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| Amanda Clark, SMU |
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Weekly Soccer Notes.pdf
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WAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEKJami Tullius, a freshman from El Paso, Texas (Eastwood), scored UTEPs first goal against Texas State and nearly the game winner in overtime, but an offsides call negated the goal. She became just the fourth true freshman since 1999 to score in her first career game for the Miners. She also posted two goals, including the game winner and an assist in a win over Sam Houston State.
Kim Parker, a sophomore from Portland, Ore. (Jesuit), started both shutouts over the opening weekend. She made two game-saving stops against Utah State in the second half. The shutout helped the Broncos 83rd-minute goal secure a win over the Aggies, the first for Boise State in five tries. In just 45 minutes against Portland State, Parker posted seven saves, securing her 1.00 save percentage and 0.00 goals against average. The back-to-back shutouts were a first for the Broncos to open a season.
Other offensive nominees included: Kaziah Hill, Boise State; Caitlin Robbins, Rice; Marisa Schieda, SMU
Other defensive nominees included: Lauren Shockley, Rice; Kimber Bailey, SMU
Click on the .pdf to the right to view the entire Weekly Notes. Included are schedules, notes, stats and national poll
Click on each link to view the up-do-date soccer polls
NSCAA
SoccerBuzz.com
SoccerTimes.com
Soccer America
KEY MATCHES ON TAP
SMU faces one of the nations top teams this week when they travel to South Bend, Ind., to face No. 2 Santa Clara in the Notre Dame Tournament ... Rice does battle with with in-state Baylor ... Boise State will face regional rivals Eastern Washington and Gonzaga ... Nevada looks for its first win of the season as they face Idaho State in the Pacific Tournament ... San Jose State hosts the Spartan Classic where it will take on IUIPI and Miami (OH) ... UTEP heads east to Monroe, La., for matches with Northwestern State and Louisiana-Monroe ... the Rainbow Wahine come to the mainland to face USC and Santa Barbara ... Tulsa faces cross-town rival Oral Roberts.
MINER FRESHMAN TOPS STATS LIST
UTEP freshman Juli Tullius leads the WAC in points and goals through the first weekend of action. The forward from El Paso, Texas (Eastwood), had a career weekend in her first outing. After posting one goal in her first collegiate match, she had a match-winning goal negated in overtime. In the second match of the weekend, Tullius scored two goals, including the match-winner and added an assist in a rout over Sam Houston State.
SMU FAVORED TO WIN 2004 CROWN
SMU has been picked to win its fourth-straight WAC title, as selected by the conference coaches. SMU, who finished 7-1 in conference play in 2003, defeated Rice in the final minute of the conference championship match, taking home its third title in as many seasons. The Mustangs are led by head coach John Cossaboon who returns eight starters from his championship squad. Leading the way for the Mustangs will be midfielders, Jill Heinemann and Olivia ORear, defender Amanda Jordan and goalkeeper Amanda Clark. ORear was tabbed the WACs 2003 Freshman of the Year. Jordan, Heinemann (the 2001 freshman of the year) and Clark have all been main stays on the all-WAC teams. SMU has a tough non-conference schedule, including matches against Santa Clara, Stanford, Oklahoma, UCLA and Texas, preparing them for a title-defense run.
KAI LEADS 2004 PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM
The WAC announced its 2004 Preseason all-WAC team and Player of the Year as voted on by the coaches. SMU, the 2004 conference favorite, leads the team with five players. Rice placed three on the team, while Hawaii has two and UTEP one. The 2002 and 2003 WAC Player of the Year, Hawaii junior Natasha Kai, was named the 2004 Preseason Player of the Year.
Kai, the nations top goal scorer from a year ago, was named the 2004 Preseason Player of the Year after earning the 2003 Player of the Year. The junior from Kahuku, Oahu, posted 30 points in conference, including 14 goals to lead the conference. In her rookie campaign in 2002, Kai became the first WAC player to win both Freshman and Player of the Year.
There are 11 selections on this seasons preseason squad. At the forward position is Kai, Rice senior Sarah Yoder, and SMU sophomore and 2003 Freshman of the Year, Olivia ORear. In the midfield, there are SMU seniors Jill Heinemann and Erin MacCallum, Hawaii senior Joelle Sugai and junior Kaletia Roberts of UTEP. In defense, SMU junior Amanda Jordan and Rice senior Caitlin Currie and junior Erin Droger were selected. SMU senior Amanda Clark was named to the team as goalkeeper. Clark posted eight shutouts for the Mustangs in 2003.
FOUR SCHOOLS NAME NEW HEAD COACHES
Fresno State, Nevada, San Jose State and Tulsa all made head coaching changes during the off season. Fresno State hired former Florida assistant Steve Springthorpe, while Nevada named Terri Patraw, a former head coach at Arizona State, to the helm of the Wolf Pack program. San Jose State tabbed Dave Siracusa as its head coach after three seasons as the mens assistant at San Diego State. Rena Richardson will lead the Tulsa squad after three seasons as the assistant at Alabama.
WAC TO ADD NEW MEMBERS
New Mexico State, Idaho and Utah State will all join the WAC beginning July 1, 2005. New Mexico State does not sponsor a soccer program. Louisiana Tech, who is already a WAC member, is in its first season of womens soccer but will compete independently for the 2004 season. The Lady Techsters will join the conference in soccer beginning in 2005 along with Idaho and Utah State.
RETURNING ALL-WAC PLAYERS
Of the 23 first and second team all-WAC players in 2003, 17 return for the 2004 season. Hawaiis Natasha Kai, last seasons WAC Player of the Year and SMUs Olivia ORear, the Freshman of the Year, head the list of returners. There are nine first-team selections and eight second-teamers on this years rosters.
FACING THE NATIONS BEST
Fourteen teams that participated in the 2003 NCAA Tournament will be opponents of WAC teams this season. The list includes the likes of 2001 National Champion Santa Clara, and 2003 Final Four member, UCLA, and Sweet 16 member, Texas A&M.
WAC SOCCER IN THE NET
BOISE STATE
opened the season with a home sweep, defeating future WAC member Utah State, 1-0, and Portland State, 2-0 ... it is the first time in program history that the team started the season with back-to-back shutouts and only the second time to open the season undefeated at 2-0-0, they went 3-0-1 in 2001 ... it also defeated the Utah State Aggies for the first time in five tries ... the Broncos now have a school record five-game home win-streak, they are also 8-3-1 (.708) all-time at the Boas Tennis & Soccer Complex ... Kaziah Hill has moved into second place in career points with 40 and is now tied for second in career goals with 15.
FRESNO STATE
will travel to Corvallis, Ore., for the Oregon State Nike Invitational, hooking up with 2003 NCAA Tournament participant and Southern Conference champion UNC Greensboro in the opening round ... Fresno States second draw in the tourney is New Hampshire ... ten of the 22 players on this years roster are freshmen, which means that the newcomers will be given opportunities to contribute quickly ... against both UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton, five freshmen received starting nods ... additionally, nine of the 10 freshmen saw extended playing time in both matches.
HAWAII
hosted the OHANA Hotels & Resorts No Ka Oi ... Saint Marys won the tournament with wins over Hawaii and Pacific ... the Rainbow Wahine had four players named to the all-tournament team ... Natasha Kai, F; Koren Takeyama, F; Krystalynn Ontai, D; Jessica Domingo MF ... Kai posted nine shots in the two matches over the weekend.
NEVADA
didnt fair too well in their season opener ... the Wolf Pack, led by new head coach Terri Patraw, suffered a pair of losses, falling, 3-0, to Loyola Marymount and, 6-0, to UC Riverside ... Nevada travels to Stockton, Calif., for matches with Idaho State and host Pacific.
RICE
opened the 2004 season the way they finished in 2003, with strong defense ... the Owls won their season opener for the first time since 2001 ... true freshman Caitlin Robbins scored the teams long goal against cross-twon rival Houston ... the Owls outshot the Cougars 24-8 in the contest ... goalkeeper Lauren Shockley, who led the WAC in goals against average in 2003, was in goal for the shutout.
SAN JOSE STATE
will host the 2004 Spartan Classic this weekend at Spartan Stadium ... the Spartans will play IUPUI on and Miami (Ohio) ... junior goalie Adrienne Herbst made eight saves on the weekend, five at UC Irvine and three at Pepperdine ... Nicole Irwin leads the team in shots with three ... five different players took a shot on goal over the weekend.
SMU
opened up the 2004 season ranked 21st in the SoccerBuzz.com poll and recieved votes in both the NSCAA/adidas and SoccerTimes.com polls ... with a, 4-0, victory over TCU to kick-off the season, SMU has now won its last 10 season-opening matches ... SMU continues its road swing, as it travels to South Bend, Ind., to face one of its toughest opponents in recent history, No. 2 Santa Clara as part of the Notre Dame Classic.
UTEP
opened the season with a split in the Seventh Annual Miner Classic the Miners dropped a 3-2 double-overtime decision to Texas State before shutting out Sam Houston State, 8-0 UTEPs eight goals were its most since scoring 12 against Prairie View A&M on Sept. 21, 2003 all eight goals and five assists came from freshmen and sophomores sophomore Christine McCartney scored two goals and moved into seventh place on the UTEP career goals list (14) and ninth place on the career scoring list (29) Jami Tullius became just the fourth true freshman since 1999 to score in her first career game.
TULSA
senior goalkeeper Pam Devore collected four saves against Arkansas and moved into sixth-place on Tulsas list for career saves with 114 ... during the first two games of the season, a total of eight freshmen earned at least one starting assignment, while two have started both of Tulsas games this season ... in the season opener against Arkansas-Little Rock, a total of seven freshmen were inserted into the starting line-up, including Meredith Hart, Kim Kincaid, Molly Fitzsimmons, Nicole Macia, Kristina Corona, Katherine Vitale and Allison Dodd.