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PLAYERS OF THE WEEKOffensiveNatasha Kai, a sophomore from Kahuku, Hawaii, earned her second Player of the Week honor (Sept. 15), scoring eight points in two conference matches, scoring three goals on four shots on goal. Kai posted one goal and assisted in another in the Wahines, 4-3, loss to SMU. She then tallied two more goals and an assist in a, 3-0, win over UTEP.
DefensiveErin Chow, a junior from Honolulu, came in at halftime against SMU, in relief of Mahie Atay, who was injured. The halftime score of 4-3 stood, as Chow allowed no goals in the loss. She continued her shutout, allowing no goals against UTEP in a 3-0 win. She tallied eight saves in 107 minutes.
OTHER NOMINEESOffensiveErin Sayegusa, Fresno State; Sarah Yoder, Rice; Cori Borja, San Jose State; Kim Harvey, SMU
DefensiveLauren Shockley, Rice; Andrea Puljiz, San Jose State; Ashley Watson, SMU
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC - It is week three in the WAC with things shaping up for a dramatic finish. SMU, the 2003 Coaches Preseason pick, is the lone undefeated team at 3-0. The Mustangs, who look to better their record and secure a spot in the WAC Tournament, play host to Rice (1-1) then travel to Tulsa (0-2). Hawaii (3-1) ventures off the island for conference battles with last place Nevada (0-2) and Boise State (1-1). Boise State also steps out of conference this weekend to take on Utah Valley State. UTEP (2-1) returns to the confines of University Field where it hosts Tulsa and Rice. Fresno State (2-2) got back on the winning track and looks to continue its ways with a match versus San Jose State.
WAC VS. THE TOP 25/NATION - The Western Athletic Conference is 0-11 against the NSCAA/adidas top 25 this season. Against the rest of the nations, the WAC is 32-45-6 (.422), with a few more non-conference matches to be played. As a conference, the teams have posted a 6-1-1 record against the Southland and a 4-3-1 record against the Big Sky.
HARVEY, KAI, MCCARTNEY AMONG NATIONS BEST - Hawaiis Natasha Kai, SMUs Kim Harvey and UTEP freshman Christine McCartney are among the best in the nation in both goals and points this season. Harvey, a senior, is second in the country in points with 38 and tied for third in goals, with 15. Her points per game average of 3.17 is also second in the country. Kai, the 2003 WAC Preseason Player of the Year, is second in the NCAA with 16 goals, posting an average of 1.33 per contest, third best. Kai, who has 36 points (3rd) is also fourth in points per game with 3.00. McCartney owns a 1.11 goals per game average and a 2.33 points per game average, good for sixth and eighth, respectively. Kai had one of the NCAAs best single-game performances when she tallied five goals and 11 points against on Sept. 14 against Morehead State. UTEPs 12 goals against Prairie View A&M was the second best output in the NCAA this season.
HARVEY REACHING CAREER MARKS - Kim Harvey, a native of Garland, Texas, currently ranks in the top 10 in four of the WACs career offensive categories. The senior is second all-time in the WAC in both shots with 256, and goals at 53. She also has 126 points throughout her career, landing her third, just three shy of Laurie Hegedorn of New Mexico. Harvey has eight assists on the season, moving her career total to 19, good for a tie for 10th.
1-0, AGAIN - The Rice Owls have competed in 11 matches this season, battling to scores of 1-0, seven times. Rice has gone 3-4 in those matches. The schedule also includes a 1-1 tie, and two 2-0 losses. Goalkeeper Lauren Shockley is currently posting a season goals against average of 0.83, tops in the conference. The Owls started off the season 0-4-1, but have come on late to win four of six, three of those, 1-0 wins.
HARVEY NAMED TO TWO NATIONAL TEAMS - SMU forward, Kim Harvey, was named to Soccer Americas Team of the Week (9/22-28) and SoccerBuzz.coms National Elite Team (9/23). Harvey collected her second hat trick of the season in the 5-1 win over Fresno State and added two goals in a 4-0 win over San Jose State.
KAI TIES CONFERENCE RECORD - Natasha Kai, Hawaiis sophomore forward, posted five goals against Morehead State (9/14). She tied the mark set by Ashlee Richmond of TCU in 1996 against McNeese State. Kai also tallied one assist, giving her 11 points for the match. She also posted a hat trick against Utah Valley State, giving her eight goals for the two Wahine matches.
TOPPING THE 250 MARK - SMU eclipsed the 250-win mark for the program since its inception in 1986 on Sept. 19 with a 2-1 win over Colorado College.
AROUND THE WACBoise State returns to Boise for homecoming week hosting Utah Valley State and Hawaii this weekend. The Broncos split a pair of road games to open WAC play at 1-1 last week. Boise State is now 3-3-1 in its last seven matches after starting the season 1-5. Brittany Zoellner continues to lead the Broncos with seven goals and one assist extending her school records for career goals and points to 28 and 65 respectively.
Fresno State returned to its winning ways, posting two wins over the weekend, moving the Bulldogs conference mark to 2-2. The Bulldogs tied a school record against Nevada with 27 shots, helping them to a, 3-0, win. The, 5-2, win over Boise State, was a season high for the Bulldogs.
Hawaii suffered its first back-to-back losses of the season, falling in Tulsa to Oral Roberts and on the island to SMU. The Wahine got back on track and are currently second in the WAC, as they posted a 3-0 win over UTEP. Goalkeeper Mahie Atay left the SMU match at halftime, leaving her replacement, Erin Chow, a tough task of shutting out the WACs most potent offense in SMU. She held the Mustangs to no goals, but the Wahine were also left stagnant, leaving the final score, 4-3. Chow remained solid against UTEP, allowing zero goals in her 67 minutes of action.
Nevada suffered its seventh shutout of the year and third straight. The Wolf Pack are looking to better there one win from last season. They host Hawaii in their only match of the weekend.
Rice head coach Chris Huston began her collegiate head coaching career at Houston and started both the UH (99) and Rice (01) programs from scratch. Rice defeated the Cougars and Tulsa, 1-0, last weekend improving their record to 4-6-1 overall, matching last seasons win total. The back-to-back shutouts were the second and third of the season for junior goalkeeper Lauren Shockley. She now owns a 0.83 goals-against average in 11 starts this season to lead the WAC. Sarah Yoder scored one goal and assisted on another in the weekend wins, adding to her school record of 12 goals.
San Jose State is currently 1-3 in the WAC, placing the seventh. They have one conference win, along with three other WAC schools. The Spartans are looking to get back to the WAC tournament for the first time since 2000, when they won it.
SMU forward Kim Harvey was named to Soccer Americas Team of the Week and Soccer Buzz.com National Elite Team of the Week for her five-goal, two-assist game against Fresno State. The last time SMU posted a better record than its current 10-2 record (after 12 games) was in 1995 when the Mustangs were 11-0-1 after 12 games and finished the season 23-1-1 and reached the final four. The Mustangs are shooting a 56.4 shot-on-goal percentage. Six SMU players have started every game this season (Harvey, Lauren Mussallem, Erin MacCallum, Ashley Watson, Alyssa Pembroke, and Amanda Clark).
UTEPs Christine McCartney has already broken the schools freshman records for points and goals in a season. McCartney, who has played in nine games this season, has scored 10 goals and has 21 points. The Ottawa, Ontario, native broke Laura Glasspooles 1998 freshman record of nine goals and Glasspooles and Kim Rogers 1998 record of 20 points. McCartney has scored in six out of her nine games played and has three multi-goal games. Sophomore Kyla Clark is on pace to break the school record for goals against average. Through five starts, Clark holds a 4-1 record and a goals against average of 0.80. The UTEP record for goals against average is 1.22 held by Amanda Smith set in 1997.
Tulsa will look to snap a school-record tying six-game losing streak this weekend against UTEP. The Golden Hurricane also dropped six consecutive contests during the 1989 campaign. Tulsas game against UTEP will be the eighth of nine road games for the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa opened the season with three straight home games and last played at home against Hawaii on Sept. 28. The Hurricane are 3-1 at home and 0-6-1 in away games.
SMU FAVORED TO WIN 2003 CROWN - SMU is coming off a 13-6-4 season in 2002 that saw the Mustangs fall just short of the NCAA Round of 16, losing to Texas A&M in the penalty kick session at the NCAA Tournament. The Mustangs are returning seven starters including junior defender Amanda Jordan, a 2002 first team all-WAC selection. Kim Harvey, a second-team member also returns for her senior season. The Mustangs will enter the 2003 season under the helm of new head coach John Cossaboon, the former head coach of San Diego. He replaces George Van Linder who ran the Mustang program for four years before leaving for Baylor.