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Lincoln -- The Nebraska soccer team wraps up the 2003 regular season Friday afternoon against the Big 12 Champion Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder, Colo. The Huskers are 11-5-1 on the season and 6-3-0 in the Big 12 after splitting last weekend with Texas A&M and Texas. NU defeated the Aggies on Friday night, 2-1, and fell to Texas, 3-2, in a double overtime match on Sunday.
Colorado is 14-2-1 on the year and 7-1-1 in conference play, after splitting with the two Texas teams last weekend. CU defeated Texas on Friday night, but dropped a 2-0 decision to Texas A&M on Sunday.
With Nebraska’s loss to Texas, Colorado clinched the Big 12 regular-season title. NU’s game against Colorado will help determine the Huskers’ seed in the Big 12 Tournament.
The Huskers could be seeded anywhere from No. 2 to No. 5, depending on their result against Colorado, the outcome of the Texas vs. Texas A&M game and the result of the Kansas vs. Oklahoma State contest.
Nebraska is 6-0-1 all-time against Colorado, and defeated the Buffs, 4-0, in Lincoln last season.
These are two very different teams from a year ago, as both squads are led in scoring by freshmen. Jessie Bruch leads the Huskers this season with 15 points on seven goals and one assist, while Katie Griffin leads CU with 21 points on nine goals and three assists. Four Huskers will be making the trip back to their home state this weekend, including Iman Haynes, Lindsey Ingram, Kari Hogan and Pam Karakusis.
Nebraska plays its first game in school history on Halloween, but it will be a traditional end-of-the-season matchup between Nebraska and Colorado, as the weather is predicted to be in the 30s with a 30 percent chance of snow.
Following the game Friday, the Huskers will return home to begin preparations for the Big 12 Tournament, which begins Thursday, Nov. 6, in San Antonio, Texas. Nebraska will try to defend its 2002 tournament title in San Antonio. Last season’s team defeated Kansas, Texas and Texas A&M en route to the title.
Where to Find the Game
Nebraska’s game at Colorado cannot be found on the internet. Results, statistics and a recap of the action can be found after the game at Huskers.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 is 6-0-1 against Colorado, and most recently defeated the Buffaloes, 4-0, at the Abbott Sports Complex in 2002. In that game, four Huskers put a goal on the scoreboard, including Nikki Baker, Christine Latham, Iman Haynes and Kori Saunders. The Huskers dominated the field, posting 29 shots to CU’s 14 and took 11 shots on goal to Colorado’s six. Former NU goalkeeper Erin Miller recorded her 11th shutout of the season and her fifth in six games, while making six saves on the night.
Scouting Colorado
By far the most surprising team in the conference this season, Colorado clinched its first Big 12 regular-season championship in school history last weekend. The Buffaloes are 14-2-1 on the season and 7-1-1 in Big 12 play, with their only two losses this season coming to Portland in August and Texas A&M last weekend.
The Buffs were picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 by the conference coaches and proved everyone wrong by taking the lead early and holding on throughout the season.
Colorado is led by freshman Katie Griffin with 21 points on nine goals and three assists. Not too far behind is CU’s top returning scorer, Fran Munnelly, who has 17 points on five goals and seven assists.
Jessica Keller has seen most of the time in the net this season for Colorado, posting a stellar 0.47 goals-against average and 44 saves in 1,334 minutes of play.
Last weekend CU split with Texas and Texas A&M, picking up a 1-0 win over the Longhorns on Friday night and dropping a 2-0 decision to Texas A&M on Sunday.
The Buffs are 8-1-0 at home this season and 4-0-0 in Big 12 home games. They have outscored their opponents 35-9 on the season and have outshot the opponents 245-147.
Colorado has defeated Georgia, Denver, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas en route to its impressive 14-2-1 record.
The Last Time Out
Nebraska seized the biggest win of the 2003 season on Friday night, when it defeated No. 9 Texas A&M, 2-1, in College Station.
The Huskers got on the board first with a goal by sophomore Kari Hogan on an assist by Brooke Bredenberg.
Texas A&M struck back two and a half minutes later to tie the score at 1-1.
Junior Jenna Cooper took the honor of scoring the game-winning goal just over three minutes later on a corner kick that bent in and deflected off the Aggie keeper to give the Huskers the win.
On Sunday, NU dropped a 3-2 double-overtime loss to Texas to end the Huskers’ chances of winning the Big 12 regular-season title.
Twice the Huskers were down, and they fought back both times, getting goals from Nikki Baker and Jessie Bruch. But with five minutes remaining in the second overtime period UT’s Kelly McDonald notched the game-winner for the Longhorns.
Up Next
The Huskers will take Sunday off after wrapping up the regular season at Colorado on Friday afternoon. Following the trip to Boulder, the Huskers travel to San Antonio, Texas for the 2003 Big 12 Tournament. NU could be seeded anywhere from second to fifth, depending on the outcome of three different games on Friday night.
Texas Tech and Baylor are the only teams mathematically eliminated from the tournament, which leaves Iowa State and Missouri to fight it out for the last spot in their game on Friday night in Ames.
The Huskers have won five of the last seven Big 12 Tournament championships, including the 2002 title.
As an underdog, Nebraska won the 2002 championship with wins over Kansas, Texas and Texas A&M to notch the Big 12’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
What It’s Worth
The game against Colorado is worth more than just pride. If Nebraska should win or tie and Texas loses to Texas A&M, the Huskers would finish second in the conference. If Texas wins, the best Nebraska can do is tie for second, but the tiebreaker would go to Texas, which would be the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament.
If the Huskers fall to Colorado, Kansas defeats Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M beats Texas, Nebraska would fall to fifth place.
The Huskers have never finished lower than third place in a Big 12 Conference race.
The Polls
Nebraska remained at No. 22 in this week’s NSCAA Top 25 after posting a win over No. 9 Texas A&M and losing to Texas last weekend. North Carolina remains No. 1 with a perfect 17-0-0 record and Notre Dame continues to hold on to the No. 2 ranking. Colorado improved to No. 6 this week, with a 14-2-1 record, where it is tied with Texas A&M. The Buffs defeated Texas and fell to Texas A&M.
Kansas bounced back into the poll at No. 21, one spot ahead of the Huskers, after defeating Oklahoma and Michigan last weekend.
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 38 starts.
Those numbers are pretty impressive, considering two of the most hyped Husker freshmen have only been with Nebraska for six games this season, due to their play on the Canadian National Team in the Women’s World Cup, and Tanya Dennis has not played since her return due to a concussion.
Brittany Timko got her first start in a Husker uniform against Kansas, and started both games against Texas A&M and Texas.
The freshmen have also combined for 36 of the Huskers’ 98 points on the season, or 36.7 percent of NU’s scoring.
Jessie Bruch leads the Huskers in scoring this season with 15 points on seven goals and one assist, while Ashley Carter is not far behind with 14 points on six goals and two assists.
NU vs. Ranked Opponents
Nebraska’s win against ninth-ranked Texas A&M was the Huskers’ second win this season over an opponent that was in the NSCAA Top 25 at game time. Before the win over the Aggies, the last time NU defeated a ranked opponent was against No. 18 Oklahoma on Oct. 10.
On the season, Nebraska is 2-2-0 against teams that are ranked in the top 25. The Huskers fell to No. 10 Duke and No. 1 North Carolina in the second week of the season.
Before the Oklahoma game, Nebraska had not beaten a ranked team since defeating No. 5 Texas and No. 3 Texas A&M in back-to-back games in the 2002 Big 12 Tournament.
Defense Standing Strong
The Husker defense has played well as the season has progressed, even without key senior defender Christy Harms. The NU back line has posted a 1.37 goals-against average on the season and has held the opposing offense to just 230 shots in 17 games. That is almost 100 less than the NU offense has posted. The Nebraska goalkeepers have only had to make 88 saves on the season, for a 0.78 save percentage. The Huskers have only allowed the opponent to score more than two goals in a game three times this season and have only given up more than one goal five times this year. Nebraska has posted four shutouts this season.
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.
Nationally Ranked
Jenna Cooper is among the top 10 athletes in the country in assists per game. Cooper is tied at eighth among Division I players in games through Oct. 19, 2003, with nine assists and 0.60 assists per game on the season. As of Oct. 19, Kari Hogan was tied for second in the country in single-game assists with four assists against Iowa State on Sept. 26.
Around the Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 season comes to an end on Friday and only a handful of teams play non-conference games on Sunday. The big matchups to watch will be Nebraska at Colorado, Texas A&M at Texas, Oklahoma State at Kansas and Missouri at Iowa State. The only game that does not have postseason implications is Texas Tech at Baylor.