Soccer hosts SFA in important match Friday
10/21/2010 6:25:00 AM | Soccer
Entering the stretch run in their bid to earn their second consecutive Southland Conference post-season tournament berth, the Sam Houston women's soccer team begins a three-match home stand Friday night at Pritchett Field.
The Sam Houston State University women's soccer team is currently 4-2 in Southland play and a big part of the success has been the improved play of sophomore forward Kirby Zak. The sophomore is confident that having the game at home will give the team a winning advantage.
"Pre-season was a rough start because we have new girls and we also have had to work around the two games that we lost when we were on the road," Zak said. "But the freshmen are learning quickly and our team captain Jenny Pence and our coaches keep us in line. The game against SFA this weekend should be interesting. They stomped us last year, but hopefully this year we will win."
Zak is a kinesiology major and earned honorable mention All-Southland Conference honors as a true freshman. She is a two-time Southland Conference "Offensive Player of the Week," and led the Bearkats with nine goals and 10 assists, averaging 80.3 minutes per game. Head coach Tom Brown is impressed with how she has improved since the beginning of the season.
"Kirby started off slow this season, but since we have gotten into the conference she has been making a lot of goals and doing really well," said Brown. "We are looking for her leadership for the game against SFA this weekend and the other two games we will be playing after that."
Brown feels that the team has achieved one of their main goals, which was to have success in the conference. After the game with SFA on Friday, Sam Houston will play host to UTSA on Friday, October 29 and Texas State on Sunday, October 31, finishing up their regular season.
"I believe that we are in a good place and that we have a good shot in the playoffs," said Brown. "We have a very young team, so it is really good that we have had this season to get organized. The game against SFA will be a good competition and we have the confidence that we will beat them this time around."
Three of the top four teams in the league standings will visit Huntsville in the next 10 days. The three matches will wrap up the regular season for the Bearkats.
Five-time conference champions (the last in 2007), the Lumberjacks currently are tied for first place in the 2010 Southland standings with 13 points from a 4-1-1 league record. The Jacks are 11-4-1 for the season.
UTSA, who visits Pritchett Field Friday, October 29, also has 13 points with an unbeaten mark of four victories and one tie. Texas State, who will complete the three-match home stand for SHSU on Sunday, October 31, is tied for fourth place with Southeastern Louisiana. Both own 3-1-1 records to total 10 standings points.
Only the top six teams in the final regular season standings qualify for the Southland tournament which will be held Thursday-Sunday, November 4-7, in San Marcos.
Sam Houston ranks third with 12 points from their four victories. .
To pick up a victory Friday, Sam Houston will have to do something it has never accomplished in the eight-year history of the women's soccer program. SFA has never lost a regular season soccer match to the Bearkats. Sam Houston's only soccer win over the Lumberjacks came in the semifinals of the 2005 Southland tournament in Natchitoches, La., when SHSU upset the No. 1 seeded Jacks 3-1.
SFA defeated Sam Houston 6-0 in Nacogdoches last year.
Friday's match features three of the Southland Conference's top scorers. Sam Houston freshman Tricia Mallory ranks third in league goal scoring with 10. Her 10 goals is a school record for goals by a freshman. Lylie Louw and Jordan King of Stephen F. Austin are tied for fourth in Southland goal-scoring with seven tallies apiece.
The Bearkats have won six of their last eight matches and stand 8-8-1 for the season.
