BYU women's soccer opens 1999 season

BYU women's soccer opens its 1999 season on the road with a game against ASU , Friday, August 27, 7 p.m.. In Tempe.

THE 14TH RANKED COUGARS BEGIN THE '99 SEASON ON THE ROAD WITH GAME AGAINST ASU: With nine returning starters BYU opens its fifth season as a NCAA Division I program this Friday night in Tempe, Arizona with a match up against Arizona State University.

COUGARS IN TWO PRE-SEASON POLLS:

• First-ever pre-season showing in Soccer America Poll- ranked 20th

• Ranked 14th by the NSCAA - highest pre season ranking

BYU RETURNING STARTERS TO WATCH:

• 20 Maren Hendershot - F, Sr (19G, 6A, 44PTS, 85 SH)

• 12 Sara Reading - F, Jr (9G, 4A, 22PTS, 69 SH)

• 2 Athelia Graham - D, Jr (2G, 3A, 7PTS)

• 21 Staci Reynolds - D, Jr (1G, 3A, 5PTS)

BYU NEWCOMERS TO WATCH:

• 24 Farrah Hofheins - 5-7 D, Fr (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak H.S.)

• 5 Rachelle Dixon - 5-6 MF/F, Fr (Bountiful, UT/Bountiful H.S.)

• 18 Jeni Williardson - 5-9 MF/F, Fr (Murray, UT/Murray H.S.)

COUGAR 1998 SEASON HIGHS

• Largest home crowd - 1,495 on 9/11 against Colorado

• Most shots in game - 38 against Idaho State on 9/19

• Most goals in a game (individual) - Shauna Rohbock (4) against Colorado on 9/11

• Most goals in a game (team) - two games at home - (7) against Butler on 9/25 and (7) against Hawaii on 10/09.

• First hat trick of the season - Maren Hendershot in game against New Mexico on 9/18

COUGAR 1998 FINAL QUICKIE STATS:

• Averaging 20 shots on goal per game

• Averaging 2.7 goals per game

• Average 5.6 corner kicks per game

• BYU VS ARIZONA STATE NOTES - These two teams met in March of this year in Tempe during their spring schedule with BYU grabbing a 3-0 shutout over ASU. Junior forward Sara Reading scored all three goals for the Cougars.

COACH JENNIFER ROCKWOOD QUOTES: We're looking forward to our first game this weekend. We've been practicing for the last week and a half and are ready to play against someone other then ourselves. This is a new team for us, it's our most experienced and deepest with nine starters returning. Right now everything looks good on paper, so now we have to see if we can show it on the playing field. ASU is a very talented, strong team. They are a top 25 program. We will have our hands full with them in our first competition of the year. We wanted to get right into this year with a very tough schedule and Friday night it starts.