The Soul's placekicker, Phi Marfuggi, suffered a slight injury to his left hamstring and the team decided not to risk further injury and to have Marfuggi sit out the Soul's home opener. This prompted to Soul to sign K Connor Hughes as an emergency replacement.
Hughes last surfaced in the AFL during the 2008 championship season for the Philadelphia Soul. He proved to be very reliable connecting on 123 of 136 PAT's (90.4%) and 5 of 14 FG's (35.7%) earning him a total of 138 points that season.
In ArenaBowl XXII, Hughes hit 6 of 8 PAT's along with a 20-yard FG to end the first half helping the Soul to an eventual 59-56 victory over the San Jose SaberCats.
Marfuggi had connected on 19 of his 21 PAT's this season helping the Soul to their 2-0 start. He was especially crucial in the Soul's season opener as his 9 of 9 PAT's were the difference in the Soul's slim 63-62 victory over the New Orleans VooDoo. He followed that up by hitting 10 of 12 PAT's against the Pittsburgh Power in Week 3. Marfuggi hasn't attempted a FG as of yet, but with this offense his chances of doing so may become pretty minute.
Hopefully Hughes hasn't lost much of his 2008 proficiency, but after three years who knows what kind of shape he'll be in come tomorrow. If it's a close game, look to his PAT success to determine whether the Soul will give the home crowd a victory in the Wells-Fargo Center's 2012 opener.
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