Battle of Unbeatens: Huskers Ready for Chippewas

The Nebraska soccer team has had plenty of time to settle into its new digs over the last four weeks.  With new locker rooms, offices, team meeting rooms, weight facilities and an indoor practice field, the Huskers have used the home field advantage to post an unbeaten record through the first six games.  Nebraska will try to continue that streak with the final two games of a season-opening eight-game home stand this weekend.

Nebraska plays host to a pair of games this weekend to wrap up the most intense portion of the NU schedule that features five matches over a 10 day period.  Nebraska opens the weekend with a 5 p.m. Friday kickoff against undefeated Central Michigan, followed by a 1 p.m. contest with TCU on Sunday afternoon.

Friday's game will be the first meeting between the Huskers and the Chippewas, who currently own a six-game winning streak behind 15 goals and five multiple-goal games. 

Sunday's game marks the third contest between Nebraska and TCU, with NU enjoying a 2-0-0 all-time series record.  The two programs have not faced off in a decade, with the last meeting ending in a 4-0 Husker victory on Nov. 2, 1996.

Nebraska enters the weekend on a four-game winning streak following a 1-0 double overtime win over Western Carolina on Tuesday evening.  The match was the third overtime contest for the Huskers this season and adds an additional 20 minutes to the 450 minutes NU was scheduled to play over a 10-day span.

Junior Jessie Bruch notched her second goal of the season to give Nebraska the win with just over five minutes remaining in the game.  Senior Brittany Timko was credited with the assist.  It was the second overtime goal of Bruch's career as well as the second overtime assist for Timko.

Nebraska's games this weekend are the last two before the Huskers enter Big 12 Conference play beginning with a contest against undefeated Missouri in Columbia on Friday, Sept. 22.
  

Scouting Central Michigan
Nebraska has a major task ahead of it this Friday as it attempts to deal a loss to an undefeated Central Michigan squad that comes to Lincoln with a six-game winning streak.  The Chippewas set a new program record for consecutive wins with their sixth victory over Canisius last weekend, after also posting wins over Michigan State, IPFW, Detroit, Illinois State and Niagara.  With an explosive offense that has produced five multiple-goal games this season, CMU will provide a stern test for the Huskers as each team fights to keep its unbeaten season alive.

Central Michigan has netted 15 goals this season, including scoring three goals in four of six matches.  The Chippewa strikers are aggressive and accurate, putting 51 of 95 shots (54 percent) on goal.  Central Michigan has also developed a solid passing game that has resulted in 13 assists on the year.

Statistically one of the best programs Nebraska has faced this season; Central Michigan also owns 30 corner kicks, while committing just 44 fouls.

 The Chippewas game plan spreads the ball around to a variety of players, each fully capable of either scoring or assisting on goals.  Nine players have scored goals for CMU this season and eight have added assists.  

 Senior forward Jacquie Lacek leads the Chippewas with four goals, while senior goalkeeper Anne Decker has done a tremendous job of holding CMU's opponents to just six goals this year.  Decker, who owns a goals-against average of .82, has made 29 saves this season.

Scouting TCU
While Central Michigan has been on the straight and narrow toward victory this season, TCU has experienced more of a roller coast ride.  The Horned Frogs are currently .500 on the season with three wins and three losses, with their three victories coming over Tulsa, Oral Roberts and Houston.

Nebraska is the second Big 12 opponent for TCU after it fell to Texas Tech, 2-0, in Lubbock, Texas, on Aug. 27. 

The Horned Frogs own 10 goals on the season and average 1.67 goals per game.  However, with just 78 shots, 39 of which were on goal, TCU has enjoyed significantly less offensive production than the Huskers, who have fired 101 shots with 46 on goal.  The main source of the Horned Frogs' scoring power has been junior midfielder Lauren Pope, who has netted four goals this season.  Pope was a main force behind TCU's 6-2 win over Oral Roberts on Sept. 3, with a hat trick on three unassisted goals. 

With a solid defense anchored by senior goalkeeper Katy Buchanon and sophomore Caroline Starns, Nebraska may have its work cut out on the attacking end this Sunday.  Buchanon has 20 saves and a GAA of .77, while Starns was named the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Week following an impressive weekend where she led the Horned Frog defense in allowing just 14 shots on goal that led to only three scores.

Husker History vs. TCU
After hosting a pair of programs for the first time in its history in Western Carolina and Central Michigan, Nebraska will get to take on a slightly more familiar foe against TCU on Sunday afternoon.  The Huskers and Horned Frogs have met twice in Nebraska's 13-year history with NU leading, 2-0-0.

The two teams met for the first time during Nebraska's inaugural season in 1994 with the Huskers coming out with a decisive 6-0 win at the Abbott Sports Complex on Oct. 14.  The Huskers improved to 2-0-0 two years later on Nov. 2, 1996, as they traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, and dominated in a 4-0 victory.

NU Keep Unbeaten Streak Alive
In a world of statistics, perhaps no number is as important as those in the win/loss columns.  And the Huskers can't think of a better number to take root among the losses than the zero Nebraska has maintained through half a dozen games this year.

NU is currently on a six-game unbeaten streak behind a 4-0-2 record to open the 2006 regular-season.  What's more, the Huskers also boast four consecutive wins heading into this weekend's contests against Central Michigan and TCU.  Nebraska's six-game streak is the longest unbeaten streak to open a season since 2000 when the Huskers posted 15 straight wins.  This is also the longest unbeaten streak for Nebraska in a season since posting seven straight wins from Sept. 17 to Oct. 8 in 2004.
  

Overtime Trials
With its overtime win over Western Carolina on Tuesday, Nebraska is now 1-0-2 in overtime matches in 2006.  The last time the Huskers played at least three overtime contests in a season in 2003, when NU pushed four games into extra minutes that resulted in two wins, a loss and a double overtime tie.  The 2003 season was also the last time Nebraska lost an overtime game, as the Huskers fell 3-2 to then-ranked No. 22 Texas in Austin.

Not only have the Huskers hit overtime three times this season, but all three instances ended in double overtime minutes.  That means Nebraska has played an additional 60 minutes overall over the last six games.

Nebraska earned its first overtime win against the Catamounts with a goal from junior Jessie Bruch with just over five minutes remaining in the second overtime.  Bruch has now notched two overtime goals in her career, becoming just the fourth player in Nebraska history to boast that accomplishment.

Senior Brittany Timko was credited with the assist on Bruch's goal, giving Timko the second overtime assist of her career.  Timko joins Jenny Benson as the only two Huskers to ever notch more than one overtime assist in their careers.

Timko Plays a Major Hand in Husker Offense
Since her sophomore season at NU in 2004, senior Brittany Timko has been a catalyst for the Husker offense.  Anyone who watches Nebraska play can see Timko's talent and impact, while the statistics back up her pivotal role in the Huskers' goal-scoring ability.

The statistics of goals and assists simply measure a player's contribution to a team's scoring.  But, by looking at these two statistics in tandem and comparing them against the team's total number of goals in a season, one can calculate how often a player was involved in a team goal.  The formula for this percentage is as follows:

Goals + Assists/Team's Total Goals = Percentage of goals involving that player

From the start of the 2004 season to the present, Nebraska has scored 100 goals in games in which Timko has played.  In those games, she either found the back of the net herself or assisted on 67 of those goals (67 percent).  Statistically speaking, Timko has had a hand in slightly better than two out of every three Husker goals scored in the past three years.

In her sophomore campaign of 2004, Timko posted five contests where she had a hand in every goal the Huskers netted and finished the year directly contributing to 28 of Nebraska's 44 goals for games in which she participated (64 percent).  Timko bettered that success rate in 2005 when she posted seven games where she was involved in every goal NU scored and had a hand in 32 of the Huskers' 45 goals on the season (71 percent.)

Through Timko's five games in 2006, she has garnered four goals and three assists, making her involved in seven of Nebraska's 11 goals (64 percent.)

To put Timko's importance in perspective, 2005 National Player of the Year Christine Sinclair had a hand in 49 of Portland's 79 goals last season for a production percentage of 62 percent, nine percentage points lower than Timko's.
 

Timko Joins Husker Elite at 100-Point Mark
Senior Brittany Timko recorded six points in Nebraska's 3-2 win over North Texas on Friday, Sept. 8 to reach a total of 103 points in her career with the Huskers.  Timko is now one of just six players in NU history to ever reach 100 points or more.

The Coquitlam, British Columbia, native earned her six points on three goals against the Mean Green, earning her fourth career hat trick.  She is now one hat trick away from tying Kim Engesser for the school record of five.

Timko added another two points in Nebraska's win over Drake on Sunday and one on Tuesday against Western Carolina, giving her a total of 106 points and moving her into fifth all-time on the NU career points chart. 

Jamani Lends a Hand in Husker Offensive Explosion
With nine career goals in just over one season with the Huskers, sophomore Aysha Jamani has proven that she can put away the points.  But after scoring two goals to open the 2006 season, Jamani turned to another points-getter at the Nebraska adidas Invitational.

The Calgary, Alberta, native set up three of Nebraska's seven goals against North Texas and Drake, giving her three assists on the year, which is just one shy of the four assists she earned all of last season.  Jamani's three assists ties with senior Brittany Timko to lead the Huskers this season.

Timko Streaking
In her first five games of the 2006 season, senior Brittany Timko notched 11 points and has now scored at least one point in nine straight games dating back to a shutout loss to Iowa State on Oct. 28 of last season.  She is now just three games from tying the school record of 12 set by Kim Engesser from Sept. 28 to Nov. 23 of 1997.

Counting only games in which NU has scored; Timko has produced at least one point in 13 consecutive games after notching at least one point in 13 straight non-shutout contests during the 2004 season.

In leading NU in goals and assists in 2005, Timko put together an impressive string where she directly contributed to 10 consecutive Husker goals over a seven-game stretch.

Of Timko’s 37 games in which Nebraska has scored at least one goal since the start of the 2004 season, Timko has failed to notch either a goal or assist only twice during that stretch.
 

Injury Update 
Nebraska has made it through the first three weeks of play relatively healthy after an unfortunate preseason that included four season-ending injuries.

Sophomore Lauren Isenhower was listed as a redshirt before the Huskers even reached training camp due to a knee injury she suffered while competing with Nebraska in Europe this past summer.  Junior Meghan Hungerford also suffered a season-ending injury before the season began as she fractured her ankle during summer camps.

Then came the loss of senior defender Abby Penas, who was expected to be a major contributor for the NU defense in her final season at Nebraska.  However, Penas suffered a knee injury in the Huskers' exhibition match with Louisville on Aug. 19, and is out for the rest of the season.

Freshman Jackie Walsh will likely apply for a medical hardship after undergoing foot surgery.

Two players who began the season injured have now recovered and seen game time.  Redshirt freshman Shannon Dickerson sat out the first week of the season with a leg injury before returning for Nebraska's 2-2 double overtime tie with Wisconsin Sept. 1.

Since then, sophomore Ali Lokanc has also returned to the lineup after rehabilitating a broken leg she suffered early in 2005.  Lokanc saw her first game action late in the first half against North Texas on Sept. 8 and has since saw consistent game time for the Huskers.

Corner Kickin'
Nebraska, which has historically enjoyed a tremendous advantage in corner kicks taken, is again out-cornering teams by a good margin.

In six games, the Huskers have earned 37 corner kicks to just 24 by their opponents, a testament to the endline work by both the NU offense and defense. 

Timko Lands on Watch List
Nebraska senior Brittany Timko earned her second nomination to the Hermann Watch List this season as announced by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.  Timko is one of 25 nominees compiled by a panel of coaches from the NSCAA.

The Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy honors the top male and female Division I college soccer players in the United States. The award represents the highest level of individual achievement in the sport. Over the years, the award has honored some of the biggest names in U.S. soccer. Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm, Shannon MacMillan, Claudio Reyna, Alexi Lalas and Tony Meola are just a few of the players who won the award prior to achieving success on the international stage.

An NSCAA All-American, Timko earned her first nomination as a junior in 2005 and went on to finish among 15 semifinalists for the award.  A list of this year’s 15 Hermann Award semifinalists will be released in early November, with three finalists chosen later that month.  The finalists will be invited to St. Louis, Mo., on Dec. 2 for the announcement of the winner, as selected through voting by the members of the NSCAA, at the NCAA Men’s College Cup.  The winner will receive the prestigious crystal soccer ball trophy later that evening.

Big Time in the Big 12
Since joining the conference in 1996, the Nebraska soccer program has always been considered one of the teams to beat in the Big 12.  Over the last 12 seasons, the Huskers have laid claim to eight Big 12 titles and five Big 12 Tournament championships.  Only Texas A&M, which matched the Huskers with its eighth Big 12 title in 2005, has earned a comparable level of success in the league.

Apart from its postseason success, Nebraska also owns a number of Big 12 team season records including most shots (656 in 2000), points (316 in 1999), goals (108 in 1999), goals per game (4.32 in 1999), assists (108 in 2000) and shutouts (16 in 2000).

Individually, Nebraska also reigns supreme, capturing a league-best 39 first-team All-Big 12 picks to Texas A&M's 28.  Recently, NU senior Brittany Timko also joined the Big 12 record books as she notched a conference-record 21 assists in 2005 to topple the previous record of 17, which was set in 2003 by Oklahoma State's Nikki Wojtowicz.

NCAA Tournament Titans
For the Nebraska soccer program, the NCAA tournament isn't a goal, it's a tradition.  The Huskers have been a staple in collegiate women's soccer's biggest competition for the past 10 consecutive seasons, including eight runs into the Sweet 16 and two into the Elite Eight.

NU's success, coupled with the enthusiasm and support of the Lincoln community and Husker soccer fans, have made Nebraska one of the NCAA's favorite postseason tournament sites.  Lincoln has been host to opening-round action on seven occasions from 1996 to 2005.  Even when the Huskers made the move to the Nebraska Soccer Field in 2005, the trend continued as the venue was once again chosen to host the opening round between Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa State and eventual national champion Portland.