Aug. 28, 2006

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LOGAN, Utah - 2006 HOME OPENER - Utah State soccer makes its regular-season home-opener on Tuesday, Aug. 29, when the Aggies host intra-state rival Weber State in a match slated for 4 p.m. (MST) at Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field.

The Aggies enter Tuesday's match with a 1-0 record, after a 1-0 win over Idaho State Friday at Pocatello, Idaho. Utah State has a chance to open the season 2-0 for just the second time in the program's 10-year history. The last time the Aggies began the season 2-0 was 1998 when Utah State defeated Idaho State and Weber State, ironically the same two opponents as this year.

Weber State brings an 0-1 ledger into the match, as the Wildcats opened their season with a road match at another state of Utah foe, falling 1-0 at BYU Friday night. The start of the match was delayed 30 minutes due to lightening.

Friday, Utah State travels to Salt Lake City, Utah to participate in the University of Utah Fall Classic. The schedule for those matches has been slightly modified, with the same match times, just switching the opponents. The Aggies will face #17 Arizona on Friday, Sept. 1 at 5 p.m. (MST) and Washington State on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 11 a.m. (MST), with both matches at Utah's Ute Field.

HEAD COACH HEATHER CAIRNS' QUOTE - "Weber State is going to be similar to Idaho State in their style of play, with their strengths. We need to execute as well as we did Friday against Idaho State. We expect Weber to play a quickly attacking, direct style of play. For us to be successful, we are going to have to find the opportunities to slow play down, connect passes and build an attack.

"Traditionally, Weber State and us always battle, so I expect an exciting game for the fans. We're going to bring all our energy, as I'm sure they will also. It's a great rivalry match."

HOME OPENING HISTORY - Utah State has a 4-6 record in regular-season home openers, and this is the third time in the last five seasons that Weber State has been the Aggies' home-opening opponent. Utah State has won both of the previous two occasions, winning 2-0 in 2002 and 4-0 in 2004.

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.

SERIES HISTORY - Weber State is the only opponent that Utah State has played at least once in each of the Aggies' 10-year history, as the two teams played twice in Utah State's first season, 1996. That was the only even year that Weber State hosted, as the Wildcats have hosted in all the other odd years, while Utah State has hosted in the even years.

Overall, the Aggies have a 5-5-1 record against the Wildcats, as last season's 1-0 loss at Ogden snapped Utah State's four-match unbeaten streak vs. Weber State, after tying in 2001 and winning three straight.

Utah State is 3-2 vs. Weber State at Logan, compared to 2-3-1 at Ogden.

LAST MATCH
Behind junior midfieler Andra Hansen's first career goal, the Utah State soccer team opened its 2006 campaign with a 1-0 win over Idaho State Friday evening at ISU's Davis Field at Pocatello, Idaho. With the win, the Aggies recorded their first season-opening win since defeating Southern Utah in the 2003 season opener.

Hansen had just four shots on goal in her career entering Friday's match, but netted her first goal in an Aggie uniform in the 58th minute, getting assists from junior midfielder Dana Peart and senior forward Charity Weston. Peart took a feed from Weston in the corner and crossed it into the 6-yard box where Hansen's foot introduced the ball to the back of the net.

The assist was Weston's 10th career helper, moving her into a tie for second on Utah State's career assist list, tying Ally Clegg (2000-03). Amber Tracy holds the top spot with 11 assists over the same span.

For Peart, the assist marks a continued hot start to a season, as last year she had a goal in each of Utah State's first four matches.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ali Griffin made two saves to record her first career complete shutout, while making her first career start.

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.

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 three 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 24-27-7 (.474) record in 58 matches, 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.

Peart has continued that hot start to a season with an assist in the Aggies' 1-0 win over Idaho State in the season-opener.

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
WEBER STATE - The Wildcats come into Tuesday's match with an 0-1 ledger, after losing to another in-state foe, falling 1-0 at BYU, ranked No. 23 in the preseason Soccer Buzz Magazine Top 30 Poll, Friday night at Provo, Utah. The start of the match was delayed 30 minutes due to lightening and another 10 minutes due a light outage. Weber State is now 0-10-1 vs. BYU, with the tie coming in last season's NCAA Regional, as Weber State advanced with a 4-3 penalty kicks advantage.

Weber State was outshot, 9-2, Friday night, managing just one shot on goal, and with shots coming in the first half. BYU scored the match's lone goal in the 36th minute.

Weber State, winner of the last two Big Sky Conference championships, was voted second in this season's Big Sky Preseason Poll, receiving three first-place votes to finish second in voting with 44 total points, just two points behind preseason conference favorite Northern Arizona.

Last season, Weber State posted a 14-5-2 overall record, and returns seven starters and 15 letterwinners from that squad, including five players who earned All-Big Sky accolades. Leading the returners is senior forward Linsey McFarland, who tallied 29 points last season on 10 goals and nine assists, earning first-team all-Big Sky honors. Sophomore midfielder Hayley McCoy also received first-team all-conference accolades, after posting 15 points off five goals and five assists.

Tuesday's match will be the second of a stretch of eight-straight road matches for Weber State to open the season.

THE COACHES
Entering her fourth season, Heather Cairns (Canisius, 1994), already the winningest coach in USU soccer history by percentage, is just three 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 24-27-7 (.474) record in 58 matches, sitting four wins shy of Stacy Enos (1996-2000), who went 26-59 (.306) in five seasons with the Aggies.

Cairns is 2-1 vs. Weber State.

Tim Crompton (Weber State, 1996) is in his third year guiding the Weber State program. Crompton has a 22-16-4 ledger, leading the Wildcats to two consecutive Big Sky Conference titles.

SERIES HISTORY
Weber State is the only opponent that Utah State has played at least once in each of the Aggies' 10-year history, as the two teams played twice in Utah State's first season, 1996. That was the only even year that Weber State hosted, as the Wildcats have hosted in all the other odd years, while Utah State has hosted in the even years.

Overall, the Aggies have a 5-5-1 record against the Wildcats, as last season's 1-0 loss at Ogden snapped Utah State's four-match unbeaten streak vs. Weber State, after tying in 2001 and winning three straight.

Utah State is 3-2 vs. Weber State at Logan, compared to 2-3-1 at Ogden.

Last season, Weber State won 1-0, at Ogden, on Oct. 1, as the Wildcats has a 16-15 edge in shots, including 6-5 in shots on goal, as WSU's Hayley McCoy netted the match's lone goal in the 62nd minute off assists from Shaylee Stegen and Veronica Walker. It was just the second time in the series history that Weber State had shutout Utah State.

POLL POSITIONS - Utah State's 2006 schedule includes two teams ranked in the final NSCAA/adidas Top 25 Poll last season, as BYU was ranked No. 14 while Utah was No. 22. Three of the Aggies' 2006 opponents reached the NCAA Tournament last season, as BYU, Utah and Weber State all advanced.

Arizona is ranked No. 17 in the preseason NSCAA/adidas Top 25 Poll, while four of the Aggies' 2006 opponents are recognized by Soccer Buzz Magazine's Preseason Top 30 Rankings. BYU is at No. 23 and Long Beach State is at No. 28. Arizona and Utah are among others receiving votes. In Soccer Buzz's West Regional Rankings, BYU is No. 7, Long Beach State is No. 9, while Utah and Arizona are 11th and 12th, respectively, and Washington State is among others receiving votes.

WAC BITS - The WAC returns 17 all-conference players for the 2006 season, with Nevada leading the way with five all-WAC players. Senior forward Charity Weston is Utah State's lone returning all-WAC honoree, earning first-team honors last season... Five of the eight teams in the WAC return at least eight starters. Boise State, Nevada and San Jose State lead the way with 10 each, while Utah State returns six... Of the 92 non-conference match-ups, 15 are against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament. Utah State faces Tournament teams Weber State (Aug. 29), BYU (Sept. 16) and Utah (Sept. 24).

UP NEXT - Utah State will travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to participate in the University of Utah Fall Classic. The schedule has slightly changed with the opponents switching, but the match date and times remaining the same, as the Aggies will face #17 Arizona on Friday, Sept. 1 at 5 p.m. (MST) and Washington State on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 11 a.m. (MST). Both matches will be played at Utah's Ute Field.