Lady Yellowjacket Soccer Faces another Tough Road Challenge (Sept. 23, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the MSU Billings women’s soccer team this week as the Lady Yellowjackets face two more regionally ranked opponents on the road.  MSUB enters the week 3-3-1 overall after beating Rocky Mountain 3-0 on Saturday.

The Yellowjackets will start the week Wednesday at Chico State, ranked No. 9 in the Far West Region.  Chico is 4-4-1 after winning two of three games last week.  MSUB will then travel to Sonoma State on Friday.  The Seawolves were ranked in the region’s top ten last week, but lost two of three to fall to 3-4-1 and out of the top ten.  The Yellowjackets will finish the road swing at San Francisco State on Sunday.  The Gators are 6-3-0 and ranked No. 4 in the Far West Region.

The Yellowjackets are led by Margot Merrill-Johnson (Jr., Salt Lake City), who has scored four goals this season, including one in last week’s win.  Freshman Ally Taylor (Ojai, CA) leads the team with 23 shots and is tied with Merrill-Johnson with eight points on three goals and two assists.  Sara Otis (Sr., Vancouver, WA) broke her tough-luck string last week with a first-half goal at Rocky.  Otis is second on the team with 18 shots, but has been the victim of several good saves and near misses this season.  She now has three points on one goal and one assist, but puts constant pressure on opposing defenses.

Megan Plank (Fr., Phoenix, AZ) still leads the Yellowjacket goalkeepers with a 0.95 goals-against average.  She has allowed four goals in 379 minutes while making 27 saves.  Alyssa Wolfer (Fr., Longmont, CO) has been in net for 270 minutes and made 25 saves while posting a 2.66 goals-against average.

Chico State relies on balance, with six different players accounting for the teams 13 goals.  Two players have scored three goals this season, while three more have scored two goals.  The Wildcats have won two of their last three games, losing in double overtime to Cal State-Stanislaus Sunday. 

Sonoma State has lost two of its last three, but both losses were to nationally ranked teams.  Crystal Howard leads the Seawolves with four goals and eight points, and SSU goalkeeper Kellie Campbell has a 1.09 goals-against average. 

Despite San Francisco State’s record, the Gators have only outscored their opponents by a total of two goals this season.  Brook Braunschweig leads the team with four goals and nine points.  The Gator goalkeepers have a combined goals-against average of 1.44.