Soccer Tackles Tough Texas Opponents This Weekend
10/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Oct. 10, 2002
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#6 Texas A&M (9-3, 3-0 Big 12) at Baylor (7-5, 1-3 Big 12)
Friday, Oct. 11 (7 p.m.) * Waco, Texas
Baylor (7-5, 1-3 Big 12) at #3 Texas (8-2-1, 3-0 Big 12)
Sunday, Oct. 13 (1 p.m.) * Austin, Texas
- Listen to Live Audio of this game (courtesy TexasSports.com)
With four Big 12 games under their belt this season and only a 1-3 record to show for it, the Baylor soccer team begins its toughest weekend of the year, and probably the toughest weekend the program has ever faced, Friday at 7 p.m. at Betty Lou Mays Field against No. 6 Texas A&M.
Sunday, the Bears head down Interstate 35 to face No. 3 Texas in Austin at 1 p.m. The Aggies and Longhorns are the first two ranked teams Baylor has faced this season. Never before have the Bears faced two teams has highly-ranked as this in one weekend; the closest previous pair of outings came Sept. 8-10, 2000, when Baylor played No. 9 USC and No. 8 UCLA in one weekend in Los Angeles.
Sunday's game marks the sixth time the Bears have faced a team ranked as high as third nationally. Four times previously, Baylor played a team ranked third. Only once before have the Bears played a team ranked higher than third (then-No. 1 North Carolina, 1998).
Fans are encouraged to arrive early for Friday's game against Texas A&M; HEB is sponsoring a TailGreat party, offering free food to fans before the game. Selected fans will also get a chance to "Battle the Bear" at halftime to win a trip for four to Red River Ski Resort.
No. 6 Texas A&M comes to Waco riding a seven-game winning streak, including a 3-0 Big 12 record. Sophomore Lindsay Woodard (formerly Lindsay Johnson) leads the team with 10 goals and 21 points. Freshman Kati Jo Spisak has started 11 games in goal and compiled a 1.07 GAA, including two shutouts.
Baylor is 4-3 all-time against Texas A&M, though the Aggies came away with a 6-0 win last season in College Station. Each of Texas A&M's six goals was scored by a different Aggie player.
No. 3 Texas, meanwhile, begins the weekend with a six-game unbeaten streak, marred only by a tie against then-No. 15 Washington. The Longhorns have rolled through their first three conference games, winning all three matches by a combined margin of 12-0. Sophomore Kelly McDonald leads Texas with seven goals, seven assists and 21 points through 11 games. The Longhorns have platooned goalies to great success, with Alex Gagarin and Darci Carruthers leading the team to six shutouts already this season.
The Bears are 4-3-1 against Texas all-time, but Texas has won three of the last four meetings. Fighting through rain and mud, the then-No. 17 Longhorns pulled out a 2-0 win over Baylor last season in Waco.
Last Time Out
Junior Emily Fukuchi assisted on both Bear goals as the Baylor soccer team slipped past regionally-ranked Kansas Friday night, 2-1, at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field. The win snapped a three-game Baylor skid.
Baylor struck quickly to take the first lead. Sophomore Kristen Ruef put away her first shot of the game at the 1:03 mark off a pass from Fukuchi to give Baylor a 1-0 lead.
After Kansas tied the game at the 24:31 mark, the game remained tied into the second half. Seven minutes into the period, the Jayhawks had an apparent go-ahead goal by sophomore Caroline Smith waived off by an offsides call. The Bears took advantage of that stroke of luck to take the lead for good at 54:58. Ginny Rosario-Tull gathered a pass from Fukuchi. After juking three Kansas defenders, Rosario-Tull found a clear shot past a diving Kansas goalkeeper into the lower right corner for the game-winning goal.
The Baylor offense scored three goals Sunday afternoon, their highest total in conference play to date, but defensive letdowns led to four Missouri goals as the Tigers beat Baylor, 4-3.
As has been their trend of late, Baylor struck early Sunday, as redshirt freshman Tiffany Boshers recorded headed in a pass from junior Candace Reilly at the 4:48 mark for her fourth goal of the season. The 1-0 Baylor lead lasted only three minutes before Missouri's Adrienne Davis tied the score at the 7:43 mark.
Two more unanswered goals in the first half put Mizzou up 3-1, but junior Kate Hensman got the Bears back within striking distance before the half as she scored her first goal of the year. After junior Melissa Humke's long shot from near midfield hit off the crossbar, Hensman was able to head in the rebound to cut the score to 3-2. That lead held through the remainder of the half.
In the second period, MU's Melissa Peabody beat Baylor keeper Tanya Sena one-on-one at 67:41 for the Tigers' fourth goal. This time, Baylor answered quickly, as sophomore Kristin Ruef headed in a pass from Whitney Barrett just two minutes later to again cut the Tiger lead to one. That would be it for the scoring, however, as Missouri held off Baylor for the 4-3 victory.
Crawley Charging Baylor Attack
Three-time All-Big 12 defender Tamura Crawley has contributed more to the Bears than just anchoring their defense early this season. Late in games, Crawley has been moved up to forward to take advantage of her quick attack skills -- with noticeable results.
On the road at Rice (9/6), Crawley scored her first goal of the year, tying the game at 1-1 with just over 11 minutes to go; the Bears went on to win in overtime. Two days later against Southwest Texas, she repeated the feat, scoring with 8:13 left to again tie the game and force overtime. In the second overtime period, Crawley assisted on the game-winning goal.
Her efforts for the week (9/2-9/8) earned her Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and Soccer America National Team of the Week honors.
Fukuchi Forging Ahead
With 33 career points, junior Emily Fukuchi has moved into a tie with Britt Talley for fifth place on the Baylor career leaderboard. Next up: former teammate Gina Castellano, who scored 35 points between 1997 and 2000. Fukuchi also sits fourth all-time in career goals, behind only Courtney Saunders, Molly Cameron and Nikki Hales.
Fukuchi finished second on the team in goals and points as a freshman in 2000, and through 12 games this season, is third on the team in goals and points.
Ruef Roughing Up Opponents
After finishing her rookie season tied for sixth on the squad in scoring with six points (two goals, two assists), sophomore forward Kristin Ruef has already beat her numbers from a year ago.
Through 12 games this season, Ruef leads the team in both points (13) and goals (six). Through games of Sept. 30, she was ninth in the Big 12 Conference in shots, having taken 32 shots (20 shots on goal) in the team's first 10 games. To put that in perspective, Candace Reilly led the Bears in shots last season with 35 shots in 18 games.
Boshers Making Up For Lost Time
After sitting out all of 2001 with a torn ACL, redshirt freshman Tiffany Boshers is making up for lost time this season. Through 12 team games, she is second on the team with four goals and nine points, despite missing three games with a quad strain.
Baylor Keepers Turn Triple Play of Perfect Debuts
Each of the Bears' three goalkeepers this season performed splendidly in their debuts.
Freshman Tanya Sena shut out Louisiana-Lafayette on opening day, making her the first Bear in school history to record a shutout in her first collegiate appearance -- and all while playing with a cast on her right hand, thanks to a broken thumb.
Fellow freshman Morgan Pinter made her debut off the bench against McNeese State (9/11) and finished off a 6-0 shutout of the Cowboys. Pinter allowed no goals in the final 18:39.
Junior transfer Monica Housden shut out Northern Arizona in her first appearance as a Bear (9/15), leading Baylor to a 2-0 win. Housden recorded two saves while playing the entire 90 minutes.
Bears Among Big 12 Statistical Leaders
As a team, Baylor is tied for third in the Big 12 in goals. Baylor individuals among the Big 12 leaders, through games of Oct. 6:
Tiffany Boshers: 6th in shots per game (3.56)
Monica Housden: t-4th in shutouts per game (0.33)
Ginny Rosario-Tull: 5th in shots (41), 9th in shots per game (3.42)
Kristin Ruef: t-5th in GWG (2), t-7th in goals (6), t-9th in goals per game (0.50)
Tanya Sena: 6th in saves per game (3.1), t-6th in GAA (1.47), 8th in saves (31), t-9th in shutouts (1)
Bears Share in Scoring
If this year's Baylor team knows how to do one thing, it's share. Through 12 games, 11 different Bears have combined to score the team's 27 goals. Kristin Ruef leads the team with six goals while Tiffany Boshers has four of her own. Seven other players have at least two goals apiece.
The same phenomenon can be found in the assist category; 11 players have at least one assist. Ginny Rosario-Tull leads the Bears with three assists.
Ruef leads the team with 13 points; six other Bears each have at least five points, and three more have four points apiece.
Working Their Way Up the Charts
Several current Bears are making their ways up the leaderboards in the Baylor recordbook this season. Most impressively, junior Emily Fukuchi ranks fourth in school history in career goals and is tied for fifth in career points. Sophomores April Robertson and Ginny Rosario-Tull have already impacted the career leaderboards, and senior Tamura Crawley is quickly moving up the charts for games played and games started.
Notable records:
Career Points: Emily Fukuchi (6th, 31), Ginny Rosario-Tull (9th, 26)
Career Shots: Candace Reilly (7th, 79), Ginny Rosario-Tull (8th, 75)
Career Goals: Emily Fukuchi (4th, 13), Ginny Rosario-Tull (5th, 10), Whitney Barrett (t-10th, 8), Kristin Ruef (t-10th, 8)
Career Multi-Goal Games: Emily Fukuchi (t-4th, 2), April Robertson (t-4th, 2), Ginny Rosario-Tull (t-4th, 2)
Career Multi-Assist Games: Ryan Lee (t-4th, 2), Emily Fukuchi (t-5th, 1), Kate Hensman (t-5th, 1) Kristin Ruef (t-5th, 1)
Career Game-Winning Goals: Emily Fukuchi (t-4th, 4)
Career Game-Winning Assists: Candace Reilly (6th, 4), Tamura Crawley (t-7th, 3), Emily Fukuchi (t-7th, 3)
Most Games Started, Career: Tamura Crawley (8th, 70)
Consecutive Games Played: Tamura Crawley (4th, 71) -- has appeared in every game during her career
Crawley Named Preseason All-Big 12 -- Again
Senior defender Tamura Crawley was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team by the league's coaches for the third straight season in 2002. Crawley earned All-Big 12 second-team honors in 2000 and 2001 after being named to the conference first team in 1999. She has earned Preseason All-Big 12 accolades as a sophomore, junior and now as a senior.
Bears Add Goalie Housden to Stable
After much haggling, the Bears welcomed junior goalkeeper Monica Housden to the team in week two of the season. Housden, a junior transfer from North Texas, is coming off a season in which she recorded a 0.83 goals-against average and earned second team All-Sun Belt Conference honors.
In two seasons with the Mean Green, Housden appeared in 37 of team's 40 games. She leaves North Texas as the program's career leader in shutouts (12.5) and saves (202). A junior from Denton, Texas, Housden started 21 of her team's 22 games as a true freshman in 2000 and notched back-to-back shutouts against Centenary and Texas Tech in her first two collegiate games. Her eight shutouts as a rookie were a team single-season record. She also voted a team co-captain as a sophomore.
Housden has also been selected to try out for the Mexico National Team World Cup Qualifiers in late October, which may cause her to miss some of the Bears' late season games.
Baylor Picked Seventh in Big 12 in Preseason Poll
Baylor was picked to finish tied for seventh in the Big 12 Conference this season as the league's coaches compiled their annual preseason poll. After advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight a year ago, Texas A&M was picked to win the 2002 Big 12 title, followed by defending conference champion Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. The Bears were picked to tie with Colorado, while Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Texas Tech round out the standings.
The Bears finished the 2001 season in seventh place in the Big 12 and lost in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament to then-No. 9 Nebraska.
Bears in the Pros
Former Baylor all-America goalkeeper Dawn Greathouse completed her second season as a member of the Woman's United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2002. Greathouse, an all-American for Baylor in 1998, spent all of 2001 and part of 2002 season with the Washington Freedom. She appeared in five games for the Freedom early in the season, but was released and signed by the San Jose Cyber Rays, with whom she completed the rest of the season.
Greathouse is one of three Baylor-related players to have participated in the WUSA's first two seasons. Courtney Saunders, a1998 all-American at Baylor, spent the inaugural season with the Philadelphia Charge, while former assistant coach Rebecca Hornbacher was a member of the Boston Breakers in 2001.
Pannell Retires
Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Mel Pannell, one of the Bears' top recruits a year ago, has retired after learning that she would miss her second straight season after reinjuring her right shoulder during the summer. Pannell played in Baylor's season opener last season, but dislocated her shoulder in the 80th minute and had surgery in October to correct the problem.
Pannell worked her way through nine months of rehabilitation, but reinjured her shoulder late in the summer and had total reconstructive surgery in August. The procedure would have kept her out of action for at least six months before any return to action could have been considered.
Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field
The 2002 season marks the fourth year for the Baylor soccer team at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field. The former Baylor Soccer Stadium was retitled during the 2000 season in honor of the late Betty Lou Mays of Amarillo, Texas. Mrs. Mays was the wife of Troy Mays, a 1945 graduate of Baylor; the two were longtime supporters of Baylor athletics.
The stadium seats 3,000 fans, making it the largest soccer-only facility in the Big 12. Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field is is set in the plush backdrop of the Brazos River on University Parks Drive. The field is part of the Jim and Julie Turner Riverfront Athletic Park, which includes the Baylor Ballpark, Getterman Stadium and the new Baylor Tennis Center. All four venues share the parking lot with the Ferrell Special Events Center.
Head Coach Nick Cowell
In 2002, head coach Nick Cowell enters his fourth year at the helm of the Baylor soccer team. He has steadily built a program that consistently rates as one of the best in the Big 12 Conference.
In Cowell's first year at Baylor, the team finished 14-7-1 overall and placed fourth in the conference with a 6-3-1 mark. In 2000, the Bears again finshed fourth in the Big 12 and compiled an overall record of 10-6-3. The 2001 season was marred by injuries and saw the Bears finish 8-10 overall (4-6 Big 12, seventh in the league). Under Cowell, the team has made one NCAA appearance (1999) and barely missed out on another (2000).
Prior to coming to Baylor, Cowell spent eight years as head coach at Trinity University in San Antonio. During that time, he led his team to seven straight conference titles, including 49-straight conference victories and six trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
At Trinity, Cowell's success resulted in him being named the SCAC Coach of the Year five times. In 1992, he garnered Regional Coach of the Year honors. Prior to his work at Trinity, Cowell was at The College of Wooster where he had a 22-11-4 record in two seasons. He led the Lady Scots to the North Coast Athletic Conference title in 1990. Following that season he was named the NCAC and Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association Coach of the Year.
Cowell began the 2002 season ranked 19th in career winning percentage and 25th in career wins among active coaches at four-year colleges, with a career record of 171-64-16 (.713).
Cowell Adds Pair of Assistant Coaches
Head coach Nick Cowell welcomed one old friend and one new friend into the Baylor coaching staff for this season as he added assistant coach Courtney Petrie and volunteer assistant coach Rich Stoneman.
In Petrie, Cowell is rejoined by one of his former stars. A 2000 graduate of Trinity, she played two seasons (1997-98) under Cowell at Trinity. During her career at Trinity, Petrie was the starting goalkeeper for the Tigers as they won two conference titles and made three straight NCAA D-III tournament appearances. She held opponents to a 0.24 goals against average in 1999 and compiled a career GAA of 0.36, setting both school and conference records.
Petrie joined the Bears from the University of Akron, where she spent the past season as assistant women's soccer coach. She also spent the past year working with the Greater Akron Premier Club, where she coached the under-14 team and served as goalkeeper coach for the entire club.
Stoneman, meanwhile, became the first volunteer assistant to work with the Bears under Cowell. Stoneman played four years of soccer at East Central University before graduating in 1999. He participated in MLS tryouts in 1997 as he was invited to combines for the Dallas Burn and Kansas City Wizards, and spent three years playing in the United States International Soccer League with the Oklahoma City Slickers, Tulsa Roughnecks and Carolina Shamrocks.
Stoneman spent the 2000-01 season as assistant women's soccer coach at East Central as the team advanced to the conference tournament for the first time in team history. He also has extensive experience with club and high school soccer.
Petrie works specifically with the goalkeepers in addition to assisting with recruiting and other day-to-day office activities, while Stoneman assists with coaching goalkeepers as well as with video analysis and other training drills. The pair joins second-year assistant coach Rj. Anderson on the staff.
BaylorBears.com
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.BaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches and audio broadcasts, is part of the Official College Sports Network. OCSN currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities, including eight Big 12 schools.
Live scoring updates are available on BaylorBears.com for all Baylor soccer home games and select road games.
Inside Baylor Sports
"Inside Baylor Sports", a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and the region. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox Sports Net Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18). KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, and it airs at 1 p.m. Wednesdays on FSN Southwest.
