Huskers Travel to Lone Star State for Texas-Sized Tests

 

The Nebraska soccer team faces one of its biggest road challenges of the season this weekend, when the Huskers travel to Texas to take on Texas A&M on Friday at 8 p.m. and Texas on Sunday at 1 p.m.

 

The weekend could go a long way in determining the Big 12 regular season conference champion. Colorado sits atop the standings with a 6-0-1 conference record, followed by Nebraska and Texas which are tied at second (5-2-0) and Texas A&M in fourth with a 4-1-2 record.

 

Nebraska is coming off an exciting 3-2 win over Oklahoma State and a disappointing 1-0 loss to Kansas in its final regular-season home weekend.

 

Texas A&M went 1-1 on the weekend with a 2-0 win over Iowa State and a surprising 5-4 overtime loss at Missouri. The Longhorns improved their winning streak to four games, with 1-0 wins at Mizzou and Iowa State.

 

Nebraska split games with Texas and Texas A&M last season, losing the regular-season games in Lincoln, but defeating Texas in the semifinals and Texas A&M in the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament in San Antonio, Texas.

 

NU is led by freshmen Ashley Carter and Jessie Bruch with six goals each, but have received offensive production 10 Huskers who have at least one goal on the season.

 

The Huskers will wrap up the regular season on the road. After making the trip to Texas, NU will travel to Colorado on Oct. 31 to conclude the season.

 

Nebraska travels to San Antonio, Nov. 6-9, to defend its Big 12 Tournament title.

 

Where to Find the Game

Nebraska’s games at Texas A&M and Texas can be heard live and followed statistically on each home school’s website.

 

The game against Texas A&M can be found at AggieAthletics.com and for $4.95 fans can subscribe to the Aggie Ultimate Access for a month and see the live video stream of the match. The Texas broadcast can be heard at TexasSports.com.

 

The Huskers’ Big 12 Tournament games will be carried for the first time on KRNU 90.3 and can be found at Huskers.com. 

 

A student team of Chris Liberto and Dave Hunt will call the action throughout the tournament.

 

The Last Time We Met

Nebraska went 1-1 with both Texas A&M and Texas in 2002. The Longhorns defeated the Huskers, 4-0, and the Aggies took a 3-2 win out of Lincoln.

 

The Huskers bounced back to avenge both losses in the Big 12 Tournament.

 

Nebraska defeated the fifth-ranked Longhorns, 2-1, in overtime. Senior Christine Latham knocked in the game-winning goal 55 seconds into the extra period. Latham scored both goals for the Huskers on breakaways.

 

Nebraska let the regular-season game against Texas A&M slip away after Nikki Baker scored the Huskers’ first goal of the game just 3:15 into the contest.

 

Nebraska bounced back to defeat the third-ranked Aggies 1-0 in the Big 12 Tournament championship game to earn its fifth conference tournament title.

 

Jenna Cooper scored the game-winning goal 7:08 into the contest, and the NU defense played relentlessly to hold on to the win.

 

Scouting Texas A&M

Texas A&M suffered its most surprising loss of the season last Sunday, falling 5-4 at Missouri. The Aggies entered the game ranked fourth in the country and Missouri had not won a conference game heading into the contest.

 

Texas A&M enters the Nebraska game 11-2-2 on the season and 4-1-2 in the Big 12 Conference.

 

The Aggies have tied Oklahoma State and Kansas this season and only suffered losses at the hands of No. 1 North Carolina and MU.

 

Texas A&M won the 2002 Big 12 regular-season championship, its second in school history, and eventually made it to the NCAA Elite Eight, before ending its season against North Carolina in a 3-0 loss.

 

The Aggies are led by Kristen Strutz with 25 points on 10 goals and five assists.

 

Kati Jo Spisak has only allowed 10 goals in the Aggie net and has posted a 0.66 goals-against average on the season.

 

Texas A&M is coached by G. Guerrieri, who is 182-50-8 in his 11 seasons in College Station.

 

Scouting Texas

The University of Texas was picked by the conference coaches to win the Big 12 regular-season title, but quickly found itself at 6-6 on the season, before picking up wins in its last four contests.

 

The Longhorns are now 10-6-0 on the season and 5-2-0 in the Big 12, tied with NU for second place in the conference race.

 

Texas has picked up four consecutive wins over Baylor (4-0), Texas Tech (7-0), Missouri (2-1) and Iowa State (1-0) coming into the weekend.

 

The Longhorns will face Colorado, which is undefeated in conference play, on Friday night before taking on the Huskers Sunday afternoon.

 

UT is led by Kelly McDonald with 28 points on 12 goals and four assists. Kelly Wilson is second on the Texas scoring charts with 18 points on seven goals and four assists. It was McDonald and Wilson who combined for four goals in the win over Nebraska last season.

 

Dana Hall, Alex Gagarin, and Darci Carruthers have all shared time in the Texas goal and have combined for a 1.30 goals-against average.

 

Texas is coached by Chris Petrucelli, who is in his 14th season as a collegiate coach and his fifth year with the Longhorns.

 

 

The Last Time Out

Nebraska had a weekend of highs and lows, picking up a dramatic last-second win over Oklahoma State and a frustrating loss to Kansas.

 

On Friday night, The Huskers defeated Oklahoma State 3-2 with a game winner by Jessie Bruch with five seconds remaining on the regulation clock.

 

Junior Lindsey Ingram set up the play by crossing the ball in to Bruch between two Cowgirl defenders.

 

Freshman Ashley Carter scored the first goal of the game at the 16:17 mark on a corner kick by Kari Hogan. Sophomore Pam Karakusis recorded her first career goal on another corner kick, this time set up by Jenna Cooper.

 

OSU’s Jolene Schweitzer scored two quick goals at the 41:28 and 44:47 marks to tie the game at 2-2.

 

Bruch came through in the clutch to give the Huskers the exciting win.

 

Against Kansas, Nebraska was not so lucky, taking a 1-0 loss to the Jayhawks, the Huskers’ only home loss of the season and the first loss in school history to KU.

 

Kansas’ Caroline Smith scored the only goal of the game at the 56:16 mark when she split the NU defenders and knocked a shot past Brooke Bredenberg.

 

The loss ended the Huskers’ three-game winning streak and was only NU’s second loss in the last nine games.

 

Up Next

Following the road trip to Texas, the Huskers will make one more regular-season trip to Colorado for the Big 12 finale.

 

The Buffaloes are 13-1-1 on the season and leading the Big 12 with a 6-0-1 conference mark.

 

Depending on what happens in the coming weekend between Nebraska, Colorado, Texas and Texas A&M, the contest could have dramatic effects on seeding for the Big 12 Tournament, as well as Big 12 regular-season title ramifications.

 

Following the trip to Boulder, Colo., the Huskers will take Sunday off before traveling to San Antonio, Texas, for the Big 12 Tournament, Nov. 6-9.

 

Call Her Ms. Clutch

Freshmen Jessie Bruch and Ashley Carter each have three game-winning goals on the season to their name, but Bruch has a knack for the dramatic finish.

 

The freshman from St. Louis, Mo., did something that is rarely seen on the pitch, scoring the game-winning goal with just five ticks remaining on the regulation clock against Oklahoma State on Friday night.

 

Junior Lindsey Ingram gave her a spectacular pass just a few yards out, and Bruch just slipped it past the Cowgirl goalkeeper for the win.

 

Just a week earlier, Bruch found a way to will the Huskers to victory with the game-winning goal in the fifth minute of the second overtime period against Oklahoma.

 

Against the Sooners, Bruch launched a shot from short range that bounced off the keeper and into perfect position for the freshman to try a different angle and put it in the back of the net for the NU victory.

 

Freshmen Phenoms

The Husker freshmen entered the season with something to prove. The youngsters were touted as the eighth-best recruiting class in Division I soccer according to Soccer America.

 

They have lived up to their hype and more. Five of the seven NU freshmen have been on the field for the opening kickoff this season and together the five have made 35 starts.

 

Those numbers are pretty impressive, considering two of the most hyped Husker freshmen have only been with Nebraska for four games this season, due to their play on the Canadian National Team in the Women’s World Cup.

 

Brittany Timko got her first start in a Husker uniform this weekend against Kansas, but Tanya Dennis was forced to watch from the sideline, after suffering a concussion in the WWC.

 

The freshmen have also combined for 33 of the Huskers’ 86 points on the season, or 38.4 percent of NU’s scoring.

 

Ashley Carter leads the Huskers in scoring this season with 14 points on six goals and two assists, while Jessie Bruch is not far behind with 13 points on six goals and one assist.

 

Making a Mark

Several Huskers have already made their mark in the Nebraska record books this season and many more are close to etching their names in NU history.

 

Junior Jenna Cooper is tied for ninth place on the all-time Nebraska career assist list with 20. She is tied with Kari Uppinghouse (1995-97) and Kori Saunders (1999-02). Cooper’s game-winning assist against Iowa took her from 10th to tied for seventh on the career game-winning assist list.

 

Kari Hogan tied the NU school record for assists in a game with four against Iowa State, on Sept. 26, and is quickly making her way up the career assist chart with 11 in her freshman and sophomore seasons. She also has three game-winning assists on the season and needs just one more to place on the top five individual season record list for game-winning assists.

 

Freshmen Ashley Carter and Jessie Bruch are two game-winning goals shy of earning a place on the game-winning goal top 10 career list and a place in the individual season top six.

 

Junior Brooke Bredenberg has already found her place in the goalkeeper records in her first season in net. She is sixth on the career charts and fourth on the season-record list for saves with 51. Freshman Katie Wright is seventh on the career list with 20 saves this season.

 

 

Husker Domination

A tribute to the Nebraska offense and defense, NU has outscored its opponents 28-20 on the season and has outshot the opponents 300-187.

 

Nebraska is averaging 1.82 goals-per game, despite only putting up single goals in five games.

 

The Huskers have 44 more shots on goal than their opponents, with a 140-96 advantage.

 

Doing what they do best, the Huskers have nearly tripled their opponents’ corner kicks, taking 121 compared to 44 by the opposition.

 

On the Sideline

Former Nebraska forward Christine Latham has rejoined the Huskers for the remainder of the season on the NU bench as a student-assistant coach.

 

Latham holds the Nebraska school records in points (167), goals (67), game-winning goals (23), multiple-goal games (17), shots (400) as well as several others.

 

The Calgary, Alberta, native returned with freshmen Brittany Timko and Tanya Dennis from their playing stint for the Canadian National Team in their fourth-place finish in the 2003 Women’s World Cup.

 

Latham is also coming off a WUSA season in which she was named the Rookie-of-the-Year as a member of the San Diego Spirit. She is in the process of finishing up her degree and will now play a major role in developing the talent of the young Nebraska forwards in the meantime.

 

Thoughts of the NCAA

The Huskers have a long way to go before they can begin thinking about the NCAA Tournament, but as the games become fewer, they must continue to crank out wins to join the NCAA picture.

 

Nebraska is 10-4-1 on the season, with three regular-season matches remaining, as well as the Big 12 Tournament.

 

The Huskers have been a part of the NCAA Tournament for the last seven years, and have never finished outside of the NCAA Sweet 16.

 

A few more wins will ensure them a ticket to the tourney and could play a role in whether the Huskers get a chance to play at home or go on the road.

 

Nationally Ranked

Jenna Cooper is among the top 15 athletes in the country in assists per game. Cooper is tied at 15th among Division I players in games through Oct. 12, 2003, with eight assists and 0.62 assists per game on the season.

 

As of Oct. 12, Kari Hogan was tied for second in the country in single-game assists with four assists against Iowa State on Sept. 26.

 

The Numbers

Nebraska is one of only four teams (and the only Big 12 team) to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in each of the past seven seasons.

 

Since the Big 12 was formed in 1996, the Huskers have claimed five of the seven conference tournament championships, winning in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2002.  Nebraska also won regular-season titles in 1996, 1999 and 2000.

 

In eight seasons of Big 12 action, the Huskers have produced an overall conference record of 64-10-2, for a league-best winning percentage of .855.

 

Through the past six seasons, the Huskers have a combined record of 27-4-3 against the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences.  Nebraska is 4-2-2 vs. the ACC, 9-0-1 vs. the Big Ten, 8-1 vs. the SEC, and 6-1 against the Pac-10.

 

Nebraska Big 12 Leaders

The Huskers have sprung to the top of several statistical categories in Big 12 play.

 

Overall, NU is second in shots on the season with 300, and first in shots in conference games with 161.

 

The Huskers are also second in points during the conference schedule with 53, but are sixth among conference teams for the entire season.

 

The Big Red ranks in the top three in Big 12 games in goals (tied at second, 17), assists (second, 19), and corner kicks (second, 52).

 

For all games, Nebraska is sixth in goals and tied for fourth in assists.

 

Individually, Jessie Bruch is tied for second in shots (61) for all games and leads the Big 12 with 34 in conference games.

 

Ashley Carter and Nikki Baker are among the leaders in scoring in conference games. Carter is tied for seventh with nine points on four goals and one assist, while Baker is tied at 10th with eight points in five games. Both Huskers are tied for fourth in goals scored with four.

 

Junior Jenna Cooper is tied for second with nine assists in all games and tied for third in Big 12 games with four.

 

Kari Hogan is fourth with eight assists in 15 games.

 

Brooke Bredenberg is fifth in all games with a 1.07 goals-against average. 

 

The Polls

Nebraska dropped from  No. 16 to No. 22 in this week’s NSCAA Top 25 after collecting a win over Oklahoma State and losing to Kansas last weekend.

 

North Carolina remains No. 1 with a perfect 16-0-0 record and Notre Dame continues to hold on to the No. 2 ranking.

 

Colorado jumped to No. 7 this week, with a 13-1-1 record and wins last week over Kansas and Oklahoma State.

 

Texas A&M dropped from No. 5 to No. 9 this week, after falling to Missouri and winning over Iowa State.

 

Colorado took over the top spot in the Central Region rankings this week. Texas A&M fell to second, while Tennessee bounced to No. 3 with wins over Arkansas and LSU and Nebraska comes in at No. 4. Oklahoma is ranked sixth, Texas is seventh and Kansas is tied at eighth in the region.

 

Head Coach John Walker

In his 10th season at the helm of the Nebraska program, John Walker has accumulated staggering numbers, including a 169-38-8 record and an .805 winning percentage that ranks second among all Division I active coaches.

 

Walker led the Huskers to the NCAA postseason in 1996 and has finished in the top 15 nationally for the last seven seasons.

 

He has taken NU to the NCAA Sweet 16 in each of the last seven seasons, including two trips to the Elite Eight.

 

The Kingston, Ontario, native posted his best season in scarlet and cream in 1999, when the Huskers finished with a 22-1-2 final record. Under Walker, NU has won three Big 12 regular-season titles and five of the seven Big 12 Tournament championships.

 

Around the Big 12 Conference

The conference race is intensifying, and Colorado is in the lead with a 6-0-1 league record. Nebraska, Texas and Texas A&M all have a .714 winning percentage, but with the point system, Texas A&M is a point behind NU and UT.

 

The conference is much more competitive this season, compared to those in the past, as seven teams have at least three wins through at least seven games. While four teams have only one win in the conference season, the top two-thirds of the conference will fight it out in the last two weeks of regular-season play to determine a conference winner.

 

The biggest matches of the weekend include the top four schools in the conference race. Nebraska and Colorado travel to Texas and Texas A&M to battle for the top spot.

 

Last weekend, Colorado picked up wins over Oklahoma State and Kansas, while Texas A&M let a game at Missouri slip away and suffered a 5-4 overtime loss to Missouri.

 

Texas extended its winning streak to four with wins over Missouri and Iowa State, while Oklahoma State picked up two out of its only three losses of the season.