Sept. 29, 2006

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State soccer returns to the friendly confines of Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field to open a three-match homestand, beginning with hosting Eastern Washington Saturday, Sept. 30, at 10 a.m.

The Aggies have a 1-2-0 series record vs. Eastern Washington, losing the two contests in Cheyney, dropping 1-0 contests in both 2000 and 2004. The Aggies beat the Eagles, 3-0 in 2002 at Logan.

Entering this week's action, the Aggies have a 3-6 record. Utah State split its two matches last week against in-state foes, beating Southern Utah 2-1 in OT at Cedar City Friday, and falling 1-0 to Utah on Sunday at Salt Lake City on an own goal.

Friday's win tied head coach Heather Cairns as the programs' all-time winningest coach, tying her with Stacy Enos with 26 all-time wins for the Aggies.

Freshman forward Erin Salmon netted both goals Friday, tallying her first goals and points as an Aggie and vaulting to the top of USU's scoring list with four points.

Junior midfielder Dana Peart adds three points on one goal and one assist, one of three Aggies to net goals. Senior midfielder Sierra Smith netted her first goal of the season and third of her career with a goal in USU's 2-1 loss to Cal State Northridge on Sept. 10. Junior midfielder Andra Hansen has the Aggies' other goal, while fellow junior midfielder Abby Hunt tallied her first career assist in Friday's match to become one of four players with an assist. In addition to Hunt and Peart, senior forward Charity Weston and freshman defender Lindsey Smart each have tallied one helper. Weston leads the team with 16 shots, including 10 shots on goal.

Between the pipes for every minute this season for the Aggies, sophomore goalkeeper Ali Griffin has made 42 saves on the year, including a career-high eight in the loss to BYU on Sept. 16. Her 4.67 saves per game ranks Griffin tied for second in the WAC stats. Griffin has a 1.18 goals against average and a .792 save percentage, as well as posting two shutouts.

Griffin has just over 915 career minutes in goal for Utah State. Once she reaches 1,000 minutes, she will be meet the requirement for USU's career goals against average, and is on pace to take hold of the top spot. Griffin presently has a 1.10 career gaa, which would take over the list's highest perch, currently held by Megan Mills' 1.18 gaa from 2001-04.

Entering her fourth season, Heather Cairns, already the winningest coach in USU soccer history by percentage, needs one victory to become the winningest USU soccer coach for total victories. Cairns has compiled a 26-33-7 (.447) record in 66 matches, tying Stacy Enos (1996-2000), who went 26-59 (.306) in five seasons with the Aggies.

The Eagles of Eastern Washington bring a 3-6-1 record into the weekend, after edging Utah Valley State, 1-0 in OT, on Thursday, at Orem, Utah. EWU snapped a two-match losing streak with a 2-1 upset victory over No. 21 Long Beach State last Friday, Sept. 22. In that match, Long Beach State outshot Eastern Washington, 15-11, including 13-5 in the second half after being outshot 6-2 in the first half.

Sophomore midfielder Melissa Guthrie and junior forward Shelly Ikerd lead EWU with six points each, both scoring three goals, as Ikerd scored Thursday's game-winner. Freshman forward Brittany Sparks and sophomore forward Lillian Bourret each have three points off a goal and an assist each. Junior forward Cyeeta Mott netted the game-winner in Friday's upset win over Long Beach State, tying the EWU career game-winning goal mark with four.

Senior goalkeeper Tiera Como has a 1.78 GAA, making 100 saves on the season, while allowing 20 goals and posting a .833 save percentage. Currently leading the Big Sky Conference with 9.09 saves per game, Como already is the EWU career record holder with 11 career shutouts and a 1.43 career goals against average. Como has 358 career saves, becoming Eastern Washington's career saves record-holder on Friday with 10 stops.

Counting the exhibition match on Aug. 19, Utah State has nine home matches this season. The Aggies are 1-1-0 at home so far this season, as Saturday's loss snapped an eight-match unbeaten streak at home. Overall, Utah State is 17-13-7 at home since moving to the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field in 2002. 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.

The Aggies host San Francisco on Monday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. (MST). USU wraps up its homestand and its non-conference portion of the schedule on Friday, Oct. 6, hosting in-state foe Utah Valley State at 3 p.m. The Aggies then kick-off Western Athletic Conference action on Sunday, Oct. 8, traveling to Ruston, La. to tangle with Louisiana Tech.