Timko's Hat Trick Boosts Huskers

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Lubbock, Texas ? Junior Brittany Timko broke the school single-season assist record and added her third career hat trick for NU as the Nebraska soccer team ended the regular-season in grand fashion with a dominating 4-1 win over Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, on Sunday.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

With the win, Nebraska finished the regular-season with a 12-6-1 overall record and a 6-3-1 mark in the Big 12 Conference. The Huskers finished in a four-way tie for second place in the league standings, but earned the No. 4 seed for the Big 12 Tournament.

 

Texas Tech ended its season with a 1-18-0 record and an 0-10-0 mark in the conference.

 

Timko, the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, got the scoring started with a goal at 16:45. Senior Vern Fitzgerald sent a pass to Timko, who beat Tech goalkeeper Beth Lippert from five yards out. The goal was Timko’s team-leading seventh of the season, and increased her season point total to 31. The goal gave her back-to-back 30-point seasons, the first Husker to accomplish that feat since Christine Latham recorded three consecutive seasons with 30 or more points from 2000 to 2002.

 

Timko added another goal at 24:32 when she converted the Huskers’ first penalty kick of the season.

 

Senior Sasha Andrews then scored off a corner kick 1:31 later to give NU a commanding 3-0 lead. Timko took the corner kick and was awarded the assist. The assist was her 18th of the season, breaking Jenny Benson’s NU single-season record of 17 set in 1999.

 

Amy Mathiak put the Lady Raiders on the board when she beat NU freshman goalkeeper Jamie Klages with a free kick from 30 yards out at 39:49.

 

The game remained 3-1 until Timko capped her hat trick with her third goal at 85:42. The hat trick was the first by a Husker this season and gave Timko three in her career. Timko, who had been tied with four other players for second on the NU career chart, earned sole possession of second place for most career hat tricks in school history.

 

Timko's seven points were just two shy of her career best and are tied for fifth-most in Nebraska history.

 

The Huskers outshot Texas Tech, 20-14, and won 12 corner kicks, while limiting the Lady Raiders to just two. In net for NU, Klages made eight saves, while two Texas Tech goalkeepers combined to make nine stops.

 

The fourth-seeded Huskers will face fifth-seeded Kansas at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio, Texas, in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament.