Huskers Head for Big 12 Tournament

The Nebraska soccer team has lost two games in a row, but looks to rebound on Wednesday in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament in San Antonio, Texas, where NU has traditionally excelled.

In the eight-year history of the Big 12 Tournament, Nebraska has advanced to the semifinals every season and has advanced to a league-high six championship games, where the Huskers have claimed a league-high five titles.

Overall, NU boasts a 16-3 record at the tournament, including a nine-game winning streak from 1998 to 2001.

The Huskers dropped the final game of the regular season at home to Colorado, 2-0. The loss was the second consecutive game Nebraska was shut out and marked the Huskers' first loss by more than one goal in 2004.

With the loss, NU dropped to the No. 5 seed and will face fourth-seeded Texas at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Blossom Soccer Stadium. While history may be on their side at the tournament, the Huskers must contend with the circumstances of the present. When Nebraska takes the field on Wednesday, it will be looking to avoid the first three-game losing streak in program history and will try to avoid becoming the first squad to exit the Big 12 tournament before the semifinals.

Nebraska and Texas met in Lincoln during the regular season, with the Huskers posting a wild 4-3 victory over the Longhorns, who have not lost since that Oct. 8 match. In all, NU has been impressive against the tournament field, posting a 5-2 overall record and a perfect 3-0 mark against its half of the bracket.

The winner of the Texas-Nebraska game advances to Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal against either top-seeded Kansas or eighth-seeded Iowa State.

Scouting Texas (11-5-1, 6-3-1)
Texas has been on a roll lately, compiling a 6-1-1 record in the month of October. In that time, Nebraska is the only team to defeat the Longhorns.

UT is led offensively by Kelly Wilson, who has totaled 11 goals, 11 assists and 33 points this season, all team highs. Wilson is not the only Longhorn capable of contributing a goal, however. Kelsey Carpenter has 20 points in 2004 and three other players have recorded at least 10 points. Texas also benefits from tremendous depth. Fifteen Longhorns have scored a goal or added an assist this season.

Texas' depth could prove to be the difference against a Nebraska squad that has been shorthanded all season and will be missing three starters this week.

In net, Dana Hall and Alex Gagarin have both seen extensive playing time. Gagarin, who started against the Huskers in the Oct. 8 meeting, has a 4-1-2 record in seven starts, including three shutouts. She also boasts an impressive goals-against average of 1.17 in nearly 700 minutes in goal.

Nebraska leads the all-time series 8-4-0 and is 1-0 against the Longhorns in the Big 12 Tournament.

Last Time We Met
Nebraska extended its winning streak to seven in a row with a wild 4-3 win over Texas at the Abbott Sports Complex on Oct. 8. Texas jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 3:05 into the game, before back-to-back goals by senior Brooke Bredenberg and junior Nikki Baker in a 43-second span gave NU a 2-1 lead.

The Huskers took a 3-1 lead on a goal by sophomore Brittany Timko in the 28th minute, but the Longhorns' Caitlin Kennedy pulled Texas with 3-2 with a goal just 50 seconds later.

After the first half saw five goals, each team only found the back of the net once in the second half as Nebraska held off a late UT charge. Baker scored her second goal of the game in the 61st minute to give NU a 4-2 lead. Kelly Wilson brought Texas to within 4-3 in the 75th minute, and the Longhorns applied plenty of offensive pressure in the game's final 15 minutes, but could not find the equalizer.

Wilson led Texas with a goal and an assist. Baker led Nebraska with a career night. Her two assists and six points were career highs and her two goals tied her career high.

In goal, sophomore Katie Wright made five saves for NU, while Alex Gagarin made six saves in goal for the Longhorns.

NU vs. the Rest of the Big 12 Field
Nebraska went 5-2 against the other seven teams that qualified for the Big 12 Tournament. NU owns a 67-15-2 all-time record against these teams and enjoys an 11-3 record against the teams in the Big 12 Touranment.

Nebraska in the Big 12 Tournament
Nebraska has enjoyed great success in the Big 12 Tournament, which dates back to 1996. In the eight-year history of the Big 12 Tournament, NU has:

---Advanced to the semifinals in each year, the only team to accomplish that feat.

---Advanced to the championship game a league-high six times.

---Captured the tournament title a league-high five times.

---Compiled a league-best 16-3 all-time record.

Nebraska's 2003 Big 12 Tournament Recap
Nebraska went 1-1 at last year's Big 12 Tournament and advanced to the semifinals for the eighth straight year. The Huskers opened the tournament with a 2-1 upset over 14th-ranked Texas A&M. Sophomore Brittany Timko scored both Husker goals, including the game winner 1:20 into the first overtime period.

In the semifinals, Nebraska faced Missouri and fell behind 2-0 at halftime and 3-0 in the 57th minute before staging a valiant comeback effort. The Huskers pulled to within 3-1 on an Ashley Tenn goal in the 59th minute and Jessie Bruch added a goal in the 82nd minute, but NU would get no closer, falling 3-2 to the Tigers. In the second half, Nebraska dominated and outshot MU 14-4, but the Huskers could not overcome their slow start.

Sophomore Brittany Timko was the only NU player to earn Big 12 All-Tournament honors after scoring two goals in two games.

Baker’s Best
Junior forward Nikki Baker scored her 10th goal of the season in the Huskers’ 3-0 shutout over Texas Tech on Oct. 15. Baker’s goal, her fifth in four games, was her single-season career best 10th goal and gave her a single-season career-high 22 points.

Through 19 games, Baker has scored 10 goals, notched two assists?tying her single-season career high?and has produced 22 points. In her freshman campaign, the Bixby, Okla., native set career highs with nine goals, two assists and 20 points in 24 games.

For the season, Baker ranks fifth in the Big 12 Conference in game-winning goals (three), fourth in goals (10) and points (22), fifth in goals per game (0.56), fifth in points per game (1.22) and ninth in shots (47).

Timko Ties Record
Sophomore Brittany Timko, who is enjoying one of the best seasons in school history, moved into a three-way tie for first place on Nebraska’s all-time single-season list by notching her fifth game-winning assist of the season in the Huskers’ 3-0 blanking of Texas Tech on Oct. 15.

Tough Decisions
The Nebraska soccer team is 6-6 in 2004 in games decided by one goal. Six of Nebraska's seven losses have come by one goal. Half of those six losses have come by a score of 1-0, including a loss to Oklahoma on Oct. 24.

The Huskers have grown accustomed to playing close games. Nine of Nebraska's last 12 games - and 12 of NU's 19 games overall - have been decided by one goal. Last Friday's loss to Colorado was the first time this season NU had lost by more than one goal and marked only the second time in 2004 that Nebraska trailed by more than one goal at any point in the game.

Road Warriors
Although the Huskers only played six road games this season, NU was very successful on the road. The Huskers finished 5-1 on the road this season, after suffering their first road loss of the season at Oklahoma.

Four of NU’s five road victories have come in Big 12 Conference play, with the Huskers recording victories over league co-champion Kansas (1-0), Iowa State (3-2), Missouri (2-1 OT) and Oklahoma State (2-0). Nebraska’s other road victory came in a 3-2 come-from-behind win over in-state rival Creighton on Sept. 21.

Tale of Two Halves
The Nebraska soccer team has been accustomed to starting fast this season. The Huskers have scored first in nine of their last 13 games and have outscored the opposition by an overwhelming 25-8 margin, despite falling behind 1-0 at the half in their last two games. NU has held a halftime lead in 13 of its 19 games (68 percent). After beating Oklahoma State on Oct. 22, Nebraska is now 11-2 this season when leading at the half. The Huskers have also scored first in 12 games this year and are 10-2 when scoring first.

While Nebraska has dominated the first 45 minutes, the Huskers have not fared so well in the second half. NU has still outscored its opponents, 17-15, in the final 45 minutes, but have been outscored, 9-2, in the second half of Nebraska's seven losses.

Corner Kickin’
Nebraska has been the best in the Big 12 Conference at winning corner kicks this season. NU leads the league with 135, nearly double its opponents’ total of 69.

10,000 Maniacs
In Nebraska's final home game against Colorado last Friday, a crowd of 1,006 pushed the season attendance to 10,749 fans, marking the seventh time in the 11-year history of the program that Nebraska has drawn more than 10,000 fans in a single season.

The crowd last Friday was the third-largest crowd of the season and was also the third crowd of more than 1,000 people in 2004.

The Huskers opened the season against traditional power North Carolina in front of 3,640 fans and drew 1,008 fans for a match against Texas Oct. 8.

The crowd that witnessed the North Carolina game was the third-largest crowd in school history and also bumped Nebraska attendance over 100,000 in the history of the program.

Avoiding History
The Nebraska soccer team, which has been no stranger to challenges this season, faces a few more challenges when it takes on Texas in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday.

A loss to the Longhorns would mark the first three-game losing streak in the 11-year history of the program, would mark the first time a Nebraska team failed to advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament and would put NU in danger of not qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years. NU has also advanced to at least the second round in each of its last eight NCAA appearances.

Double Trouble
Sophomore Brittany Timko has already notched a double-double with 15 goals and 13 assists through 18 games.

Timko's 15 goals rank fifth in the nation and her 13 assists rank first in the Big 12 and eighth in the nation.

She is the first Husker to record a double-double in a season since Christine Latham (23 goals, 11 assists) accomplished the feat in 2000.

Timko has also teamed with junior Nikki Baker to provide a one-two punch in goals. Timko leads the Big 12 with 15 goals, and Baker ranks fifth with 10 goals.

NCAA Rankings
In the latest NCAA statistical rankings, released Oct. 26, sophomore Brittany Timko is in the top 10 in five categories and in the top 15 in two others.

Timko is tied for first with 13 assists, ranks fourth with 43 points, is sixth with an assist- per-game average of 0.72, is eighth with a point-per-game average of 2.39 and ranks ninth with 15 goals. She is also tied for 18th with a 0.83 goals per game average.

Timko ranks fourth in the country for most assists in a game, as she had three against Northern Colorado and also against Eastern Illinois. She also ranks sixth in points in a single game with nine, against Northern Colorado.

Players of the Week
Junior Nikki Baker was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 12. The award was the fourth Big 12 offensive player-of-the-week honor and fifth player-of-the-week honor this season for Nebraska. Both are league highs.

Sophomore Brittany Timko was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for a third time this season on Sept. 28.

Timko was honored after scoring five goals, including two game winners, adding a game-winning assist and totaling 11 points in the Huskers' three games the week of Sept. 21.

Timko also earned player-of-the-week honors on Sept. 21, and is the first player in school history to earn three player-of-the-week awards in the same season.

Timko and sophomore goalkeeper Katie Wright each earned Big 12 Player-of-the-Week honors for the week of Sept. 7. Timko was named the offensive player of the week and Wright was named the defensive player of the week.

Timko also leads the nation after being named to Soccer America's National Team of the Week and Soccer Buzz's Elite Team of the Week three times in 2004. She was named to the teams in each of the weeks she was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.

Big 12 Rankings
Nebraska ranks in the top five in the Big 12 Conference in 11 categories.

As a team, Nebraska leads the league in corner kicks (135),ranks third in shots (343) and shutouts (six), ranks fourth in goals (44) and goals per game (2.32), points (122) and ranks fifth in assists (34), assists per game (1.79), goals allowed (24), saves (87) and goals-against average (1.25).

From an individual standpoint, sophomore Brittany Timko leads the league in points (43), goals (15), assists (13), shots (82), shots per game (4.32), points per game (2.39), assists per game (0.68) and ranks second in goals per game (0.79) and fifth in game-winning goals (three).

Junior Nikki Baker ranks eighth in shots (51), fourth in goals (10), fifth in game-winning goals (three) and sixth in points (22) and goals per game (0.53).

Sophomore goalkeeper Katie Wright ranks in the top six of every goalkeeping category. The Mission Viejo, Calif., native ranks third in shutouts (six), saves (82) and saves per game (4.32), fourth in shutouts per game (0.32), fifth in save percentage (.774) and sixth in goals-against average (1.25).

The Streak
The 2004 Nebraska soccer team is looking to continue an impressive streak that began in 1996.

In every season since 1996 - a streak totaling eight seasons - the Huskers have not only made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, but have won at least one game to advance to the second round. The 2004 Huskers are looking to make it nine straight this season.