Aug. 16, 2006

Complete Match Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

ON TAP: Utah State vs. Dixie State College (Exhibition)
Saturday, Aug. 19, 1 p.m.
Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field

UP NEXT: Utah State at Idaho State
Friday, Aug. 25, 5 p.m.
Pocatello, Idaho

KICKING OFF 2006
Utah State Aggie soccer opens the 2006 season by hosting Dixie College on Saturday, Aug. 19 at 1 p.m. at Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field. USU kicks off its 20-match regular season schedule Friday, Aug. 25 against Idaho State at Pocatello, Idaho, before returning home to host intra-state rival Weber State on Aug. 29.

"The key to this season's success will be how well we can retain the growth that we saw throughout last year," USU head coach Heather Cairns said. "If we can retain all that growth, it gives us a great building block to start the season on."

LAST SEASON
The Aggies ended last season with a 5-2-1 mark in their last eight regular season games. USU was beaten 2-1 in the first-round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament by Fresno State, which advanced to win the conference championship and represented the WAC in the NCAA National Tournament.

"We have the hard workers, we have the fitness, we have the experience, now it is just putting all that together, but you can't put that together unless you have a good foundation," Cairns said. "I feel that we laid that foundation down last year and got more successful as the season went on and we were very successful this spring."

WAC PRESEASON POLL
Utah State was tabbed fifth in the Preseason WAC Coaches' Poll, as the Aggies garnered 29 points. Defending conference tournament champion Fresno State was the preseason favorite, getting 46 votes including five of the eight first-place votes. Hawai'i, last year's regular season champion, had two first-place votes and 42 points. San Jose State was third with 34 points, while Nevada had 31 points, including a lone first-place vote. Utah State was followed by Boise State (20), Idaho (14) and Louisiana Tech (8).

STRENGTH AND EXPERIENCE IN NUMBERS
The Aggies have 19 returning letterwinners and six starters from last season's squad that went 7-9-4 on the year, including 4-2-1 in WAC play.

Headlining the returners is senior forward Charity Weston (5-4, Layton, Utah/Layton HS/San Jose State), who was named to the All-WAC Preseason Team, as well as first-team all-WAC last season. With a repeat first-team honor can become the first player in USU history to be tabbed to the first-team all-conference list three-straight seasons. Weston led the Aggies and ranked fifth in the WAC with seven goals, as well as leading USU and ranking tied for fifth in the WAC with 18 points (seven goals, four assists).

Also returning is junior midfielder Dana Peart (5-2, Brigham City, Utah/Box Elder HS), who was second on the team with five goals, adding an assist for a total of 11 points. Another returner to the Aggie lineup is senior forward Charlsie Harris (5-6, Taylorsville, Utah/Taylorsville HS), who missed the 2005 season with an injury. Harris was second on the squad with six goals in 2004.

Weston and fellow senior midfielder Sierra Smith (5-6, Salt Lake City, Utah/East HS) will be the 2006 team captains. Smith was tied for third on the team in points with seven on two goals and three assists.

Cairns welcomes eight newcomers to the ranks as well, the smallest freshman class under Cairns since seven in her first season in 2003.

HOME SWEET HOME
Counting the exhibition match on Aug. 19, Utah State has nine home matches this season. Since moving to the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field in 2002, the Aggies have gone 16-12-7 at home. In the two years prior to their move to Bell Field, the Aggies were just 6-12 at home. They have gone 8-2-1 against conference opponents since bedding down at Bell Field.

FIRSTS
Last year Utah State matched its most conference wins in school history as it went 4-2-1... The Aggies also tallied four wins in 2003, 1999, and 1998... The .643 conference winning percentage is a new school record, while the second place tie in the WAC standings is also the best conference finish in the program's 10 seasons.

CAIRNS CREEPING CLOSER
Entering her fourth season, Heather Cairns, already the winningest coach in USU soccer history by percentage, is just four wins shy of becoming the winningest head coach in Aggie soccer history for total victories. In her three seasons at the helm of Utah State, Cairns has compiled a 23-27-7 (.465) record, sitting four wins shy of Stacy Enos (1996-2000), who went 26-59 (.306) in five seasons with the Aggies.

TIME AND A HALF
Six of USU's 20 matches in 2005 went extra minutes, with the Aggies going 0-2-4 in those matches. The six overtime tilts were the most by an Aggie team since the 2003 team saw a similar six overtime matches, going 2-2-2. USU is 5-13-11 all-time in extra minutes.

A GOOD FORTUNE COOKIE
Twenty-two of USU's 26 goals last season and 18 of its 22 assists were scored by players returning in 2006. Thirteen of the goals and 11 of the assists were recorded by underclassmen.

PEART POUNCES EARLY
Junior midfielder Dana Peart started off last season by netting the Aggies' lone goal in their 2-1 loss to Northern Colorado in an exhibition match and then went on to score the lone goal in each of Utah State's next three matches.

NOTE-ABLE
Defender Jessica Darrow was the only freshman to start all 20 matches for the Aggies in 2005... USU out-scored its opponents 17-11 in the second half in 2005, but was out-scored 15-9 in the opening half... The Aggies were 5-0-1 when leading at the half, but 0-8-0 when trailing at the half. They were also unbeaten (5-0-2) when scoring first.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT DIXIE - Dixie is in a transition period, moving from National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and a member of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) into the NCAA Division II, where the Rebels will be a member of the Pacific West Conference.

Last season the Rebels posted a 14-3-3 mark, including 9-0-0 in the SWAC, outscoring their opposition by an average of 5.7 - 0.8 per game, including routing Colorado Mountain Community College, 12-0 and 15-0. Dixie posted nine shutouts on the season.

Saturday will be the Rebels' second exhibition match of the season, as they faced UNLV Thursday at Las Vegas, Nev.

THE COACHES
Entering her fourth season, Heather Cairns, already the winningest coach in USU soccer history by percentage, is just four wins shy of becoming the winningest head coach in Aggie soccer history for total victories. In her three seasons at the helm of Utah State, Cairns has compiled a 23-27-7 (.465) record, sitting four wins shy of Stacy Enos (1996-2000), who went 26-59 (.306) in five seasons with the Aggies.

Dixie is led by Linda Huddleston, who is in her fifth year at the helm of the Rebels. Huddleston led Dixie to the national championship in 2003, also finishing third in 2002 and fifth in 2004. Huddleston has a combined record of 73-12-5 (.839).

SERIES HISTORY
This is be the third time in the last five years for Utah State and Dixie to tangle in a an exhibition match, and the fourth time overall, with the Aggies holding a 3-0 series lead. Utah State beat Dixie, 2-1, in 2000, 4-2 in 2002 and 3-0 in 2003.

CONTINUED IN MATCH NOTES