Dec. 14, 2006

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State was ranked 41st in the save percentage in the final NCAA statistics released after last week's NCAA soccer championship. Sophomore goalkeeper Ali Griffin was the only individual USU player ranked, finishing 41st in save percentage and 45th in goals against average.

The Aggies posted a 0.836 save percentage to rank 41st. USU was third among Western Athletic Conference teams ranked, as regular-season champion Fresno State was second (0.915) and WAC Tournament champion Nevada was 24th (0.849). Navy led the nation with 0.918.

Griffin, a sophomore goalkeeper from South Jordan, Utah (Bingham HS), ranked 41st in save percentage (0.838) and 45th in goals against average (0.803).

Between the pipes for every minute this season for the Aggies, Griffin made 86 saves on the year, including a career-high nine in the win over Nevada on Oct. 20. Griffin moved up to No. 2 on USU's single-season saves list. Griffin posted three-straight shutouts and eight on the season, as a goal yielded to Idaho on Oct. 29 snapped Griffin and the USU defense's streak of shutout minutes at 364 scoreless minutes. Griffin ranked fourth in the WAC in saves, as well as second in the league in shutouts, third in save percentage (.838) and fourth in goals against average (0.803).

Utah State finished its season with a 10-8-2 record, tying the most-ever wins in the program's 11-year history.

The Aggies' 5-0-2 conference record tops the previous program-record marks of four conference wins, done four times, most recently last season, and the .750 conference winning percentage is a new school record, topping last season's .643 (4-2-1). Utah State's 10 wins matches the 2003 squad for most-ever wins in a season, while the .550 winning percentage (10-8-2) is just behind the program record mark of .579 in 2003 (10-7-2).