Washington State 2, Denver 0
MISSOULA, Mont. - The University of Denver women's soccer team opened their season at the Montana Nike Cup with a 2-0 loss against Washington State this afternoon.

The Cougars struck in the 16th minute when Angela Fajardo fed the ball thru the middle to Alix Rustrum who ran onto it on a breakaway, and chipped it in past goalkeeper Danielle Wiley to put them ahead by one goal.

Denver held the Cougars to one for the rest of the first half, and for much of the second until 68th minute when Rustrum scored her second goal of the evening off a cross from Cailan McCutchan.

Washington State's offense proved to be unmatched by Denver for the duration of the game as it was out shot 18-4.

Central Florida 2, Florida International 1
ORLANDO, Fla. – The FIU women's soccer team opened the 2004 athletic calendar with a 2-1 loss to host Central Florida on Friday.

FIU freshman goalkeeper Madeline Gannon faced 12 shots and made three saves in her FIU debut. Janessa Taddei led the Golden Panther attack with three shots, including the goal, in her first action since missing the 2003 season.

After missing on their first five shots, the Golden Knights interrupted the scoreless contest as sophomore Shannon Wing scored at 29:55. The Golden Knights went on to a 7-1 advantage in shots through the first 45 minutes.

In the second 45 minutes, the Golden Panthers' defense withstood three early UCF shots. Trailing 1-0 at the 72:49 mark Taddei took advantage of a defensive breakdown by UCF and tied the game with an unassisted tally at 72:49.

Seven minutes later, four UCF substitutions paid off as Jessalyn Withers served the ball on a corner kick to Kate McCain, who fired a shot into the top right corner for the gamewinner.

Florida Atlantic 3, Louisiana 0
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic used stingy defense and a late second half scoring run to shut down Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns women’s soccer team in a 3-0 loss here Friday night in the first day of the FAU/Double Tree Kickoff Classic.

UL (0-1) didn’t attempt a shot until the second half. The Cajuns were held to only five shots in the match, while FAU (1-0) was able to fire off 16 shots with nine coming in the opening period.

Florida Atlantic’s Kari Kaiser-Fernand scored the first goal of the match off a Christina Chang helper from the left side at the 16:12 mark of the first half.

The Cajuns were able to prevent the Owls from scoring for nearly 60 minutes. Christie Ashton scored the second FAU goal of the night with an assist from Meredith White at the 75:59 mark. Nearly 10 minutes later, Chang put up the final Owls tally of the match to give FAU the 3-0 victory.

Stephen F. Austin 2, Arkansas State 0
NACOGDOCHES, TX – The Arkansas State soccer team dropped its season opener at Stephen F. Austin, 2-0 on Friday night. The Lady Indians surrendered two first half goals in head coach Jason Wharton’s ASU debut.

The Lady Indians controlled play the first 15 minutes of the game as they recorded the first four shots of the game. Stephen F. Austin goalkeeper Natascia Michaleszki, an All-Southland Conference performer, recorded six saves in the first half as ASU out shot the Ladyjacks, 11-8.

SFA, an NCAA Tournament participant last season, struck first at the 21:18 mark of the first half as Christie Mestayer finished on a nifty passing sequence inside the box. Sarah Johnson and Sophia Pantazis both picked up assists on the goal.

The Ladyjacks used the momentum to produce another goal in the 27th minute as All-Southland performer Kendra Cannon converted from ten yards off a pass from Pantazis.

ASU freshman goalkeeper Brielan Smiechowski made her collegiate debut as she recorded 10 saves on the night.

Mississippi State 2, Middle Tennessee 1
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Middle Tennessee’s season opener ended in excruciating fashion here Friday night as Mississippi State scored the winning goal with 30 seconds remaining to take a 2-1 triumph at the Bulldog Soccer Field.

Rebecca Rodriguez and Laura Miguez picked up where they left off in 2003 when they teamed to give Middle Tennessee an early 1-0 lead. Rodriguez, who led the team with 12 goals last season, scored on an assist from Miguez when she deflected the ball off a Mississippi State defender 18:31 into the game.

It was the 23rd career assist for Miguez, who is the Blue Raider career leader in that category.

Middle Tennessee (0-1) made the lead stand until late in the second half with a strong defensive effort, but Heidi Ondra scored on a penalty kick with less than 15 minutes remaining to even the score, 1-1.

Ondra gave Mississippi State (1-0) the win when she slipped the winner into the goal with 30 seconds remaining.

South Alabama 1, Birmingham-Southern 0 (2OT)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Karrie Johnson's breakaway goal in double overtime sent South Alabama to a 1-0 season-opening women's soccer victory over Birmingham Southern on Friday night at the BSC Soccer Park.

The sophomore forward from Westerville, Ohio, ended the game two minutes into the second overtime after taking a pass from junior midfielder Rebecca Kahn. Johnson broke away from the defender and found the back of the net for the win.

Senior goalkeeper Amber Angermeier posted five saves to move within four of tying the all-time Jag record of 217, held by Kyla Rogers. Angermeier also recorded her 11th career shutout, third-best in school history. She turned back a Panther shot in the first overtime to save the game.

The Jags (1-0) out shot the 0-1 Panthers 13-11, holding an 8-4 advantage in the opening half.

Western Kentucky 3, Murray State 0
MURRAY, Ky. — Betsy Duncan collected a pair of goals Friday to lead the Western Kentucky University women’s soccer team to a 3-0 season-opening non-conference victory over Murray State at Cutchin Field.

Jackie Krieger added a goal and an assist as the Lady Toppers began the year with a win for the first time since the program’s debut in 2001. WKU improved to 3-1 all-time against the Racers with its first-ever win in Murray.

The opening half was evenly played with Western only outshooting MSU, 9-7. Duncan notched the match-winning goal midway through the first 45 minutes when she took a pass from Kim Wilkowski 15 feet from the goal and beat Racer keeper Annie Fortier.

The Lady Tops put the match away in the second half with two goals in a three-and-a-half minute span.

Meredith Goodson earned the win in her collegiate debut after making two saves in just over 73 minutes of action. Emily Suiter kept the Racers off the board to pick up the combined shutout.

In addition to Duncan, Ceci Shell and Jenna Silverberg recorded three shots each to pace the WKU attack.

UALR 2, Tulsa 0
TULSA, Okla. – Despite getting out-shot 21-4, UALR goalkeeper Marsha Stewart literally saved the day in a 2-0 win over Tulsa Friday night at Hurricane Track and Soccer Stadium.

The Trojans' win snaps an 11-game losing streak to the Golden Hurricane.

Robin Sutherland went one-on-one with TU keeper Meredith Hart to score the first game of the game at 54:00, giving the Trojans a 1-0 lead. With 82:38 remaining in the game, on the assist from Dee Dee Beyhan, Ariel Macpherson took it from the top of the box and shot it past Hart for the insurance goal.
Courtesy of Various Sun Belt School Media Relations Offices