Nebraska Takes on Oklahoma Tonight

Lincoln -- The Nebraska soccer team returns home this week for its final homestand of the season stretching through next weekend. The Huskers will face Oklahoma Friday night at 7 at the Abbott Sports Complex, before taking Sunday off for the first time this season.

NU will wrap up the home season the following weekend when the Huskers play host to Oklahoma State Oct. 17 and Kansas on Oct. 19, before hitting the road for their final three Big 12 regular-season contests.

Nebraska is 8-3-1 on the season and 3-1-0 in the Big 12 Conference going into the matchup with Oklahoma. The Sooners enter the match at 7-3-2 and 2-1-1 in conference action and jumped Nebraska in the polls this week.

NU has looked well-rounded offensively as of late, with three Huskers contributing at least four goals on the season and five players with at least nine points.

Freshman Ashley Carter is leading the way with 12 points on five goals and two assists, while sophomore Nikki Baker and freshman Jessie Bruch each have four goals and one assist. Sophomore Kari Hogan is tied with Bruch and Baker on the scoring charts with nine points on seven assists and one goal.

The Huskers and Sooners will battle for positioning in the wild Big 12 standings. Colorado is leading the conference with a perfect 4-0 record, while Oklahoma State is second with a 3-0-1 conference mark. Nebraska is third at 3-1-0 and Oklahoma is fourth with a 2-1-1 mark.

Oklahoma is led by Lauren McIver who has posted 13 points on four goals and five assists on the season. Catherine Wade has posted a 7-3-2 record as the Sooner goalkeeper with a 1.48 goals-against average.

Nebraska is 6-1-0 all-time against Oklahoma and defeated the Sooners 1-0 in Lincoln last season. The win over Oklahoma marked the start of a seven-game winning streak, and the Huskers did not lose another game until falling to Santa Clara in the NCAA Sweet 16.

The Sooners finished the season 11-8 and did not qualify for the Big 12 Tournament.

Where to Find the Game
Nebraska's game against Oklahoma can be heard live on Huskers.com. The Huskers' home games will be carried for the second year on KRNU 90.3 and can be found at Huskers.com. All games will be live on Huskers.com, while a few will also be carried on 90.3 FM, the campus student station. A student team of Chris Liberto, Dave Hunt and Tony Gorman will call the action throughout the season. The game can also be followed statistically with live stats at Huskers.com.

The Last Time We Met
Nebraska defeated Oklahoma, 1-0, at the Abbott Sports Complex in 2002. The win came after a frustrating 2-1 loss to Oklahoma State two days earlier.

The win for the Huskers sparked a six-game winning streak, carrying through the Big 12 Tournament and all the way to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Christine Latham scored the only goal of the game with just over a minute remaining in the first half.

The Huskers outshot the Sooners, 27-15, and posted 12 shots on goal to OU's five.

NU goalkeeper Erin Miller recorded five saves on the day, while OU's Catherine Wade notched 10 of the team's 11 saves.

The Sooners finished ninth in the Big 12 Conference with a 4-6 record, after losing to Oklahoma State when the Cowgirls scored three goals in the last six minutes in the final regular-season contest.

OU returned six starters from 2002, including leading scorer Logan Womack.

Scouting Oklahoma
Oklahoma has had a solid start to the 2003 season, going 7-3-2 overall and 2-1-1 in Big 12 play. The Sooners have taken wins over Texas (2-1), and Missouri (2-1 OT) in the Big 12, as well as non-conference wins over Arkansas (3-1), New Mexico (2-1 OT), SMU (2-1 OT) and Tulsa (2-0).

Last weekend, OU escaped with a 2-1 overtime win at Missouri on Sunday after tying Iowa state, 2-2, on Friday night in Ames.

The Sooners got two goals from Savannah Scott against Missouri and Jessica Talton and Heidi Martinson each pitched in one goal against Iowa State.

Oklahoma is leading the conference with 83 saves on the season, with 6.92 per game.

The Sooners moved into the NSCAA Top 25 for the first time this season last week, with a win over Texas. OU claimed the 24th spot last week and moved up to No. 18 this week.

The Last Time Out
The Huskers split last weekend, picking up a 3-1 win over Texas Tech on Sunday and dropping a 2-1 decision at Baylor Friday night. Nebraska got goals from three players Sunday against Texas Tech, with sophomore Nikki Baker scoring her fourth goal in three games.

Baker contributed the game-winning goal at the 58:36 mark to put the Huskers up 2-1. Freshman Jessie Bruch scored NU's first goal of the contest and her fourth of the season on an assist by Jenna Cooper.

Ashley Carter put in the third and final goal at the 65:10 mark to give the Huskers the win.

The Huskers struggled to get anything going offensively against Baylor. Baker scored NU's only goal at the 73:02 mark off a rebound on a shot by Jenna Cooper and an assist by Kari Hogan.

The Bears put together two goals in a span of 36 seconds to give them a 2-0 advantage early in the second half.

Up Next
Next week the Huskers will conclude the regular-season home schedule at the Abbott Sports Complex when they play host to Oklahoma State and Kansas.

Oklahoma State is off to its best start in school history with an 11-0-1 overall record and a 3-0-1 Big 12 mark.

The Cowgirls defeated Texas, 3-1, last weekend and took their only tie of the season against Texas A&M, 0-0, after a double-overtime game.

OSU leads the conference in shots (278), goals (52), assists (52) and points (156).

Oklahoma State handed Nebraska its first loss in the series between the two schools, with a 2-1 win in Lincoln in 2002.

The Huskers will honor their lone senior, Christy Harms, Sunday afternoon before the Kansas game.

NU faced the Jayhawks twice in 2002, tying them, 1-1, during the regular season in Lawrence, and defeating them 2-1 in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Kansas is 9-3-1 and 1-2-1 in the conference after tying No. 3 Texas A&M and falling to Texas 1-0 last weekend.

Following the homestand, NU will go on the road to face Texas A&M, Texas and Colorado.

Baker Cooks Up Four Goals
Nikki Baker was no where to be found on the Nebraska stat sheet just two weeks ago and now the sophomore from Bixby, Okla., is near the top of the list, trailing only Ashley Carter.

Baker has scored four goals in the last three games, contributing game winners over Missouri and Texas Tech.

The 5-6 forward has posted nine points on four goals and one assist on the season and is tied with Jessie Bruch and Kari Hogan on the NU scoring charts.

Baker has taken 20 shots on the season and posted six shots on goal. In 2002 she started in all but one game and posted 20 points on nine goals and two assists to earn Big 12 All-Newcomer honors.

Nebraska Big 12 Leaders
Jenna Cooper, Kari Hogan, Jessie Bruch, Brooke Bredenberg, and Ashley Carter are some of the names you can find at the top of the Big 12 statistical leaders.

Cooper and Hogan are blazing the way with numerous assists to their credit. Cooper is tied for second with eight assists on the season, while Hogan is tied for fourth, notching seven.

Jessie Bruch leads the Huskers with 41 shots on the season and is fifth on the Big 12 list, as well as fifth in shots-per-game with 3.42.

Bredenberg has cracked the top five in goals-against average, allowing only one goal per game. Bredenberg is eighth in saves with 38 on the season, crediting the defense with making the stops before the ball ever gets to the keeper. The Dayton, Minn., native is also tied at seventh with two shutouts this season.

Carter ranks second in the league with three game-winning goals on the year.

The Polls
The Huskers dropped eight spots in the NSCAA Top 25 to No. 22 this week after losing a game to Baylor and picking up a win over Texas Tech. North Carolina remains No. 1 with a perfect 13-0-0 record and Notre Dame continues to hold on to the No. 2 ranking.

Colorado went from 15th to No. 12 this week, after defeating Baylor and Tech. Texas A&M dropped to No. 5 after tying Kansas, 1-1, and Oklahoma State, 0-0.

Oklahoma improved to No.18, up six spots from a week ago with a tie at Iowa State and an overtime win over Missouri.

Texas (6-6-0) remained out of the polls and Oklahoma State is receiving votes with an 11-0-1 record on the season.

NU has finished in the final NSCAA Top 15 for the last seven seasons.

Home Sweet Home
Nebraska has played well at the Abbott Sports Complex this season, extending its home-winning streak to eight games, dating back to Oct. 27, 2002, when the Huskers defeated Oklahoma, 1-0. NU opened the 2003 schedule with home wins over DePaul and Iowa and extended the streak against Mississippi State and Murray State. The Huskers improved the streak with wins over Iowa State and Missouri.

The last time the Huskers were undefeated at home was the 2001 season when they collected a 12-0-0 record. NU has also put up perfect home seasons in 1996 (13-0-0) and 1997 (12-0-0). The Huskers will try and add 2003 to that list. Nebraska plays host to three more home games this season, including games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas.

Huskers in World Cup Action
Featuring six current and formerHuskers, Canada's Women's World Cup team will face the United States in the consolation game of the WWC Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

The list of Huskers includes Isabelle Morneau, Sharolta Nonen, Karina LeBlanc, Christine Latham, Brittany Timko, andTanya Dennis.

Former Husker Christine Latham has scored three goals for Canada, which was eliminated from the finals Sunday night with a 2-1 loss to Sweden.

Husker fans can also follow the Women's World Cup through the eyes of former Nebraska defender Jenny Benson. The former Philadelphia Charge defender is covering the WWC for ESPN Soccernet.com.

Around the Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 standings are starting to take shape and they look nothing like the preseason rankings. Colorado is leading the way with a 4-0 conference record, while Oklahoma State is 3-0-1 in conference and 11-0-1 overall. Nebraska is third at 3-1-0. Oklahoma is fourth (2-1-1) and Texas A&M is fifth at 1-0-2. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Texas, which is currently seventh with one win and two losses in league play. Colorado has Minnesota and Oklahoma this weekend, while OSU is at Missouri and Iowa State. Texas and Texas A&M host Baylor and Texas Tech.