Soccer Faces Showdown With Fellow Unbeaten Nebraska

MOUNT PLEASANT - The Central Michigan University women’s soccer team (6-0-0) will face arguably its most arduous challenge this season when it travels to Lincoln, Neb. to take on Nebraska (4-0-2) this Friday, Sept. 15.

Both teams enter this weekend’s showdown off of successful showings at tournaments last weekend. Nebraska, which is receiving votes in the latest Soccer Buzz rankings, captured its own Adidas Invitational at the Nebraska Soccer Field, while CMU won the title at the Niagara Soccer Classic.

"This is a tremendous final test for us before the Mid-American Conference season starts next week," CMU head coach Tony DiTucci said. "We have a tremendous opportunity to challenge ourselves against a top-level program like Nebraska. It has a history of being competitive on a national level, and we have a lot of respect for Nebraska.

"With that said, we’re very excited to have a chance to play this match, and we’re looking forward to going out there and seeing what we’re capable of against a quality team."

The Cornhuskers ran their record on the year to 4-0-2 with a 1-0 double-overtime win over Western Carolina on Tuesday. After opening the season with back-to-back ties against Wright State (1-1) and Wisconsin (2-2), Nebraska has won four straight by a combined score of 9-3.

This will be CMU’s second match against a team from a power conference this season. It opened the season against Big 10 foe Michigan State, which CMU edged 3-2 with a goal in the final minutes. The matchup with Nebraska is CMU’s first against a team from the Big 12.

"Nebraska will have additional size and speed compared to what we will face from our MAC rivals," DiTucci said. "Teams like Nebraska and Michigan State that play in the power conferences tend to have a high level of depth and overall skill. We need to play good, consistent soccer for 90 minutes, and if we do that, we will give ourselves a chance to earn a positive result."

Friday’s match at Nebraska will begin at 5 p.m. CDT, and will conclude the non-conference schedule for the Chippewas. After going 1-5-1 in non-league matches a year ago, CMU can complete an unblemished run through non-MAC opponents this season by earning either a win or a tie against the Cornhuskers.

The MAC season begins next weekend with matches against Ohio University on Friday, Sept. 22, at 3 p.m. and versus Akron on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 1 p.m. Both contests will take place at the CMU Soccer Complex.

Chippewa Soccer News and Notes

In Good Company: Central Michigan University is one of just 14 schools to have won every match it played so far during the 2006 season. Other schools in this select group include (all rankings by Soccer Buzz): No. 1 Notre Dame (6-0-0), No. 2 Florida State (4-0-0), No. 8 West Virginia (6-0-0) and No. 12 Missouri (5-0-0). Only one school, Villanova (7-0-0), has more wins than CMU so far this season.

The Buzz About CMU: CMU returned to the No. 9 spot in the latest regional rankings by Soccer Buzz. It is ranked for the third straight week. There are 55 teams in the Great Lakes region, and the rankings are updated each Monday night during the season. They can be accessed online at www.soccerbuzz.com/2006rankings/rankings2006.htm.

We Want The Ball, And We’re Gonna Score: Last season, CMU scored a total of five goals in its seven non-conference matches, and only three players - Alison Heydorn (one goal, three assists), Jacquie Lacek (two assists) and Erica Rohren (four goals) - contributed to the scoring. This season, the Chippewas have netted 15 goals in six non-conference matches, and 11 players have contributed to the scoring. Four players - Lacek (four), Katy Boggan (two), Molly Gerst (two) and Amanda Waugh (two) - have more than one goal, and three players - Gerst (three), Sarah Burns (three) and Lacek (two) - have more than one assist. Six different players (Gerst, Waugh, Burns, Kylie Armstrong, Stephanie Martin and Rosamaria Rago) have scored the match-winning goals in the team’s six victories.

Record Pace: Senior forward Jacquie Lacek continues to inch closer to the top spot in the three scoring categories in the CMU soccer record book. With another goal and an assist for three points over the weekend, Lacek raised her career totals to 20 goals, 14 assists and 54 points. She is now two goals shy of second-place Emille VilleMonte (22) and four tallies away from the top spot held by Allison Campbell (24). Lacek needs just one assist to tie Sabrina Borgquist (15) for the top spot in that category, and seven points to pass Campbell (61) as the all-time scoring champion in CMU women’s soccer history.

Lucky Number 13: Sophomore Katy Boggan became just the 13th player in Chippewa soccer history to record two or more goals in a match when she found the net twice against Niagara last Friday. Two of her current teammates, Jacquie Lacek and Erica Rohren, have previously notched multiple goals in a match. Lacek has done it five times, including once already this season. Allison Campbell holds the record with six multi-goal matches.

The Poll Story: The Chippewas were tabbed by the league’s head coaches to win the MAC in 2006. CMU received seven of the 12 first-place votes in the balloting, finishing ahead of archrival Western Michigan. Two-time defending champion Bowling Green was picked third, with Kent State and Miami rounding out the top five.

Free Kicks

• CMU is 3-5 all-time in its final non-conference match of a season, and has lost its last five such matches.

• CMU is 27-29-5 all-time in non-conference matches.

• This is CMU’s first meeting with Nebraska. It is 14-24-3 all-time when facing an opponent for the first time.

• CMU is 0-3-1 all-time in games played west of the Mississippi River.

• With a win or a tie, CMU can match the program record for the longest unbeaten streak at seven (2004, 5-0-2).