GOLDEN WEEKEND: The Red Wolves continue their road trip by traveling to Tulsa, Okla. for the Tulsa Soccer Challenge playing the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. Friday and the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa at 1 p.m. Sunday.
THE TEAMS: Arkansas State stands at 3-1 for the first time in program history, outscoring opponents 16-7 in its first four contests. ASU dropped its first match of the season to Stephen F. Austin last Monday, 3-1. After three games Oral Roberts has a 1-2 overall record, with its lone win coming over John Brown, 3-1 on Sept. 5. Senior forward Natalya Manyan leads the Golden Eagles with three goals while sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Wheeler has earned all decisions in goal making 17 saves. Former ORU men's assistant coach Ryan Bush is in his first season directing the women's soccer program at Oral Roberts.
Tulsa stands at 4-2 after winning two straight matches over McNeese State, 3-0 and posting its second 10-0 victory of the season over Jackson State on Sept. 7. Tulsa beat Southern 10-0 on Aug. 24. Junior forward Jennifer Kacergis leads the Golden Hurricane with four goals. Tulsa has outscored opponents 24-3 in its first six matches. Senior goalkeeper Kendra Harclerode has earned all six decisions in goal for Tulsa, making 12 saves and holding three shutouts. Kyle Cussen is in his first season with the Golden Hurricane after spending the past 10 years as head coach at Oral Roberts.
YOUTH LEADS THE WAY: ASU's top four scorers are comprised of three freshman and a sophomore. Kara Nitti leads the squad with five goals, which is more goals than any player scored a year ago. Along with Nitti, freshman Kai Gear has four goals, freshman Sofia Turesson has three and sophomore Anna Kalghirou has two goals. Kalghirou is ASU's top returning scorer, netting four goals in 2007.
GOALKEEPER LEADS TEAM IN ASSISTS: Freshman goalkeeper Megan Stoltzfus, oddly enough, leads the ASU squad with three assists. 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).
THE ORAL ROBERTS SERIES: Arkansas State and Oral Roberts have met twice in the two teams history, with Oral Roberts winning both contests. The last time the two teams met was in 2004, with Oral Roberts taking the match, 1-0.
THE TULSA SERIES: ASU has also played Tulsa only twice in its history. The Red Wolves and Tulsa are tied 1-1 in the series. Most recently ASU beat Tulsa, 1-0 in Jonesboro in 2005.
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 11-2 while competing as the Red Wolves. 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: Stephen F. Austin (2-3) handed the Red Wolves soccer team (3-1) its first loss of the season, 3-1, Monday (Sept. 8).
The game was rescheduled from its original start time on Sunday due to a scheduling incident with the referees.
Arkansas State went down, 0-1, in the 33rd minute (32:46) after a shot ricocheted off an ASU defender and redirected into the goal, resulting in an own goal in favor of the Ladyjacks.
Janae Lee scored SFA's second goal in the 56th minute (55:05). Summer Bradfield sent a long high cross into the goal which just slipped through the grasp of Red Wolves freshman Sara Krimm. Lee capitalized on the miscue by tapping the ball into the goal.
Freshman forward Kara Nitti brought ASU within one goal in the 69th minute (68:53). Junior defender Erin McKenna played the ball into the air and Nitti sent a header into the top of the goal, beating SFA goalkeeper Courtney Bauder. Nitti took two shots in the match, both of which were on goal.
Amanda Lackey scored the Ladyjacks final goal in the 77th minute (76:41) on a feed from Kim Kimmel.
In a very physical match, Stephen F. Austin committed 15 fouls to the Red Wolves' five. The Ladyjacks outshot ASU 21-9, with a good portion of the shots coming from beyond the 18-yard box.
Krimm made six saves in the match for the Red Wolves, receiving the first loss of her career.
Freshman midfielder Kai Gear led the Red Wolves with three shots, while SFA's Lackey led all players with five shots.
HEAD COACH DEREK PITTMAN: Arkansas State Head Coach Derek Pittman begins 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.
