SFA Set To Open SLC Slate
10/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 1, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
This week's games:
SFA at Southeastern La. • Friday, Oct. 3 • 4:30 p.m. • Hammond, La
SFA at Nicholls • Sunday, Oct. 5 • 1 p.m. • Thibodaux, La
Game Information:
This Week: The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack soccer team will open defense of its Southland Conference championship when it begins league play this weekend with a two-game road trip to southern Louisiana. SFA will head to Hammond, La., to meet Southeastern Louisiana on Friday, then travels to Thibodaux, La., for a game against Nicholls on Sunday. SFA brings a 3-5-0 record to the week. Southeastern Louisiana is 6-1-1 on the season. The Lions are on a three-game win streak during which they have outscored the opposition, 19-0. Nicholls is 2-7-0. After opening the season with consecutive wins, the Colonels have dropped seven straight games.
Last Week: SFA wrapped up the non-conference portion of its schedule with a single game on Sunday against Prairie View A&M. After falling behind, 2-0, early, the Ladyjacks rallied for five first-half goals and five more after halftime to take a 10-2 verdict. Juniors Megan Cash and Brenna Crockett both recorded hat tricks. Crockett also added an assist to give her seven points in the game, tying for third among the SFA single-game scoring leaders. The hat tricks were the ninth and 10th in Ladyjack history and marked just the second time in the program's 14 years for two players to score three or more goals in the same game.
SFA vs. the Lions: Friday's game renews a series between two of the most successful programs in the Southland Conference. SFA has won a record five SLC regular-season championships, but Southeastern Louisiana is close behind with four titles. The Ladyjacks own a 12-7-5 edge in the series and have not lost a game with the Lions since 2003. SFA is 3-6-2 all-time in games played in Hammond.
SFA vs. the Colonels: The Ladyjacks are an impressive 15-1-2 all-time against Nicholls. The only Colonels win in the teams' 10-year history together is a 1-0 verdict in 2000. SFA has a 13-game unbeaten streak against Nicholls since that loss, including three of the top six single-game goal totals in Ladyjack history.
The Coaches: SFA is coached by George Van Linder. In his first year at SFA, Van Linder has compiled a 3-5-0 record. He is 127-104-20 in 12 years as a collegiate head coach. Southeastern is coached by Blake Hornbuckle. Nicholls is under the direction of Cindy Piper.
Next Week: SFA will continue Southland Conference play with a road trip to Huntsville, Texas, on Oct. 10 to take on Sam Houston State. That will be the Ladyjacks' only contest of the week. SFA will host UTSA and Texas State the following weekend.
NEWS AND NOTES
• NEW RECORD: SFA set a team record for single-game goals in Sunday's 10-2 win over Prairie View A&M. The previous best was an eight-goal performance against Nicholls State in 1998. Sunday's win margin also matched that game to tie for the widest margin of victory in program history. Three of the top single-game goal totals in program history have come against Nicholls State.
• HAT'S OFF: Junior Brenna Crockett scored three goals and assisted on a fourth in Sunday's 10-2 win over Prairie View A&M. Classmate Megan Cash scored three consecutive goals in the first period to nearly match Crockett's point total. The hat tricks were just the eighth and ninth in school history but make 2008 the fourth consecutive season for at least one Ladyjack to record the feat. Prior to 2005, when the streak began, the last hat trick by an SFA player was scored in 1996. Crockett and Cash's dual hat tricks marked just the second time in program history for two players to score three or more goals each in the same game. Current Ladyjacks Amanda Alders and Lauren Fricks both recorded hat tricks against Nicholls State in 2006.
• PILING UP POINTS: Junior Brenna Crockett came into Sunday's game against Prairie View A&M with two career goals and five total points in two-plus seasons. She then posted three goals and an assist to finish the game with seven total points. That figure falls just one point short of tying the single-game record for an SFA player.
• SHARING THE BALL: Eleven of SFA's 14 goals in 2008 (the fifteenth was an own goal scored by Arkansas State) have come with assists. Three different Ladyjacks -- Brenna Crockett, Kim Kimmel and Summer Bradfield -- have each recorded multiple assists.
• STREAKING: SFA's double-figure goal-scoring performance on Sunday also extended an important Ladyjack streak to double digits. SFA's 10-2 win over Prairie View A&M ran its home winning streak to 10 consecutive games, dating to last season. The Ladyjacks are unbeaten in 14 of their last 15 home games, going all the way back to an Oct. 1, 2006 defeat against UTSA.
• QUICK COMEBACK: Prairie View A&M scored two goals in the first four minutes to take a 2-0 lead Sunday. SFA answered quickly, took the lead by the 15th minute and went on to collect a 10-2 win. This marks the first time this season and the first time since the 2007 season opener against St. Edward's for a Ladyjack team to come from behind for a win. St. Edward's scored in the 11th minute of that game before SFA came back to notch a 2-1 double-overtime win. Between that victory over St. Edward's and Sunday's win over Prairie View, the Ladyjacks had gone a combined 0-8-1 in games in which the opponent scored first.
• HOME COOKIN': SFA is not only out to a 3-0-0 start in home games, the Ladyjacks have looked like a completely different team at home this season. While opponents hold a 2-to-1 advantage in shot ratio in SFA's five road losses, the Ladyjacks have outshot the competition, 101-19, in three home games. Fourteen of SFA's 15 goals have been scored at home.
• START 'EM YOUNG: The Ladyjacks returned a host of experienced players and nine starters for the 2008 season, but the newcomers are getting plenty of action, early on. SFA has already used 22 of the 27 players listed on the 2008 roster. Five different newcomers have earned starting appearances, so far. Last year, the Ladyjacks utilized just 20 players the entire season.
• BUILDING MOMENTUM: Since its beginnings in 1995, the Ladyjack soccer program has compiled an overall record of 117-111-23 (.512). However, the Ladyjacks have really turned the corner in the last six years. Since the 2002 season, SFA is 72-40-12 (.629) overall. In that same stretch, the Ladyjacks have gone 41-10-9 (.758) in Southland Conference play with three regular-season championships and a tournament title to their credit.
• SAFE AT HOME: SFA holds an all-time record of 69-31-12 (.670) in home games, but that mark is even better at the current venue. Since moving from Homer Bryce Stadium to the SFA Soccer Complex for the 2003 season, the Ladyjacks are 38-4-5 (.862) in home contests. Against Southland Conference foes, SFA is a near-invincible 21-1-3 (.900) at the Soccer Complex. The 2006 loss to Texas-San Antonio marked the first home defeat at the hands of an SLC school in more than four years.
• TITLE TOWN: The SFA women's soccer program has brought an unprecedented five Southland Conference regular-season championships back to Nacogdoches. That total is nearly half of the 11 possible SLC regular-season titles in the history of conference soccer.
• TWICE AS NICE: Entering the 2007 season, the Ladyjacks had won the Southland Conference regular-season title a record four times and had won the SLC Tournament championship once. But SFA had never worn both crowns at the same time. That all changed last year, as SFA won a share of the conference championship in the regular season, then took the tournament title with back-to-back shutouts to earn its second berth in the NCAA Championships.
• Click here for complete game notes in .pdf format.
-- SFA --
