Women's Soccer to Close Regular Season at Northern Colorado
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Winners of three-straight games, Northern
Arizona closes the regular season on Friday at Northern Colorado.
With a win, the Lumberjacks could win the Big Sky regular season
title, depending on other results. The Lumberjacks begin the week
in second place in the conference, with the top-four teams
qualifying for the Big Sky Tournament to be hosted by the
regular-season champion.
Big Sky Breakdown
With one game remaining for all eight Big Sky teams, Northern
Arizona currently sits in second place with 12 points, trailing
Portland State by just a single point. The Lumberjacks can win the
Big Sky regular season title only with a win AND a Portland State loss or
tie. With a win or tie NAU would clinch a birth in the Big Sky
Tournament, though the Lumberjacks cannot win the conference with a
tie since Portland State plays Sacramento State, ensuring that one
team will get three points or both will get one point and the
Hornets would hold a tiebreaker with NAU. The only way the
Lumberjacks would not finish in the top-four would be a loss AND wins by Sacramento
State, Eastern Washington and Idaho State.
To sum up, NAU could still finish as high as first or as low as
fifth in the final regular season standings. The Lumberjacks,
Portland State, Sacramento State and Eastern Washington are all
still in the running to win the conference and host the Big Sky
tournament. Weber State and Northern Colorado are the only
conference teams to have been mathematically eliminated from
postseason contention.
Scouting Northern Colorado
The Bears picked up their first conference win and ended a
five-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory over Eastern Washington
last Friday in Greeley. UNC is a respectable 3-5 at home while just
1-5-1 in road games in 2009. The Bears have been shut out three
times in Big Sky play and a total of eight times this season,
including a 1-0 home loss to Montana last Saturday.
Sophomore Ariel Cook and freshman Danielle Birdsall are tied for
the team-lead with three goals this season while sophomore Kimmie
Feidler has two goals and three assists to tie with Cook and
Birdsall for the team lead with seven points. Sophomore Kristin
Salminen has played the majority of minutes in goal for Northern
Colorado and has a 1.32 goals against average and .763 save
percentage for the season.
Northern Arizona is 2-2 all-time against their new conference mate,
including a 2-1 home win over the Bears last season. NAU has only
played in Greeley one previous time in program history, a 1-0 loss
in 2007. As mentioned before, Northern Colorado is one of only two
Big Sky teams to have been mathematically eliminated from
postseason contention prior to the last weekend of regular season
play.
Like a Rock
The only player to start every game for NAU this season and the
Lumberjacks leader in minutes played, junior Kristi Andreassen has
been a model of consistency and durability along the Northern
Arizona back line. As a defender, Andreassen now leads the team in
shots (42) and, perhaps more impressively, shots on goal (21). She
is the de-facto taker of free kicks for the Lumberjacks, and has
come close to scoring goals from midfield or beyond throughout the
season.
At 5-11, she is also NAU’s best weapon on the receiving end
of corner kicks, having scored two goals this season off corners.
Her four total goals are tied for second-best on the team, as
Northern Arizona leads the Big Sky in goals for the year. In
addition to her strong leg and offensive abilities, she has
anchored the Lumberjack defense and has played every minute in 13
of 17 NAU games this season.
The Tempe, Ariz. native was the only Lumberjack to start every game
in 2008 as well, becoming only the fourth NAU player to be named to
the All-Big Sky First-Team, and appears destined for a second Big
Sky First-Team selection and perhaps conference Defender of the
Year in 2009. Oh, and she has a perfect 4.00 GPA in her Northern
Arizona academic career.
Sky High Samora
After a slow start to the season offensively, sophomore forward
Jenna Samora has been on fire throughout Big Sky play. She has a
goal or an assist in five of six Northern Arizona conference games,
tying with Andreassen for the team lead with three goals and two
assists for eight points in conference play.
She is tied for second in the Big Sky in goals and points in
conference games, and is third in the conference in goals and
points for the season. She leads the Lumberjacks with six goals and
two assists for 14 points on the season after being named Big Sky
Newcomer of the Year as a Freshman in 2008.
Samora’s numbers are particularly impressive considering she
was held without a single point through the initial six games of
the season. She has recorded at least one point in seven of 11
games since then and has averaged more than one point per game in
the last 11 contests. She also has a goal or an assist in the last
five NAU games, in which the team has a 4-1 record
Happy Helpers
With two assists this season, senior Sarah Neatherton has moved
into sole possession of second-place on NAU’s career assists
leaderboard with 16 career helpers. She trails all-time leader Cee
Cee Odorfer by just two assists.
Meanwhile, junior Brenna Boies’ conference-leading eight
assists in 2009 are tied for the third-highest single-season total
in Lumberjack history and have given her a career-total of 15 dimes
, which puts her in a tie for third on the all-time career list.
She is also now eighth in career points (25).
In a look at other career records being challenged, Neatherton has
moved into fourth-place in career shots (140) and is sixth in
career points (32). Samora is now sixth in career goals (13) and
seventh in career points (30) while Andreassen is seventh in career
shots (94). Sophomore goalkeeper Tori Rocke has moved into third in
career saves (185) and is tied for fourth in career shutouts
(10).
The Wounded
In the Lumberjacks 2-1 win over New Mexico on September 25,
sophomore midfielder Lauren Zallis became the latest on a long list
of Lumberjacks to sustain season-ending injuries. Zallis joined
sophomore goalkeeper Natasha Slaughter as NAU players to sustain
season-ending knee injuries during the 2009 season, though the
injury bug hit the Lumberjacks before the season even began.
Senior and team-captain Sarah Vallen endured a season-ending knee
injury of her own just before the Lumberjacks first game of the
season. Also yet to play this season due to injury are senior Kara
Vitacca, sophomore Ethi Ethridge, and freshman Jennifer Beaudoin.
Fortunately, there have been no further injuries thus far in Big
Sky conference play.
Pack the Jack
The crowd of 2,187 fans in NAU’s game against Arizona
established a new program record for attendance at Lumberjack
Stadium, surpassing the previous mark of 2,011 set on November 24,
2004 in a game against Nevada. The crowd was just the second over
2,000 and just the fourth all-time attendance figure to reach four
digits. In fact, the 2,187 fans was greater than NAU’s total
season home attendance in the year 2000, when the Lumberjacks had
just five home dates in Lumberjack Stadium.
Four of NAU’s seven-largest attendance figures have been
recorded this season. Oddly enough, the nine largest crowds in
Lumberjack Stadium history have come in games against
non-conference opponents. With a crowd of 516 fans for last
Sunday’s home finale, Northern Arizona averaged 884 fans for
its nine home games this season, shattering the previous record for
average home attendance of 595 set in 2004. Unfortunately, the
renovation of Lumberjack Stadium will likely prevent the record
from being challenged next season, but when the new stadium is
unveiled in 2011 the team hopes to see the attendance record broken
again.
