Huskers Capture Third Straight Top-10 Finish and Earn Third Consecutive Trip to NCAA Sweet 16

The 1998 season was another sweet success for the Nebraska soccer program.

The Huskers, who finished the season with a 17-4-1 overall record, advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year, further establishing Nebraska's program as one of the best in the nation.

The Huskers also claimed their third consecutive top10 national ranking by capturing the No. 10 spot in the final NSCAA Poll. They also won their second Big 12 Conference Tournament title in three years.

While the success of the 1998 season was nothing new for the Huskers, it may have been the sweetest and most satisfying season for Coach John Walker and his players.

"In a lot of ways, from a coaching standpoint, last season was probably the most gratifying year that we have had because the team played to its potential, and we overcame the graduation of four all-conference or All-America players and an incredible amount of injuries," Walker said. "I think in college sports you will sometimes see a team that will crack the top 10 because it had a couple of outstanding years with a great group of seniors and juniors. Then you see that team disappear. We didn't want to be one of those programs, and we showed that we could sustain graduation of a great class and still maintain excellence."

In the Beginning
Graduation forced the Huskers to open 1998 without All-America midfielder Kari Uppinghouse and All-America goalkeeper Becky Hornbacher. The Huskers also had to find replacements for All-Big 12 defenders Tanya Franck and Stephanie Vacek.

That quartet of Huskers started all 46 games for Nebraska during the 1996 and 1997 seasons, leading the Huskers to a 41-5 record.

Nebraska's 1998 roster began to be depleted even further by injuries starting in March. Defender Karla Ledford was lost for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during the third game of her senior season at Eaglecrest (Colo.) High School. Husker senior defender Heather Brown became Nebraska's next ACL victim, suffering an ACL tear in her right knee in a spring game with Notre Dame on April 12.

The Huskers were dealt a bigger blow in mid-July when first-team All-Central Region midfielder Jenny Benson was lost for the year with a torn ACL in her right knee.

Two days before Benson's injury, All-America forward Lindsay Eddleman broke her left foot, forcing her to miss two games and play on a part-time basis for the first month of the season.

The Huskers were handcuffed even more by the absence of starters Isabelle Morneau, Amy Walsh and Karina LeBlanc, who missed the Huskers' season opener while helping the Canadian National Team win the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Tournament.

Nebraska opened its season at home against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sept. 4 with only 14 players healthy enough to play and only four players with any collegiate starting experience.

With the depleted roster, the Huskers saw their 27-game home winning streak come to an end with a 2-1 double overtime loss, despite outshooting the Panthers, 39-17.

Nebraska's loss to the unranked Panthers knocked NU from No. 8 to No. 24 in the national rankings heading into a showdown with No. 8 Clemson.

Bound to Rebound
Although Nebraska regained the services of starters LeBlanc, Morneau and Walsh from Canadian National Team duties, the Huskers still did not know what to expect from the tussle with the Tigers.

With the Canadians in the lineup and with the motivation of the season-opening loss, the Huskers overcame even more adversity to defeat the Tigers, 4-1.

Nebraska came out strong with first-half goals from Kelly Rheem and Kim Engesser to give the Huskers a 2-0 lead.

But things got complicated for the Huskers. LeBlanc suffered a concussion in the first half and missed the entire second half. The Tigers cut the lead to 2-1 less than two minutes into the second half, and Nebraska's lead appeared more suspect when reserve goalkeeper Jackie Erdkamp suffered a torn ACL five minutes later, leaving the Huskers without a goalkeeper.

Enter freshman midfielder Meghan Anderson, who stepped into goal and recorded four impressive saves to shut down the Tigers for the remaining 38 minutes.

Inspired by Anderson's performance in goal, the Huskers regained control. Engesser played a hand in all four Husker goals, notching two goals and two assists.

Walker said the performances by Anderson, Engesser and the Huskers were a turning point in the season.

"I think the first high point of the season was the Clemson game because we really didn't know how good we were at the time," Walker said. "We competed at such a high level that night against an excellent team, and we overcame the goalkeeping situation. It was a sign that this team had good talent and character."

After an impressive 3-0 win over No. 20 Stanford, the Huskers headed to California for battles with No. 25 UCLA and USC.

Against the Bruins, Anderson saw more action in goal after LeBlanc received a red card for using her hands outside of the box at the 71:30 mark. Not only was LeBlanc forced to sit out the remainder of the loss to UCLA, she was ineligible for the game with Pac-10 champion USC, forcing Anderson into her first start in goal.

Anderson again came up huge for the Huskers, posting a shutout in a 2-0 win over the Trojans at the LA Coliseum.

Walker said the win over USC was another crucial juncture in Nebraska's season.

"It was almost like watching a veteran team out there, knowing what they had to do to win the game and doing it," Walker said. "Again we played with an outfield player in goal, yet we still shut out a very good team. I knew that the win over USC was a sign of good things to come."

Huskers Get Hot
After the win over the Trojans, the Huskers opened Big 12 action with a 4-2 win over a scrappy Iowa State team before returning home to thump Loyola-Chicago, 11-0, and Southwest Missouri State, 7-0.

With four straight victories, Nebraska set up a showdown with No. 12 Texas A&M in Lincoln. On a cool, damp evening, the Huskers dominated play, outshooting the Aggies, 18-6, in a 2-0 win. The Huskers followed with a 2-1 victory over Texas to set up a top-20 showdown with No. 7 Portland in Lincoln.

Nebraska produced another dominant performance against the Pilots, outshooting Portland, 18-5, but NU was forced to settle for a 1-1 tie.

After the duel with the Pilots, Nebraska reeled off six straight Big 12 wins, including five shutouts to set up a shootout in Waco, Texas, with No. 16 Baylor for the regular-season league title.

Despite outshooting the Lady Bears, 15-6, Nebraska suffered a 1-0 defeat and Baylor claimed its first Big 12 title in any sport.

The Huskers finished the Big 12 Conference season with an impressive 9-1-0 record to finish runnerup in the regular-season Big 12 title race for the second consecutive year.

Big 12 Title Triumph
The loss to the Lady Bears gave the Huskers the No. 2 seed at the six-team Big 12 Tournament in San Antonio, Texas.

The Huskers opened tournament play against third-seeded Texas A&M, and started quickly, as Lindsay Eddleman and Sharolta Nonen scored goals in the first 15 minutes to give Nebraska a 2-0 halftime lead. But the Aggies kept battling, and Allison Peters' goal with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation forged a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation.

With momentum in the Aggies' hands, the tide appeared ready to overwhelm the Huskers when Eddleman received a red card at 103:38, leaving the Huskers with 10 players on the field in sudden death.

The Huskers survived the Aggies' onslaught for more than 20 minutes before Becky Hogan provided Nebraska with a header on a corner kick by Nonen. Hogan's goal, which was just her second of the year, ended the second-longest game in school history at 125:55 and propelled Nebraska to the title game.

While Nebraska's semifinal game was filled with last-second heroics, the Huskers took most of the drama out of the Big 12 title game with Missouri in the first half.

Midfielder Kristen Gay produced the game-winning goal for the Huskers off assists from Nonen and Christine Gluck at the 16:57 mark. Morneau added the Huskers' second score with her first goal of the season on a 35-yard blast at 20:24 to give Nebraska a 2-0 lead at intermission.

Engesser put the game out of reach with a pair of second-half goals to give the Huskers a decisive 4-0 win over Missouri. Nebraska's four-goal victory margin was the largest in Big 12 championship game history and gave the Huskers their second Big 12 Tournament title in three seasons.

Senior Leadership
Hogan's clutch goal in the Big 12 semifinals against Texas A&M demonstrated the kind of leadership Nebraska's seniors provided throughout the season.

Hogan finished her career tied with Gay for Nebraska's all-time lead in starts with 80. Hogan also earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and a spot on the Big 12 All-Tournament team. Gay finished as NU's career leader in games played with 86.

Gay's and Hogan's durability, leadership and work ethic epitomized Nebraska's team.

"Kristen and Becky were the epitomy of blue-collar players," Walker said. "Kristen gave us a tremendous ball-winning ability in the middle of the field. She really ended up having a terrific year as a senior.

"Becky Hogan had the speed, the aggressiveness and the versatility. She did an unbelievable amount of work up and down the field. That will be tough to replace."

Two other Nebraska seniors, Heather Brown and Sandy Smith will also be missed.

"We got great leadership from all of the seniors," Walker said. "Heather and Sandy, in a sense, epitomized the unselfishness of the team. They had terrific off-field personalities and worked hard at practice. And the examples they set for the younger players were excellent."

Perhaps the toughest senior to replace will be All-America forward Kim Engesser, who set school records for points (61) and goals (27) in a single season. She ended her career as Nebraska's all-time leading point-getter (116) and goal scorer (53). Engesser also became the second Husker to earn Big 12 Player-of-the-Year honors.

"The beauty of Kim was her consistency," Walker said. "She just scored goals. Where some people needed three or four chances, she just needed one. The other players knew that too, and it gave them confidence."

Husker Hardware Haul
Engesser was far from the only Husker to earn individual honors. Morneau and Nonen each earned second-team NSCAA All-America honors to go along with first-team All-Central Region and first-team All-Big 12 honors. Morneau was also named the Defensive MVP at the Big 12 Tournament. Eddleman and Walsh added first-team All-Big 12 and second-team all-region accolades, while Anderson claimed second-team All-Big 12 and third-team all-region honors.

In addition to Nebraska's prowess on the pitch, the Huskers also demonstrated their talents in the classroom by placing six players on the academic All-Big 12 Conference team.

Engesser and Morneau were two of only three soccer players in the conference to add first-team academic All-Big 12 honors to their first-team accolades on the field. Karina LeBlanc, Sandy Smith and Lauren Tatum also claimed first-team academic honors, while Amy Walsh added honorable-mention recognition.

Savoring Another Sweet 16
The strong finish helped the Huskers earn a first-round bye in the expanded 48-team NCAA Tournament and set up another match with Texas A&M in the second round.

After a lackluster effort against the Aggies in San Antonio, the Huskers dominated Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament. Lauren Tatum started a 7-0 Husker victory just 1:05 into the action. Four more goals followed before halftime, as the Huskers cruised into the round of 16.

The win set the stage for a rematch with Notre Dame. Nebraska had suffered one of the worst defeats in school history in the 1997 Sweet 16, falling 6-0 to the Irish. The 1998 meeting gave Nebraska a chance at redemption, and the Huskers showed that they would fight to the finish.

The Huskers took a 1-0 lead on Tatum's goal at 51:41, but Nebraska's advantage lasted less than two minutes as Jenny Heft answered for the Irish at 53:48. Monica Gerardo gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead with her goal at 70:06, but the Huskers refused to surrender.

"The image of us I have in that game is finishing with two corner kicks in the last minute and trying to rush to get another," Walker said. "That's how we went down, doing everything we could do to beat Notre Dame on its home field."

Although the Irish won, Walker said the game left a lasting impression on the Nebraska program.

"That is how I remember this team," Walker said. "Hard-working, blue collar, no excuses, and obviously they won a lot of games, too. It was a gratifying season.

"You don't often feel as a coach that the team plays to its potential, but we did feel that way about this team."