Aug. 21, 2008
LOGAN, Utah -
Complete USU Soccer Notes in PDF Format 
KICKING OFF - For the third-straight year, Utah State begins its season on the road. This year the Aggies will begin in Pocatello, Idaho against Idaho State. Last season, it all began with a 1-0 win against Texas State. In 2006, Utah State defeated Idaho State by the same 1-0 margin. Utah State is 3-3 in road openers. This will be the fourth time that the Aggies and the Bengals have met to start a season with USU holding a 2-1 record. The 13th season of Utah State soccer begins on Friday, hoping not to be unlucky. The program holds an overall record of 85-125-13. Last year, the Aggies were 10-11, which was the second-straight season they had won at least 10 matches.
GAMETRACKER - Fans can follow all the Aggie home games through the USU web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com via GameTracker, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game.
ON THE PITCH - Idaho State won an exhibition match against Northwest Nazarene on Aug. 20, 4-0. The Bengals are without senior goalkeeper Maren Eves-Williams who broke her thumb in practice on Aug. 11, knocking her out of action for the next 3-7 weeks. Last season, ISU was 7-5-6, including a 1-0 OT loss to Utah State. Seattle University is transitioning from Division II to Division I. This season, the Redhawks schedule contains 18 matches against Division I competition, including home matches against two schools from the Big Sky Conference. Last season, Seattle was 17-3-1 and advanced to the NCAA Division II soccer tournament.
LOOKING AHEAD - If there is one theme to the 2008 season it is that the Aggies will be wracking up the frequent flier miles, playing only 10 home matches. USU's schedule includes two teams that played in last season's NCAA Tournament in Brigham Young and WAC foe and defending league champion Hawai'i. The Aggies face three of the top five Mountain West Conference teams from last season in BYU, Utah and Wyoming, while Long Beach State and Cal Poly were two of the top three teams in the Big West Conference, and both UTEP and Texas-San Antonio were third-place finishers in their respective conferences. BYU is the only team on USU's schedule that was ranked in the final NSCAA/adidas top 25 poll last season, with the Cougars being ranked No. 25, but Long Beach State was among others in receiving votes.
WAC PRESEASON POLL - For the second-straight season Utah State was tabbed third in the Preseason WAC Coaches' Poll, as the Aggies garnered 37 points. Junior defender Lindsey Smart was named to the Preseason all-WAC soccer team and was WAC Preseason co-Defensive Player of the Year also for the second consecutive year.
BACK FOR MORE - Utah State returns seven starters and 16 letterwinners from last season's squad that posted a 10-11 record. The Aggies return three all-WAC selections in junior defender Lindsey Smart (first-team), senior forward Candice Clark (second-team) and sophomore forward Lauren Hansen (second-team). In Clark and Hansen, the Aggies return 16 of the 40 goals they scored last season. Senior goalkeeper Ali Griffin, who holds the USU record for career goals against average (0.95), also returns for the Aggies this season.
THE NEW CREW - Head coach Heather Cairns welcomes 11 newcomers to the lineup, including 10 freshmen and one transfer. Several of the newcomers will make an immediate impact on Aggie soccer. Forward Shantel Flanary comes to Utah State after scoring 87 goals in high school and losing only one match. She is an ultra-competative striker who looks to make an immediate impact. Andrea Seledee is a transfer from Texas State, who finished the 2007 season second on the team with two goals and three assists. Alexis Venable is a versatile defender who will be vying for playing time this season. The Layton, Utah native looks to become part of a very tough defensive corps. Chandra Salmon will be in the mix at the center midfielder position. Another newcomer is goalkeeper Molli Merrill a freshman from Bountiful, Utah, giving Cairns and Utah State depth on both sides of the ball.
THE COACHES - Entering her sixth season at Utah State is Heather Cairns, who became the winningest coach in school history after recording her 27th career victory on Sept. 30, 2006, defeating Eastern Washington 1-0. In her five seasons at the helm of the Aggies, Cairns has compiled a 43-46-9 (.485) record passing former head coach Stacy Enos (1996-2000) who went 26-59 (.306) in five seasons with the Aggies. Cairns' teams have also recorded a school record 36 shutouts in the last five seasons. USU recorded a total of just 16 shutouts in the six years prior to Cairns' appointment as head coach. Allison Gibson enters her third season as the head coach at Idaho State. During the 2007 season Gibson posted a 7-5-6 record. Gibson tied the record for the fewest losses in a season. Unfortunately a string of ties, that set the record for most tied games in a season, kept the Bengals from the Big Sky Conference tournament by one point.
SERIES HISTORY - This will be ninth meeting between Utah State and Idaho State with the Aggies leading the series 5-3. In the last meeting, USU defeated ISU last season, 1-0 in overtime, in Logan behind a goal from first-team all-WAC selection Dana Peart.
UP NEXT - Utah State will play its home opener on Sunday, Aug. 24 against Seattle University at 1 p.m. at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. This is the first meeting between the Aggies and the Redhawks. Admission is free to all USU soccer matches.
WAC INFORMATION - The WAC will continue its regular-season play as a single round-robin format (plus a points system) for a total of seven conference matches. The points system allows each team to receive three points for a win and one point for a tie. The six teams with the most points at the end of the regular season will advance to the WAC Tournament which will be held Nov. 6-7, 9 in Reno, Nevada.
2008 WAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
November 6 (Quarterfinals) Match 1 - No. 3 vs. No. 6, 3:00 p.m. Match 2 - No. 4 vs. No. 5, 5:30 p.m.
November 7 (Semifinals) Match 3 - No. 1 vs. Winner Match 1, 3:00 p.m. Match 4 - No. 2 vs. Winner Match 2, 5:30 p.m.
November 9 (Championship) Match 5 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4, 1:00 p.m.
WAC BITS - The WAC returns 15 all-conference players for the 2008 season. Hawai`i leads the way with six returning all-WAC members, including last year's WAC Offensive Player of the Year, Ambree Ako, and Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Tehane Higa. First-teamers Ako, Higa, Taryn Fukuroku and Nicole Mikula, along with second-teamers Chelsea Deptula and Kori Lu return for the Rainbow Wahine. Fresno State welcomes back two first-teamers and two from the all-WAC second-team. The Bulldogs return both Alison Sill and Kaity Reven from last year's first-team, along with Nicole Gutierrez and Selena Gill from the second-team. Utah State returns all-WAC first-team defender Lindsey Smart for her junior season. The Aggies also return a pair of second-team selections from last season in Candice Clark and Lauren Hansen. Boise State returns last year's WAC Freshman of the Year Shannon Saxton, who also earned first-team all-WAC honors last season. Nevada welcomes back second-team all-WAC defender Patrice Goodwin for her senior year.
The Gem State - While they are no Aggies from Pocatello freshman forward Marissa Sanchez will make her collegiate debut in her home state of Idaho. Sanchez hails from Twin Falls, Idaho and graduated from Twin Falls High School.
LOOKING BACK AT 2007 REWIND - Last season was the second-straight that the Aggies have won 10 matches which ties the school record for most-ever wins. For the second-straight year, the Aggies won at least five conference matches, posting a 5-2 WAC record. Five wins is a school record, topping the previous program-record marks of four conference wins, done four times, most recently in 2005. Utah State was the fourth-seed for the WAC Tournament and earned its first-ever conference tournament victory, defeating fifth-seeded San Jose State, 4-0, in the quarterfinals. The Aggies then lost to top-seeded Hawai'i, 1-0, in double overtime in the semifinals, as Hawai'i went on to win the conference championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament. It marked the third year in a row that Utah State has been eliminated by the eventual tournament champion. In 2005, the Aggies lost to Fresno State who went on to claim the title, while USU fell to Nevada, who won the title in 2006.
GRIFFIN CAREER SHUTOUT RECORD HOLDER - Ali Griffin recorded seven shutouts in 2007 and now has 15 career shutouts to take the previous record from former Utah State player Megan Mills, who recorded 14 shutouts in her career (2001-04).
HANSEN'S HOT CAREER START - Forward Lauren Hansen made her mark in the record books after one season with the Aggies. Hansen scored three goals in the match against Louisiana Tech which ties for the most goals in match that was last done in 2004 by Nicole (Feuz) Gooch at Idaho. She finished in fifth for goals in a season (10) and is currently tied for ninth with Emily Sutherland (1996-99) for goals in a career. Hansen also finished fifth for points in a season with 20 and tied for fourth for points in match (six) done five other times by three Aggies, last by Nicole (Feuz) Gooch in 2004 against Idaho.
HOME SWEET HOME - Counting the exhibition match on Aug. 18, Utah State had nine home matches in 2007. The Aggies finished the home portion of their schedule with a 5-3 mark and finished the season with three-straight home victories. Overall, Utah State is 25-17-9 at home since moving to the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field in 2002. In the two years prior to their move to Bell Field, the Aggies were just 6-12 at home. They have gone 12-3-3 against conference opponents since bedding down at Bell Field.
CLOSE CONTESTS - USU had 12 one-goal difference matches, five of which were one-goal victories.
Aggie Algebra
2 - USU opponents on the 2008 schedule that played in last year's NCAA Tournament, including BYU and Hawai`i.
3 - The number of returning Aggies named to the all-WAC team last season (Ali Griffin, Lauren Hansen, Candice Clark).
6 - Different states that players on the roster are from: California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Washington.
7 - Starters returning, which includes 2007 all-WAC honorees Lindsey Smart, Lauren Hansen and Candice Clark.
8 - Number of career assists junior Lindsey Smart has... She is only five away from breaking USU great Charity Weston's record of 12.
9 - The number of brothers and sisters Aggie freshman Shantel Flanary has.
10 - The number of freshmen the young Aggie team has on the roster this season.
19 - Players from the state of Utah on the roster.
23 - Total number of career points senior Candice Clark has which ties her for 10th on the all-time Aggie list with Chanel (Blaquiere) Weddle.
75 - Number of saves goalkeeper Ali Griffin recorded last season... She is now fourth on the all-time saveslist with 163.
3,695 - Career minutes Griffin has as goalkeeper to rank second on the career minutes list behind Megan Mills (2001-04) who logged 5,196 minutes.
