Jackets Trounce Falcons in Home Opener (9/2/06)
Box Score
Game Photos
Coach Trentham post game audio

BILLINGS, MT – School records galore—including a pair of hat tricks—were the theme of the day in the home opener for the Montana State-Billings women’s soccer team on Saturday.  The Yellowjackets scored eight first half goals on the way to an 11-0 rout of visiting University of Texas-Permian Basin.  The 11 goals were a school record, eclipsing the previous school record of 10 against Concordia (MN) in 1999.

“We’ve really been playing our style,” said Yellowjacket senior Ally Stroup.  “We’re possessing the ball really well.  I think the offense is right where it should be and ahead of where it has been in the past years.  We had a lot of people score today, and in our other games we’ve had a lot of opportunities.  That’s a good sign that we’ll continue to have a lot of opportunities in the future.”

The game was the first of the 2006 MSU Billings Cup.  In the day’s second contest, University of Mary defeated University of Great Falls, 1-0.  MSU Billings (4-0-0) and Mary (1-1-0) will square off for the MSU Billings Cup title on Sunday at 4:00 p.m.  Great Falls (0-3-0) and UT-Permian Basin (1-5-0) will meet at 1:30.  Both games will be at the MSU Billings College of Technology.

Fans hardly had time to sit between the National Anthem and a 2-0 Yellowjacket lead.  Brittney Sandau (Billings, MT) took a through ball from Samantha Boehm (Wilsonville, OR) and beat Falcons goalkeeper Stephanie Ward for the first goal just 57 second into the game.  That landed Sandau in the No. 2 spot in the school record book for the fastest goal to start a game; Kelly Bryn scored in 27 seconds against Embry Riddle in 2002.

Sandau claimed her first school record of the day on the next possession, taking a short cross from Caitlin Differding (Sammamish, WA) and giving MSUB a 2-0 lead at 1:27.  The 30 seconds were the shortest time in school history between goals by the same player.  From that point on, the game became a race to the goal box for the Yellowjackets.

Stroup (Ojai, CA) scored the next three goals of the game with the first coming at 12:35 and the last at 20:21.  Sandau assisted on two of the three.  It was just the third time in school history that a Yellowjacket had recorded a hat trick.  The three goals also gave Stroup 30 career goals, tying her with Margot Merrill-Johnson for second all-time at MSU Billings.  Stroup, who already holds the school record for career points and assists, needs one goal to tie Abby Farmer for the all-time record.

“I try not to focus on the school records,” said Stroup.  “Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing.  It’s exciting to have them, but I don’t want to focus on that as my goal.  It’s exciting just to be up there with Margot.  I never saw Abby play, but she’s obviously a very good player.  It’s just exciting to be in that kind of position.”

Jelisa Guy (Kalispell, MT) and Abby Bennett (Livingston, MT) scored in the 23^rd and 36^th minutes respectively.  Sandau assisted on Guy’s goal for her third assist of the game, good for second all-time in the Yellowjacket record book.  Guy assisted on Bennett’s goal.  In the 41^st minute the Falcons had trouble handling a ball in front of their net and gave up an own goal.  The eight goals scored in the half by the Yellowjackets were a school record.

Yellowjacket head coach Don Trentham gave his starters just about 15 minutes of action in the second half before pulling most of them.  With a half dozen subs lined up at the press box ready to enter the game, Sandau took a through ball from Mandy Ploskonka (Federal Way, WA) and raced for the goal.  Her third goal and school-record ninth point of the game came at 62:09, sending her and most of the Yellowjacket starters to the bench. 

Jenny Moellendorf (Green River, WY) and Differding closed out the Yellowjacket scoring.  Two nice touches from Danielle Ritter (Great Falls, MT) and Melissa Carlson (Renton, WA) set up Moellendorf’s goal.  Differding’s dribbled through the Falcon defense to score unassisted.

For the game the Yellowjackets out-shot the Falcons 31-1.  UTPB’s lone shot, a 30-yard dribbler that missed wide left, came from Ashley Gutierrez.  Stephanie Ward made nine saves for the Falcons, but also allowed seven goals.  Keila Rios gave up four goals and made three saves.  Yellowjacket goalkeeper Megan Plank (Phoenix, AZ) earned credit for her school-record sixteenth shutout, although she didn’t face a shot on goal.