WHAT'S ON TAP:  The Red Wolves complete their regular-season slate with a trip to instate rival Arkansas-Little Rock Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Burns Park Soccer Complex.

THE TEAMS:  Arkansas State stands at 4-12-1, with a 1-8-1 mark in conference action. Freshman forwards Kara Nitti and Sofia Turesson lead ASU with six goals on the season. Freshman forward Kai Gear is right behind Turesson and Nitti with five goals and sophomore midfielder Anna Kalghirou, last season's top scorer, has four goals.  Freshman midfielder Michele Clark and freshman goalkeeper Megan Stoltzfus lead the squad with three assists each. Stoltzfus has played 13 games in goal for the Red Wolves, making 67  saves with a 3-7-1 worksheet. She owns a 1.88 goals against average.  Arkansas-Little Rock stands at 8-10-1 overall with a league mark of 4-6, which is eighth-best in the conference.  Grace Rich leads the Trojans with 11 goals, three of which are game-winners, and four assists this season. Jessica Beaver is second on the squad with six goals. Jane Picarelli has logged every minute in goal this season for UALR making 112 saves, which ranks second in the league, and holds a 1.50 goals against average. Picarelli has had four shutouts this season.

THE SERIES VERSUS UALR: The Red Wolves own a 4-3-1 advantage over UALR in the teams eight game history. ASU won the first three meetings between the two schools from 2000-02. The last meeting between the two squads resulted in a 2-2 double-overtime tie in 2007.

BREAKING RECORDS: To this point in the season ASU has already broken three long standing records at the school. With 84 points this season ASU has eclipsed the single-season points record which was set in 2003 (80). ASU has also broken the single-season assists record by notching 28 this season. The assist record stood at 23 and was set during the 2004 campaign. For the second-straight year ASU has broken its attendance record. The previous average which was set last season of 181 for ten home games was passed up by this season's mark of an average of 249 in nine dates at the ASU Soccer Complex. ASU is also on the cusp of breaking its points per game record and assists per game record. The current mark for ppg this season sits at 4.67 per game with the standing mark being 4.21 which was set in 2003. The apg mark currently stands at 1.56 per game for the season. The current record was 1.15 and was set during the 2004 season.

TOP 10 IN CONFERENCE: Freshman Sofia Turesson and Kara Nitti currently rank in the top 10 in the conference in goals. The two forwards are tied in the no. 10 spot with six goals each.

SENIOR SALUTE: Friday's match will mark the final game for four ASU senior players. Seniors Bernadette Dierker, Chelsea Hopkins, Katharine Krekeler and Markie McRae have combined to play in 262 matches for ASU during their four years with the team.

ASU WINS FIRST CONFERENCE MATCH SINCE 2006: With the 2-1 win over MTSU on Oct. 10, ASU earned its first conference victory since beating Louisiana-Monroe in 2006. The conference win was also the first for head coach Derek Pittman. Prior to tying the match against ULM on Oct. 5, ASU had dropped 22-consecutive conference matches.

ASU SNAPS SEVEN GAME SKID: With a 1-1 tie against Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 5 the Red Wolves snapped a seven-game losing streak. ASU beat its first three opponents of the season by a combined score of 15-4. Its combined score in the next seven games was 7-21.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: Although ASU stands at 4-10-1, three of its four total wins have come in the friendly confines of the ASU Soccer Complex.

YOUTH LEADS THE WAY: ASU's top four scorers are comprised of three freshman and a sophomore. Nitti  and Turesson lead the way. Freshman Kai Gear has scored five goals so far and sophomore Anna Kaloghirou has four goals. Kalghirou is ASU's top returning scorer, netting four goals in 2007. Freshman Michele Clark has also come on strong in the last few matches scoring two goals. Clark leads the team along with goalkeeper Megan Stoltzfus with three assists on the season.

GOALKEEPER LEADS TEAM IN ASSISTS: Freshman goalkeeper Megan Stoltzfus,  is tied for the lead on the ASU squad with three assists. Freshman Michele Clark has also netted three assists on the season. The three tallies came during the opening game of the season against UCA when Stoltzfus punted the ball to set up three scoring opportunities. In one game, a goalkeeper almost amassed as many assists as a single field player did on last year's team (4). Stoltzfus is tied for seventh in assists per game in the SBC at 0.60.

SECOND HAT-TRICK IN AS MANY GAMES:  Freshman Sophie Turesson recorded three goals for the Red Wolves in their match against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. This marked the second game in a row that an ASU player had notched three goals in a single match. Kai Gear began the year for the Red Wolves by scoring three goals against Central Arkansas on Aug. 23. Her three goals were the most an ASU player had scored in a single match since 2005.

NEW ERA AT ASU:  Arkansas State currently stands at 26-19-1 while competing as the Red Wolves this season.  After 77 years of competition as the Indians, the Red Wolves mascot was adopted in January 2008 after many hours of work by the University's Mascot Selection Steering Committee.  The job of the committee was to make a new mascot recommendation to Chancellor Dr. Robert L. Potts and the University administration.  The committee recommended “Wolves” at a Jan. 31 m???????eeting, and the Red Wolves mascot evolved from that point.

LAST MATCH: Although taking an early lead, the Arkansas State (4-12-1, 1-8-1 SBC) soccer team was unable to hold off Florida International and ultimately fell to the Golden Panthers, 2-1 in Sun Belt Conference soccer action Sunday at the ASU Soccer Complex.
ASU took a 1-0 lead when freshman forward Sofia Turesson followed a shot by senior midfielder Bernadette Dierker with one of her own off a deflection in the 29th minute (28:34). Turesson had four total shots on day, two shots were on goal.
Four minutes later (32:09) Amy Jackson tied the game for FIU when she connected on a corner kick from Claudia Cardenas.
Another converted corner kick proved to be the game-winner for the Golden Panthers. In the 58th minute (57:14) April Perry sent a corner kick into the box and Katrina Rose sent a shot into the goal to score the deciding goal.
The Red Wolves outshot FIU 16-11, taking ten shots in the first half.  Freshman Kai Gear led ASU with five shots, two of which were on goal.  
Freshman goalkeeper Megan Stoltzfus made four saves in goal for the Red Wolves, facing six total shots.

HEAD COACH DEREK PITTMAN:  Arkansas State Head Coach Derek Pittman is in his second season with the ASU soccer program after coming to Arkansas State prior to the 2007 season.  Pittman, an assistant coach for the University of Missouri's women's soccer program for the three years prior to coming to Jonesboro, worked primarily with goalkeepers and defense at Missouri. He assumed his duties at ASU Jan. 4, 2007.   The 34-year-old Pittman joined the Missouri staff in 2004 after spending the 2003 season at the University of Georgia. He was responsible for coaching the Tigers' goalkeeper to career bests in shutouts and saves as well as the team to season bests in shutouts and fewest goals allowed.
At Georgia, he was responsible for the Bulldogs' recruiting in addition to his coaching duties. While there he coached the goalkeeper to career bests in wins, shutouts and goals against average. In 2003, the Bulldogs finished 13-10-0 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.   A 1998 graduate of Tulsa, Pittman also served as a graduate assistant coach for the school's men's soccer program from 2001-03. Under his direction, Tulsa's goalkeepers had career bests in saves, shutouts and goals against average in a season. During the 2002 season, the Hurricanes were ranked 12th nationally and fifth in the Midwest Region. Pittman, who is licensed by the United States Soccer Federation with a USSF "B" coaching license, has also coached on the club level including stints with the Pride Soccer Club of Missouri, the Tulsa Soccer Club of Oklahoma and the Little Rock Futbol Club of Arkansas. As a four-year letterman, he was the starting goalkeeper at the University of Tulsa from 1993-96 and was a second-team Missouri Valley All-Conference pick in 1995. As a senior, the Hurricanes were ranked in the top 25.   Professionally, Pittman played for the Barrow Amateur Football Club in England while studying at Lancaster University. After training with the Division I Sheffield United and Burnley Football Club, he returned to the United States and played with the Columbus Comets and the Savannah RugRatz in the Eastern Indoor Soccer League. Pittman, originally from Owasso, Okla., received his bachelor's of science degree in business administration from Tulsa and has done graduate work in education toward his masters degree. He is married to former Amber Swinehart, who was an All-Big XII player at Missouri.

ASSISTANT COACH LISA BERG:  Beginning her first season with the ASU Soccer program, Lisa Berg was named assistant soccer coach at Arkansas State University Aug. 9, 2008.  Berg comes to ASU from Minnesota, where she served as a volunteer assistant for the last two years with the Golden Gopher soccer program.   Berg was an Academic All-Big 10 player for the Golden Gophers from 2003-05 and helped rebuild the Minnesota soccer program during her time as a player and assistant coach.  While at Minnesota, Berg helped lift the Gopher program from the bottom of the Big 10 to a consistent qualifier for the conference tournament in a league that annually sends multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament.  She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2006 after majoring in Kinesiology/Pre Physical Therapy, with minors in Chemistry and Spanish.  Berg currently holds a USSF National C Coaching License and while in Minnesota worked with the St. Croix Soccer Club, the North Suburban Soccer Club and the East Select Soccer Club.  She also worked with the Minnesota Olympic Development Program.

HELP BUILD A WINNING TRADITION:  ASU soccer fans have the opportunity to help the Red Wolves build a winning soccer tradition by joining the Red Wolves Goal Club.  Level 1 ($50) members receive a quarterly newsletter and an autographed 2008 ASU Soccer poster.  Level 2 members($100) receive the benefits of Level 1, plus a ticket to the ASU soccer banquet and an ASU T-shirt.  For more information or to join the Red Wolves Goal Club, contact assistant coach Lisa Berg at 870-972-8193 or lberg@astate.edu.