OU Soccer Set To Compete In Notre Dame Classic This Weekend

SOONER SOCCER THIS WEEK
* Oklahoma vs. Rutgers
Notre Dame Classic
Friday, Sept. 5 - 5 p.m.
Alumni Field, South Bend, Ind.

* Oklahoma at #5 Notre Dame
Notre Dame Classic
Sunday, Sept. 7 - 1 p.m.
Alumni Field, South Bend, Ind.

Fans can view live stats of all the games in the Notre Dame Classic by visiting the Fighting Irish's web site: Click Here

PREVIEW: Oklahoma vs. Rutgers
The Sooners will open up road play on Friday, Sept. 5, at South Bend, Ind., in the Notre Dame Classic against the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. Rutgers is 2-0 this year and has shut out two oppenents while outscoring them 8-0. In the Knights first game they defeated Providence, 5-0, and then topped Stoney Brook, 3-0.

Junior midfielder Carli Lloyd leads the Scarlet Knight attack this season. She has nine points overall on four goals and one assist. Sophomore Kelly Evans has three goals so far this year. So far this season, Rutgers has filled its net by committee with two goalkeepers. Robyn Jones and Nora Crawford have each started for Rutgers in goal and split time in both games.

PREVIEW: Oklahoma vs. (#5) Notre Dame
Sunday's contest with host Notre Dame will conclude the weekend of action for the Sooners in the Notre Dame Classic. Last year the Irish advanced to the NCAA round of 16 and finished with a final 13-8 record.

Notre Dame returns 12 of its top 13 players from the 2003 roster. So far this season they are 2-0 with victories over Hartford (9-1) and Wake Forest (3-0). Junior midfielder Mary Boland has been the big weapon on offense for the Fighting Irish. Boland has four goals in the two games while three others on the roster have tallied two goals each.

Sophomore goalkeeper Erika Bohn is 2-0 on the season, allowing just one goal and earning one shutout. The Irish were ranked tenth in the nation in the NSCAA/adidas preseason poll and currently are ranked fifth.

LAST TIME OUT
Oklahoma went undefeated on the weekend to open the 2003 season slate at 2-0. It is the third season in a row that the Sooners have started a season with two consecutive wins, with the 2001 squad rattling off three wins and last season's team winning six consecutive games to start the year.

On Friday night, OU topped visiting Arkansas, 3-1. The Sooners now lead that all-time series 5-0 and have scored three goals exactly in four of those contests. Lauren MacIver, Michelle Enos and Logan Womack all tallied goals in the win with 757 fans on hand at John Crain Field.

On Sunday, New Mexico visited Norman for what turned out to be a nail-biter. The Sooners came out on top, 2-1, in overtime. Again, Womack provided some offense for OU, scoring the game-winning goal with just 17 seconds left in the first OT session. Becky Nelson scored the game's first goal in the first half at the 14:06 mark. OU now leads that series 2-1.

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
After the Notre Dame Classic, OU will once again hit the road and travel to Texas to take on SMU and TCU. Friday, Sept. 12 the Sooners tangle with SMU. The Mustangs were ranked No. 22 in the NSCAA/adidas preseason poll and stand at 1-1 on the season after losing to no. 6 Texas A&M 3-1. TCU follows on Sunday, Sept. 14. The Horned Frogs also suffered a loss to Texas A&M by a score of 6-0 and are 0-1 in 2003.

SOCCER BUZZ CENTRAL REGION POLL
The Sooners are ranked 10th in the Soccer Buzz Central Region Poll in a tie with University of Denver, which is ranked ninth in the NSCAA Top 25 poll this week. Big 12 rival Texas A&M is ranked in the Central Region poll No. 2 and is followed by Texas at No. 3, Nebraska at No. 4, Missouri at No. 6, Colorado at No. 7 and Kansas at No. 9.

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 16 assists in her three previous years 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.

OU TOPS OLE MISS 2-1 IN EXHIBITION
In a final tune-up before the regular season, the OU soccer team triumphed 2-1 over SEC foe Ole Miss on Saturday, Aug. 23, at Burns Park Soccer Complex in Little Rock, Ark. Logan Womack and Kristin Vesely scored for the Sooners.

BIG 12 ACTION THIS WEEKEND

Sept. 5 (Friday)
Baylor at Houston, 7 p.m.
Kansas at UW-Milwaukee, 4 p.m.
Purdue at Missouri, 7 p.m.
Nebraska vs. Duke, 1 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Rutgers, 5 p.m.
Okla. State at Sam Houston State, 7 p.m.
Texas at Clemson, 6:30 p.m.
Utah at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m.
Texas Tech at SMU, 7 p.m.

Sept. 6 (Saturday)
Colorado at Denver, 3 p.m.

Sept. 7 (Sunday)
Utah at Baylor, 7 p.m.
DePaul at Iowa State, 1 p.m.
Kansas at Wisconsin, 1 p.m.
Arizona at Missouri, 1 p.m.
Nebraska at North Carolina, 2 p.m.
Oklahoma at Notre Dame, 1 p.m.
Okla. State at Northwestern State, 1 p.m.
Texas vs. Furman, 12 p.m.
Texas Tech at TCU, 1 p.m.

*All times listed as Central

University of Oklahoma Athletics

OU Soccer Set To Compete In Notre Dame Classic This Weekend

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