In five years under head coach Patrick Baker, stingy defense has been a hallmark of Georgia soccer.

During the 2007 and 2008 campaigns, the Bulldogs allowed just 0.82 and 0.73 goals per game respectively in SEC play.

Even more impressive, the squad gave up a measly 0.5 goals per match in SEC road games just a year ago.

All of this makes the Bulldogs’ (8-1-1, 1-1-0 SEC) 6-0 defeat at the hands of Louisiana State in the SEC opener for both squads last Friday even more perplexing.

Prior to Friday night’s debacle, the Bulldogs had allowed just four goals in their first eight outings this season.

“I think the LSU game was definitely a wake-up call,” said senior defender Leslie McConnell.

“I think we just came out flat. We weren’t ready to play right off the bat, and I think we got rattled pretty early and just couldn’t get back in the game.”

Luckily, the Bulldogs weren’t shell-shocked for too long, taking the field again just over 36 hours later to hand the Arkansas Razorbacks a 2-0 loss in Fayetteville, Ark.

It’s usually difficult to find anything positive to take from a loss, but, watching the team train this week, it appears they have done just that.

“Just after this weekend, I think everyone was ready to step back on the field and kind of prove to each other what we’re made of and try to get better before this weekend,” said junior defender Kelli Corless.

The Bulldogs, after playing their first six matches of 2009 in the friendly confines of the UGA Soccer Stadium, have become road warriors of late and will have their hands full once again this weekend as they wrap up their current six-game road swing.

Today, the Dogs head to Lexington, Ky., for a 7 p.m. kickoff with the Kentucky Wildcats (3-4-3, 0-2-0 SEC).

Kentucky comes into tonight’s match after a pair of tough losses to the SEC’s two highest ranked sides, a 2-1 overtime loss to No. 10 Florida on Friday and a 1-0 defeat at the hands of No. 11 South Carolina on Sunday.

Georgia is 4-2-1 all-time in Lexington and captured a 3-1 victory in the teams’ last meeting in 2008.

Sunday, the Bulldogs head south to Nashville, Tenn., for a 1 p.m. date with the Vanderbilt Commodores (6-3-1, 0-2-0 SEC), who, like Kentucky, will be looking to erase the zero in their SEC wins column.

This weekend the Bulldogs will be looking to score early and often and get the bad taste out of their mouths from a game that is still fresh in everyone’s mind.

After the way things went last Friday, the team should be playing with a chip on its shoulder that McConnell hopes will tip the scales in its favor.

“None of us [wants] to go through another 6-0 loss; none of us [wants] to lose again, and I think our determination to move forward and just take the positive things that we’ve learned from LSU is really going to show this weekend,” McConnell said.