SHSU Soccer Prepares For An Interesting Season
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Sam Houston women’s soccer team will play a 19-match schedule in 2013 that includes eight home contests at Joseph Pritchett Field, Bearkat head coach Tom Brown has announced.
The Kats will kick off the 2013 season at home Sunday, August 25 against Texas Southern.
Sam Houston returns to Pritchett Field Sunday, September 8 to host Prairie View A&M.
Both games start at 7 p.m.
The rest of the home dates will be matches against Southland Conference foes in October with Stephen F. Austin, Lamar, Central Arkansas, Oral Roberts, A&M-Corpus Christi and Southeastern Louisiana all visiting Huntsville within a three week period.
The schedule features seven road non-conference matches as the Bearkats travel to UTSA, North Texas, Texas State, SMU, Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word.
Sam Houston also will play South Dakota State in San Antonio.
“It’s an unusual schedule this fall with nine road trips among our first 11 matches, then six straight home contests,” Brown said. “As in the past, we will be facing some outstanding programs during the non-conference portion of the schedule to get the team ready for Southland play.”
Sam Houston earned its fourth consecutive Southland Conference post-season tournament appearance last year, rolling up a 4-3-1 league mark.
The Bearkats return six starters including Southland Conference “Freshman of the Year” Kylie Hambleton.
Katie Ferrara, Tricia Mallory and Hambleton all earned all-league honors last season.
Hambleton ranked second in the conference in saves per game (5.36), third in save percentage (.843) and fourth in shutouts (6).
Ferrara was the team’s scoring leader with four goals.
Mallory stands as the program’s second all-time scoring leader with 22 career goals.
Other returning starters include Mariah Titus, Shelby McDaniel and Ashley Fluty.
With nine freshmen plus two transfers, the Bearkats look to have several new faces in the lineup.
For a complete schedule, click here.
Bearkats-Lions Played To A Scoreless Tie
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Hammond, La. – Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana battled to a scoreless tie in women’s soccer action Friday afternoon.
The result helped the Bearkats to remain unbeaten in Southland Conference play with a 2-0-1 record. SHSU is 5-7-1 for the year. The shutout was the fifth for the Bearkat defense.
Goalkeeper Kylie Hambleton, the Kats’ back line of Amanda Biega, Lindsey Posner, Ashley Fluty and Kayla Anderson and midfielder Shelby McDaniel each played all 110 minutes of the double overtime contest.
Sam Houston totaled 12 shots while Southeastern Louisiana took 10. Strong play by the defense helped shut down the Lions’ offense as Hambleton had to make only two saves in goal. Her counterpart, Lacey Bockhaus, was forced to make eight saves including one of a shot by Tricia Mallory with less than two minutes left in the first overtime.
“We played well,” Sam Houston head coach Tom Brown said. “We just couldn’t stick it in.”
Mallory led the Bearkats with four shots.
Sam Houston now travels to Tulsa to take on Oral Roberts Sunday afternoon.
SHSU Hosts Defensive Minded UCA Bears On Sunday
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, SHSU Sports Information
After winning their first match on the new turf at Joseph Pritchett Field Friday night, the Sam Houston women’s soccer team faces one of its biggest challenges so far during the 2012 season.
Central Arkansas visits Pritchett at 1 p.m. Sunday, bringing the Southland Conference’s best overall record and top scoring offense to Huntsville.
The Bears have won eight of their 11 matches this season.
UCA and Northwestern State battled to a 0-0 tie in both team’s league opener Saturday night.
Central Arkansas forward Adriana Lucar is the Southland’s leading goal scorer.
She has knocked in 14 goals in 11 games this year. UCA has outscored its opponents 38 goals to eight in non-conference competition.
Sam Houston started Southland play with a 2-0 victory over Nicholls State Friday night.
Tricia Mallory and Kirby Zak scored the goals for the Kats in the second half.
“We’ve been playing great defense all year and it was good to get the offense going with a couple of goals in our conference opener,” Mallory said.
Her goal marked her third this season and the 22nd of her career.
The UCA contest Sunday sets up an interesting matchup between the Southland’s highest scoring offense and one of the league’s top defenses.
Sam Houston has surrendered only 10 goals in 11 matches, posting four shutouts this season.
SHSU Soccer Team Opens Southland Conference Play With Win
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr, SHSU Sports Information
Huntsville – Two of the top four scorers for Sam Houston in its 10-year history of women’s soccer accounted for second half goals to lead the Bearkats to a 2-0 shutout of Nicholls State Friday at Joseph Pritchett Field.
The victory marked SHSU’s first game on the new artificial field turf at Pritchett and put the Kats at 1-0 in Southland Conference play.
Tricia Mallory scored the Bearkats’ first goal on a cross from Amanda Biega from the right side in the 55th minute. Less than three minutes later, Kirby Zak tallied on a long ball from Kayla Anderson.
Mallory now has 22 career goals to her credit to rank No. 2 in SHSU all-time scoring behind Raquel Bueno (27 goals from 2005 to 2008). Zak’s tally marked her 18th career score, tying her with Yoanna Garcia (2004-07) for third place in the record book.
Freshman goalkeeper Kylie Hambleton picked up her third shutout of the season, marking three saves on Nicholls’ eight shots. The Bearkats totaled 14 shots.
“The players really were excited about playing on the new turf here at Pritchett,” head coach Tom Brown said. “We created some good chances in the first half but couldn’t convert. But we had a good attacking mentality and were able to take advantage of some space on the right side. It’s good to pick up the win in our first conference game.”
Sam Houston now stand 4-7 for the season. Nicholls dropped to 5-6.
The Bearkats return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. at Pritchett, hosting Central Arkansas.
Bearkat Soccer Team Ready For 2012 Season
by Cheval John
After falling short in the semifinals in the Southland Conference Post-Season Tournament last year, the SHSU Bearkat soccer team is looking to make a statement in the 2012 season.
The Bearkats are returning all 11 starters from last year’s team that experienced the heartbreaking loss against Texas State Bobcats in the semifinals that went to a penalty shootout.
“It’s cool to have a whole group of us who stayed together through the last three seasons,” senior midfielder Kirby Zak said to gobearkats.com.
“We’re excited about starting our final season together.”
Zak, along with defender Kayla Anderson and forward Tricia Mallory were selected to the 2012 all-preseason Southland Conference women’s team .
Zak is ranked No. 5 in SHSU career goals (17).
Three of those goals were game-winners, including the one that came against McNeese State last year in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Mallory, a junior from Spring, is ranked No. 2 in SHSU career goals (19).
She led the team last year with 8 goals and was named the team’s “Co-Most Valuable Player.”
On the defensive side, Anderson started all 22 games last year and played a total of 2,051 minutes during her career as a Bearkat.
The Bearkats were picked to finish fourth in the conference by coaches in the league.
But they feel that they can finish higher in the league and make a run toward the SLC Post-Season Tournament.
“In our estimation, based on what have… I think we can finish a bit higher,” head coach Tom Brown said.
The Bearkats first game of the season begins tomorrow at 7 p.m as they play host to Texas Southern.