Sept. 1, 2008

LOGAN, Utah -

Complete Release in PDF Format

ON THE PITCH - After a tough road trip to Oregon and Oregon State, the Aggies return home to play five of their next six matches at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. This week, USU will face Texas State on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 4 p.m. and Northern Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. Texas State managed to tame a physical match brought on by the Eastern Washington Eagles and turn it into a 2-0 shutout victory Sunday at the UTEP Miners' Classic Tournament in El Paso. The Bobcats now have a 2-1 overall record with the win and grabbed their second shutout of the season. Offensively, Texas State is led by Brittney Curry and Erica Michaud who both have two goals this season. Defensively, the Bobcats' Mandi Mawyer has started two of their three matches only allowing one goal. Texas State has allowed only one total goal. After both teams waited for the game to start after a long rain delay, Northern Colorado came out with a last minute goal to defeat the Wyoming Cowgirls for the first time in program history. The Bears now move to 2-2-0 on the season. Wyoming, another future USU opponent, is now also 2-2-0. The Aggies hold a 1-0 series lead over Texas State with the only the other meeting taking place last year in San Marcos. Utah State defeated the Bobcats 1-0 on a Dana Peart goal. Utah State is also 1-0 against Northern Colorado with the Aggies defeating the Bears 2-0 in 2003 in Boise, Idaho. Texas State is part of the Southland Conference, while Northern Colorado is one of the newest members of the Big Sky Conference.

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.

FAMILIAR FACES - When Texas State comes to town junior Andrea Seledee will see some very familiar faces. The San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native played two seasons at Texas State. As a sophomore, Seledee was second on the team in points scored with seven. She had two goals and two assists, which led the team. Seledee did not play in the matchup between the Bobcats and the Aggies in 2007.

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.

SLOW START - The WAC is off to a slow start this soccer season. Utah State is one of only three teams along with Boise State and Louisiana Tech to capture a win this season. Overall the WAC is 4-17-2 to start the 2008 season. There are five teams still in search of their first win this season, including Fresno State (0-4) and Nevada (0-4), two of the last three WAC Tournament Champions. San Jose State (0-2-2), Idaho (0-2) and 2007 WAC Tournament Champion Hawai`i (0-2) also are in search of their first wins.

FISHY SITUATION - Things are getting awfully fishy for the Aggies. Junior Erin Salmon scored the first goal of the season for Utah State off the dish from sophomore Heather Pond. To add to the underwater element, freshman midfielder Chandra Salmon has now started three of the Aggies first four matches.

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 COACH - 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 plus seasons at the helm of the Aggies, Cairns has compiled a 44-49-9 (.475) 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.

CLOSE CALLS - The Aggies may sport a 1-3 record this season, but Utah State has been in every single match. All three Aggie losses have come by only one goal (L, 1-2 vs. Idaho State; L, 0-1 Oregon; L, 1-2 Oregon State).

MERRILL MAKES AN IMPACT - Freshman goalkeeper Molli Merrill saw her first action last week with much success. Against both Oregon and Oregon State, Merrill started the second half, playing 45 minutes in each match and not allow a goal. Merrill has now played 90 minutes this season with three saves.

HAPPY AT HOME - The Aggie are happy to be back in the friendly confines of Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. USU is 1-0 at home this year and had its biggest offensive output of two goals against Seattle on Aug. 24.

UP NEXT - After the two home matches this week, Utah State will have a split week. On Friday, Sept. 12, the Aggies head to Salt Lake City to face rival Utah at 7:30 p.m. On Sept. 14, Utah State will host UTEP at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field at 4 p.m. Utah, a former Western Athletic Conference team now out of the Mountain West Conference, is 9-1 against Utah State. The Aggies only win was a 1-0 overtime win in Logan in 1997. The Miners are also former WAC team now out of Conference USA, who hold a 2-0 series lead over the Aggies. UTEP defeated the Aggies 3-0 in Logan in 1997 and 2-1 in El Paso in 2000.

State facts - Utah State will host Texas State and Northern Colorado this week. There are no Aggies from Texas, but transfer Andrea Seledee did play two season for the Bobcats before transferring to Utah State. There is one Aggie from the Centennial State, Colorado. Ironically enough, Alex Gentry hails from Centennial, Colo., just outside of Denver.

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.

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.

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 a 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 a match (six) done five other times by three Aggies, last by Nicole (Feuz) Gooch in 2004 against Idaho. Aggie Algebra

1 - The total number of collegiate assists that goalkeeper Ali Griffin now has after assisting on Shantel Flanary's first goal in the win against Seattle on Aug. 24.

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 (Griffin, Lauren Hansen, Candice Clark).

4 - The total number of Aggies who have scored goals this season, Shantel Flanary, Erin Salmon, Lauren Hansen and Lindsey Smart.

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.

16 - Number of saves goalkeeper Ali Griffin has recorded this season... She is now fourth on the all-time saves list with 179.

19 - Players from the state of Utah on the roster.

22 - The number of first half shots that the Aggies have fired compared to 19 shots in the second half.

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.

3,985 - Career minutes Griffin has as goalkeeper to rank second on the career minutes list behind Megan Mills (2001-04) who logged 5,196 minutes.