CEDAR CITY, Utah - Sept. 23 - Southern Utah will host its conference opener in the first of two games for the Thunderbirds this week when SUU plays Western Illinois on Thursday afternoon.  The T-Birds will wrap up the weekend with its final home match in the month of September in a contest with Northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon.

SUU will enter the game with a 1-5-0 record and fresh off its first win of the season, a 3-1 decision over UTSA on Saturday.  A win in each game will bring the T-Birds level to 3-3-0 during the month of September and a 1-0-0 record in conference play.

Southern Utah has never lost to the Westerwinds at home and will look to continue that streak, while already owning the all-time series lead of 4-2-1.  The win will not be any easy one as Western Illinois will enter the game as the defending regular-season conference champion after an unblemished 8-0-0 record in The Summit League in 2007.

The Thunderbirds will play host to Northern Colorado for the first time since 2004, when the two teams played to a scoreless draw.  The tie was the first ever for the SUU women’s soccer program and a win would keep the T-Birds undefeated against the Bears in Cedar City.

The game with Western Illinois is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. with the game on Saturday slated for 2:00 p.m.

Scouting Western Illinois

Western Illinois will enter the match with a record of 3-2-2 after wins over St. Ambrose, Northern Iowa and Eastern Illinois.  The Westerwinds are undefeated in their last four games with two wins and two ties.

Ashley Hoch leads the team in points with eight on two goals and four assists.  Alyssa Johnson leads the team with three goals during the year.

Meghan Tyk has spent the majority of time in goal for the Westerwinds with 445 minutes in between the posts.  Tyk will enter the game as The Summit League Defensive Player of the Week and is first in the league in save percentage and goals-against-average.

SUU is 4-2-1 all-time against WIU, but lost in Macomb last year, 3-0.

Scouting Northern Colorado

Northern Colorado will enter the game with Southern Utah after having faced UNLV the Thursday prior.  In all, the Bears are 5-5-0 on the season with wins over Air Force, Wyoming, Rider, Oregon State and Grambling.

Jessica Zimmerman leads the Bears with eights points this season on three goals and two assists.  She is tied with teammate Kimmie Fiedler for the lead in goals this year, with three.

Kirstin Salminen has recorded all of the starts for UNC in goal and carried a 1.36 GAA over the first eight games of the season with 30 saves.

The series is tied 0-0-1 between the two teams with the last meeting coming on Oct. 29, 2004.

Last Time Against Western Illinois - Unbeaten Streak Snapped at Four Games in Defeat to Westerwinds

MACOMB, Ill. – Sept. 28, 2007 – Southern Utah women’s soccer found themselves on the losing end of a 3-0 outcome at the final whistle at Western Illinois on Friday afternoon. The loss drops the Thunderbirds to 1-3-4 on the season while the Westerwinds improve to 7-1-1.

Last Time Against Northern Colorado - Thunderbirds Close 2004 Season with 0-0 Draw vs. Northern Colorado

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Oct. 29, 2004 - Southern Utah women’s soccer team held a better than 2-to-1 advantage in shots on goal, but could not convert on any of its chances as the Thunderbirds played to a 0-0 double-overtime draw in their season finale against Nothern Colorado Friday afternoon in Cedar City.  The tie, which is the first in SUU’s brief four-year history - a span of 69 games going into the match - as a program, made the Thunderbirds’ final record 4-11-1 for the season, while UNC moved to 3-11-1.  The match also served as “Senior Day” as SUU honored its seven seniors, Katie Baugh, Chaysie Christensen, Michelle Davis, Megan Flowers, Crystal Lyle, Sara Sillitoe and Lyndsey Sobrero, prior to kick-off.

Last Match - Freshmen Lead Southern Utah to Victory

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Sept. 20 - Southern Utah freshmen played a role in each of the Thunderbirds three goals on Saturday afternoon as the T-Birds beat the UTSA Roadrunners 3-1.  The win snaps a five-game losing streak to open the season for SUU, moving the team to 1-5-0 while the Roadrunners leave the state of Utah with losses in Cedar City and Logan and a 3-6-0 record.

Freshman Stacey Brinkman opened the scoring for the Thunderbirds in the 34th minute as she was able to open some space among three defenders and put the ball in the back of the net.  The ball was played in by fellow freshman Riley Bassett.

The Roadrunners recorded the equalizing goal a minute later as Eric Mackay’s header off a corner kick bounded over SUU keeper McKenzie Hadley.  Kari Weiland was responsible for the service.  The kick came after a short delay in which UTSA’s assistant coach was given a red card and asked to leave the facility after yelling something to her team.

The game remained deadlocked at 1-1 throughout the first half and well into the second until freshman Michelle Judd placed a picture-perfect header in the 81st minute into the goal off a service from junior Makell Hansen from the corner.  The goal was her first of the season and first of her collegiate career.

Brinkman found the net for a second time in the waning seconds of the game, ripping a shot from 35 yards and placing it above the outstretched arms of UTSA’s keeper.  The goal came with 15 seconds on the clock and tied the single-game record for goals, sharing the mark with 12 other Thunderbirds.

Southern Utah had the advantage in shots, 18-8, with eights shots in the first half and ten in the second.

SUU Soccer Quick Kicks

Closing on records - Senior Shaley Ipson Allen has now moved closer to breaking the all-time mark in points during her career with a goal during the match with Utah Valley.  The two points brought her total up to 33, only two shy from tying the all-time mark held by Brooklyn Phillips (2004-07).

Quick draw - Junior Makell Hansen scored the fastest goal in school history last week when her shot squirted through the keeper’s legs at CS-Northridge 33 seconds into the match.

Growing up Quickly - Freshman Stacey Brinkman leads the Thunderbirds in points with eight on four goals during the season.

New “goal”-den standard - Shaley Ipson Allen scored her 14th career goal in the game with Utah Valley, breaking the all-time mark of goals in a career.

For the complete release, with the latest stats, please click on the link at the top of the page.