Soccer Hits The Road To Take On TCU And SMU

SOONER SOCCER THIS WEEK

* Oklahoma at TCU
Friday, Sept. 12 - 4:30 p.m.
Garvy-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium
Forth Worth, Texas
-Live Stats-

* Oklahoma at SMU
Sunday, Sept. 14 - 1 p.m.
Westcott Field, Dallas, Texas

PREVIEW: Oklahoma at TCU
Friday's contest will place the Sooners in Fort Worth, Texas, against the Horned Frogs of TCU, who stand at 2-2 this season.

TCU battled SMU on Tuesday (9/9/03) and lost 4-2 after holding a two goal advantage. OU will play SMU this Sunday. The Horned Frogs are 1-1 against Big 12 opponents. They lost 6-0 to Texas A&M and topped Texas Tech 1-0. There other win this season, came over Centenary, 2-0.

In goal, Katie Buchanan and Jennifer Sims split time and have each posted a shutout.

The Frogs' offensive charge is split up between five players with a goal each among them. Jenny Swanson, Jessi Moore Amy Van Zandt, Ashley Fortune and Elizabeth Walsh have all contributed scores.

PREVIEW: Oklahoma at SMU
The Sooners will continue a tough road schedule as they fave a second opponent ranked in the NSCAA/adidas preseason top-25 poll in SMU. The game will conclude the Sooners' four-game road trip as they return home next week.

The Mustangs received votes for the top-25 poll this week but are not ranked. They currently stand at 4-1 and have outscored their opponents 20-6.

SMU is led on offense by Kim Harvey with 16 points (7 goals, 2 assists). The Mustang offense does not stop there as seven other players have scored this season.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Mustangs have two shutouts from goalkeeper Amanda Clark. Clark has a 1.33 goals-against average with 17 saves.

SMU, like TCU, is 1-1 versus the Big 12 this year. They lost 3-1 at Texas A&M and beat Texas Tech 2-0 at home.

LAST TIME OUT
After starting the season 2-0, OU traveled to South Bend, Ind., only to drop two straight contests in the Notre Dame Classic.

On Friday night against Rutgers, OU got the equalizing goal from Jessica Talton in the 83rd minute to tie the game at one. Unfortunately, Rutgers scored with just two minutes remaining in the match to post a 2-1 victory. It was OU's first loss of the season.

The team suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of fifth-ranked Notre Dame on Sunday. Becky Nelson provided the long goal for OU. The Sooners allowed four goals in the first half against the Irish but held the high scoring Notre Dame offense to just one goal with Kear Jones gettiner her first action of the year in the OU net.

Lauren MacIver was OU's lone representative on the classic's all-tournament team.

TOUGH 2003 SLATE
OU soccer faces a number of difficult opponents this season, five of them ranked in the NSCAA/adidas Top 25 preseason poll. Those teams are Big 12 foes Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska and non-conference opponents SMU and Notre Dame.

"The non-conference season for us is more of a testing ground than it's ever been," declared Oklahoma head coach Randy Evans. "Initially we will be looking at what we are doing and what is best for us, as compared to who we are playing against. Those first couple of games will be a test for us as to where we stand come time for Big 12 play. If we compete well against those schools, then we know we can turn around and do the same against conference opponents."

2003 OUTLOOK
The Oklahoma soccer program is entering its eighth year in 2003, coming off its second consecutive 11-win season. OU's success this season will hinge on a talented group of youngsters (25 freshmen and sophomores), as four starters and eight seniors total graduated from last year's team.

"We are expecting a lot this upcoming season because this is probably the most talented squad we have assembled at OU," said coach Randy Evans. "It is going to be a big challenge with the amount of inexperience, but hopefully the abundance of athleticism and talent will make up for that."

After graduating a large group of seniors, the big question mark comes from the leadership department. Heading into the year, tri-captains Erin Young, Catherine Wade and Heidi Martinson are players that have shown they can lead by example.

Said Evans, "I have never seen a collection of captains as committed to being leaders and that just work incredibly hard and want to win. That should make up for the players we lost from last season."

HEAD COACH RANDY EVANS
Oklahoma soccer head coach Randy Evans enters his fifth year in the OU program after being named head coach on Jan. 11, 1999. He is coming off his second consecutive 11-win season, tying a school record for victories.

His 2002 squad won its first six games and stood at 11-3 at one point in the season. Logan Womack and Lauren MacIver both were named to the All-Big 12 second team as Evans and company just barely missed a berth in the conference tournament.

He coordinated the strongest season in OU's young soccer history in 2001. The Sooners won a school-record 11 games while compiling a stellar 8-1-1 record at home and notched their first victories ever over conference rivals Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Missouri. OU came within a goal of upsetting Texas A&M the eventual tournament champion in its second consecutive appearance in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

In 2000, Evans led the Sooners to a 10-9-1 mark and an appearance in the Big 12 Tournament for the first time ever. His coaching performance earned him Big 12 Coach of the Year honors and, a month later, Evans was named the NSCAA Central Region Coach of the Year.

NEXT WEEK FOR THE SOONERS
OU will return home next weekend with matches against Oral Roberts on Friday, Sept., 19 at 7:30 p.m. and against Tulsa on Sunday, Sept., 21 at 1 p.m.

SOCCER BUZZ CENTRAL REGION POLL
The Sooners dropped out of the top-10 in the Soccer Buzz Central Region Poll but still received votes. Big 12 rival Texas A&M is ranked No.1 in the Central Region and is followed by Texas at No. 2, Nebraska at No. 5, Missouri at No. 6 and Colorado at No. 7.

FIELD NAMED FOR JOHN CRAIN
John Crain's gift of $600,000, one of the largest ever made to Sooner women's athletics, is being applied toward the second phase of the soccer project. With the $1.2 million first phase completed, attention is being turned toward the construction of a grandstand, locker room, concessions and restroom areas that will be shared with the tennis complex.

WOMACK'S APPROACH
Already the school's all-time leading goal scorer, senior forward Logan Womack approaches yet another milestone.

The Norman product is just three points behind Krissy Dawson (67) for the school's all-time points record. Womack has tallied 30 goals and four assists in her career at OU. She also holds the single-season marks in goals (13) and points (27). She is a two-time All-Big 12 second-team honoree and a one-time All-Big 12 first-team member.

MAC ATTACK
Lauren MacIver was named to the all-tournmanet team at the Notre Dame Classic adding an assist to her team-leading season total in the loss to the host Irish. She fired three shots over the weekend and leads the team in that cateagory as well with 10.

WADE SAVES
Junior goalkeeper Catherine Wade leads the Big 12 in saves with 23, her closest competitor has 17 (Bredenberg-Neb.). In four games, she is averaging 5.75 saves a game. Wade's goals-against average is 2.22 and holds a 2-2 record on the season.

BIG 12 ACTION THIS WEEK

9 (Tuesday)
Colorado 2 at Wyoming 1 (final)
Kansas 2 at Southwest Missouri 1 (final)

12 (Friday)
Baylor vs. SMU, 2:30 p.m.
Iowa State at Wisconsin, 7:30 p.m.
Florida State at Kansas, 5 p.m.
Missouri at Mississippi State, 7 p.m.
Nebraska vs. Michigan, 5 p.m.
Oklahoma at TCU, 4:30 p.m.
Vermont at Oklahoma State, 7 p.m.
Texas vs. North Carolina (Spring, Texas)
South Carolina at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m.

14 (Sunday)
Baylor at TCU, 1 p.m.
Colorado at New Mexico, 1 p.m.
Iowa State vs. Michigan, 11 a.m.
Central Florida at Kansas, 12 p.m.
Missouri at Mississippi, 1 p.m.
Nebraska at Wisconsin, 1 p.m.
Oklahoma at SMU, 1 p.m.
McNeese State at Oklahoma State, 1 p.m.
LSU at Texas, 7:30 p.m.
Texas A&M vs. North Carolina (Spring, Texas), 1 p.m.
Texas Tech at North Texas, 1 p.m.

All game times listed as Central

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Soccer Hits The Road To Take On TCU And SMU

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