Women's Soccer Starts Three-Game, Three-Week Homestand
10/17/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 17, 2000
SPOKANE, Wash. -
GONZAGA BULLDOGS (3-12-0 / 0-5-0 WCC) vsLOYOLA MARYMOUNT LIONS (9-4-1 / 2-0-0 WCC)
Friday - Oct. 20 - Noon @ Martin Field
LAST TIME OUT: Gonzaga fell to 0-5 in the West Coast Conference over the weekend as the Zags dropped two close contests at Saint Mary's and San Diego. That concluded the road portion of Gonzaga's 2000 schedule with the team finishing the season 1-10 away from Martin Field and 0-4 in conference play away from Spokane. In Friday's loss to Saint Mary's, Gonzaga posted only one shot on goal compared to the Gaels 14 shots on goal. The Bulldogs played a scoreless first-half with Saint Mary's before surrendering the game-winner with just four minutes gone in the second-half. In the game senior keeper Gina Legaz stopped 12 shots. On Sunday, Gonzaga held San Diego at bay for nearly 45 minutes but surrendered the games only goal just 18 seconds before halftime. The Toreros out shot Gonzaga 21-6 with Gonzaga mustering four shots on goal. Gina Legaz turned in another solid performance in goal with 11 saves.
VS. LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: This will be the ninth match between Loyola Marymount and Gonzaga with the Lions leading the all-time series 7-0-1. The Lions look to improve to 3-0 in the West Coast Conference when they visit Spokane after already defeating San Diego (3-2, 2ot) and San Francisco (1-0). Last season the Lions knocked off Gonzaga 6-1 in Los Angeles, but LMU has struggled when facing the Zags at Martin Field. In 1994, Gonzaga scored its first-ever WCC point with a 1-1 tie against the Lions. In three games in Spokane, LMU has only scored four goals posting a 1-1 tie in 1994, 2-0 victory in 1996 and 1-0 victory in 1998.
HOME SWEET HOME: This will mark the start of a three-game, three-week homestand for Gonzaga as they wrap up the 2000 season. The Zags will be happy to return to Martin Field where they have posted a 2-2 record and outscored their opponents 16-4. After hosting Loyola Marymount this weekend, Gonzaga hosts Pepperdine next Friday to end West Coast Conference play. The Zags host Idaho on Nov. 5 for senior day.
COACH STILES RETURNS FOR SECOND SEASON: Gonzaga head coach Shannon Stiles is in the middle of her second season guiding the Bulldogs soccer program. Her career record of 10-25-0 is second all-time at Gonzaga. Stiles needs just one more conference victory and six overall wins to become the school's leader in both categories. In her rookie campaign, Stiles coached the Bulldogs to their second most successful season in school history with a 7-13-0 record. Although the Zags finished 1-6 in the West Coast Conference, it marked only the second time the team had won a WCC game and first time Gonzaga had not finished last in the WCC.
STREUFERT CLOSES ON 100 POINT PLATEAU: With her three points against San Francisco in the Bulldogs loss, senior Sara Streufert moved closer to reaching the 100 point plateau for her career. She now has 22 points on the season giving her 93 points for her career. Gonzaga has three matches left on the season for Streufert to crack to 100-point barrier.
LEGAZ WINS KEEPER SPOT: For the time being senior Gina Legaz appears to have sewn up the starting goalkeeper job for Gonzaga. She had two solid performances against Saint Mary's and San Diego turning away a total of 23 shots and allowing only three goals. For the season Legaz has a 1.45 goals against average and has 48 saves in eight appearances. With three games left in her career, Legaz will most likely get the starting nod with freshman Tara Curtis and Courtney Haury waiting until next season to once again battle for the starting goal position.
LONGEST SKID SINCE 1995: With its current seven-game losing skid Gonzaga is on its longest losing streak since 1995 when the Zags closed the season with seven straight defeats and opened the 1996 season with three consecutive losses. Gonzaga has never defeated its final three opponents, but the Zags do have a tie against each one of them and have played all three in tight contests at Martin Field.
BEST FOUR-YEAR SPAN: Despite how this year's group of seniors finishes their final three games in a Gonzaga uniform they will complete the best four-year span in Gonzaga women's soccer history. The group was a large part of Gonzaga's best-ever two seasons with 8 wins their freshman season and 7 wins last season. The third best season in GU history was in their sophomore campaign with a 4-12-2 record and despite only three wins this year will rank as the fourth highest win total for a Bulldog team. Current this squad has amassed 22 wins with the closest contending class graduating last year with only 20 career wins.
CONFERENCE PREDICTIONS HOLDING TO FORM: After nearly two months from when the West Coast Conference released its pre-season WCC coaches predicted order of finish, the results have almost held to form. The only real change in the poll to date is Portland knocking off pre-season favorite Santa Clara over the weekend to take an early conference lead. Saint Mary's and Loyola Marymount follow closely behind with unblemished marks. At the bottom of the poll, San Francisco nipped Gonzaga to move ahead of the Zags and Pepperdine downed the Dons to stay in sixth place. Next weekend Gonzaga will face Pepperdine looking to climb out of the cellar in the Zags final conference match of the season. This weekend Gonzaga looks to play spoiler as the Bulldogs host LMU, a team that has owned GU in Los Angeles but has struggled to a 2-0-1 record at Martin Field.
