Ladyjacks Prepare For SLC Tournament
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 5, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
This week's games:
Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks • at Southland Conference Tournament • Nov. 6-9 • Lake Charles, La.
Game Information
This Week: The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks open play in the Southland Conference Tournament on Thursday with a first-round game against Southeastern Louisiana. SFA finished the regular season with a 9-7-1 overall record and tied for second in the SLC with a 6-2-1 mark in league action. League tie-breaker policy left the Ladyjacks with the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament. The winner of Thursday's game against No. 5 Southeastern will advance to Friday's semifinals to take on No. 1 Texas State.
Last Week: SFA needed two victories over the weekend to stay in the hunt for one of the top two seeds and a first-round bye in the tournament. The Ladyjacks did their part, knocking off Lamar, 1-0, and McNeese State, 2-0, but didn't get the help they needed from elsewhere in the conference to earn the No. 2 seed. In Friday's win over Lamar, senior forward Amanda Alders scored in the 60th minute. Alders got on the board again in Sunday's game, banging home the insurance goal in the 38th minute. Freshman Janae Lee got the Ladyjacks on the board first in that game with a goal in the ninth minute.
Tournament Field: No. 1 Texas State enters the SLC Tournament with an 11-3-4 overall record and a 7-0-2 mark in conference play. McNeese State, the No. 2 seed, went 10-7-1 on the year and 6-2-1 in league action, tying with SFA and UTSA for second-place honors. The Cowgirls took the tournament's No. 2 seed by virtue of SLC tie-breaker procedure. McNeese came into the final weekend of the regular season as the league leader with an undefeated record before dropping games against Sam Houston State and SFA. No. 3 UTSA brings a 9-9-1 season mark to the tournament. Southeastern Louisiana is the No. 5 seed with an 11-5-1 overall record and a 5-4-0 SLC record. Northwestern State rounds out the field as the No. 6 seed with a 9-8-2 season mark and a 4-4-1 record in league play.
SFA in the SLC Tournament: The Ladyjacks are appearing in their ninth SLC Tournament and sport a 5-7 overall record in SLC postseason play with two SLC Tournament championships. SFA has gone into the tournament as one of the top two seeds six times. This season marks the third time for the Ladyjacks to go into the tournament as the No. 4 seed. The previous two appearances as the fourth seed came in 1999 and 2001. SFA was defeated in the first round both times.
Next Week: The winner of the Southland Conference Tournament will earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. The NCAA Tournament is scheduled to start on Nov. 14 with the sites of first-round competition to be announced.
News and Notes
• NINE WINS: SFA finished the 2008 regular season with a 9-7-1 overall record. This marks the sixth consecutive season for the Ladyjacks to pick up at least nine victories and is the program's sixth straight winning season. The last time an SFA squad failed to reach the nine-win plateau was 2002, also the last time the Ladyjacks posted a losing season (7-9-4).
• ROAD-TESTED: SFA's 2-1 win at Sam Houston State put the wraps on a feat never before achieved at SFA. The win gave the Ladyjacks three straight road victories to start the SLC campaign, the first time in program history that's happened. With the Ladyjacks' 3-0 win at Central Arkansas and scoreless tie at Northwestern State, SFA finished undefeated on the road in SLC play with a 4-0-1 record. This marks just the third time in program history for the Ladyjacks to go undefeated on the road in SLC. That feat was last achieved in 2005, when SFA went 7-0-0 against league competition. The 1998 SLC championship team also went unbeaten on the road in conference play.
• GIMME FIVE: Amanda Alders scored two goals and assisted on a third in SFA's 3-0 win at Central Arkansas, giving her five total points for the game. It was the seventh time in her career for Alders to score at least two goals but her first multi-goal game since scoring twice with one assist against Oral Roberts on Sept. 16 of last season. It was the fourth time in her career for her to score at least five points in a game and marked her ninth career game with a goal and an assist in the same contest.
• HOMEWRECKERS: The Ladyjacks' pair of losses against UTSA and Texas State were the first home defeats of the season for SFA. The 3-1 loss to UTSA was SFA's first home SLC defeat since the 2006 season and ended a 10-game home winning streak that dated to 2007. When the Ladyjacks followed with a 1-0 defeat against Texas State, it marked the first time since the 2000 season for SFA to lose two straight home games against league opponents.
• STREAK-STOPPERS: When Megan Cash scored in the fifth minute of SFA's win at Sam Houston State, it not only got the Ladyjacks out to a strong start, it also halted one of the most impressive streaks in the Southland Conference this season. Leading into its game with SFA, Sam Houston had recorded seven straight shutout wins and had not allowed a goal in more than 650 minutes of play. Cash's first score stopped the goal drought, then she scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 33rd minute, eventually ending the Bearkats' win streak, as well.
• GOALS GALORE: Megan Cash's two goals at Sam Houston State marked her second multi-goal game in four contests. The last time a Ladyjack put two multiple-goal performances together in that short a timespan was 2006, when Lauren Fricks posted a hat trick against Nicholls then scored two goals in the next game, against Texas State.
• ROAD SHOW: SFA's 1-0 win at Southeastern Louisiana marked the team's first road victory since taking a 3-0 win at Lamar last October. Coming into the game against the Lions, SFA was 0-5-0 away from home this season.
• SLC OPENERS: The win at Southeastern Louisiana also extended the Ladyjacks' streak of consecutive victories in Southland Conference openers. SFA has now won seven straight SLC-opening contests. The Ladyjacks have not dropped a league opener since a 4-3 loss at McNeese State in 2003.
• SNAPPED: In addition to getting out to a 1-0-0 start in Southland Conference play, SFA's 1-0 win at Southeasten Louisiana halted a long-running streak for the Lions. SFA became the first team to win in Hammond, La., since Southern Mississippi took a 2-1 win over Southeastern in September of 2006. The Lions had a 19-game home unbeaten streak coming into their match with SFA.
• NEW RECORD: SFA set a team record for single-game goals in its 10-2 win over Prairie View A&M. The previous best was an eight-goal performance against Nicholls State in 1998. The 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.
• HAT'S OFF: Junior Brenna Crockett scored three goals and assisted on a fourth in SFA'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 ninth and 10th 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 in 2006.
• PILING UP POINTS: Junior Brenna Crockett came into SFA'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 fell just one point short of tying the single-game record for an SFA player. Crockett added to her career point total with a goal and an assist in the Ladyjacks' 6-1 win at Nicholls. She is now No. 25 all-time in Ladyjack history with 16 career points
• QUICK COMEBACK: Prairie View A&M scored two goals in the first four minutes to take a 2-0 lead. 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 the win over Prairie View, the Ladyjacks had gone a combined 0-8-1 in games in which the opponent scored first.
• BUILDING MOMENTUM: Since its beginnings in 1995, the Ladyjack soccer program has compiled an overall record of 123-115-23 (.512). However, the Ladyjacks have really turned the corner in the last six years. Since the 2002 season, SFA is 78-42-13 (.630) overall. In that same stretch, the Ladyjacks have gone 47-12-10 (.746) 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 71-33-12 (.658) 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 40-6-5 (.827) in home contests. Against Southland Conference foes, SFA is a very tough 23-3-3 (.833) at the Soccer Complex.
• TITLE TOWN: The SFA women's soccer program has brought an unprecedented five Southland Conference regular-season championships back to Nacogdoches. That total is half of the 12 possible regular-season titles in SLC Soccer history.
• Click here for complete game notes in .pdf format.
-- SFA --
