris added one assist to rank third on the team with 15 points.

MINER ANCHORS THE MIDFIELD
Junior Miranda Miner is the anchor of the Griffin midfield. After leading the team with 1,640 minutes played in 2012, Miner has played a team-high 1,677 minutes this season. She has yet to miss a game during her three seasons as a Griffin, appearing in all 59 games the team has played with 54 starts. Miner has scored two goals on 12 shots this season and she notched the game-tying goal at Rocky Mountain on Oct. 6.

A YANKE WALL
After sitting out the first eight games of the season, Abi Yanke has started the past 13 games in goal going 8-3-2 with eight shutouts. She was named the Frontier's Defensive Player of the Week four times and has a 0.52 goals-against-average to rank fifth in the NAIA while also making 33 saves. Yanke enters Saturday having not allowed a goal in the past 396 minutes played and she also went 356 minutes without allowing a goal earlier this season. The school record is 460 minutes set by Lindsay Bekken during the 2012 season.

FOLLOWING THE GRIFFINS
To keep up with all of the latest news and information about the Westminster women's soccer team, fans are encouraged to "Like" the Griffins on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And as always, make sure to visit WestminsterGriffins.com for all things Griffins during the 2013 season.

LOOKING AHEAD
The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the final site of the tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. They would play the winner of Martin Methodist (Tenn.) and Trinity International (Ill.) on Dec. 2 at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.