Complete Release (PDF)

Southwest Minnesota State opens the 2008 season with two road games at Colorado-Colorado Springs and Colorado State-Pueblo.  SMSU is at UCCS on Aug. 29 at 1 p.m. (Central) and at CSUP on Aug. 31 at 12 p.m. (Central).

THE RECORDS
SMSU will enter Friday's game with UCCS 0-0-0.  That game will be the first-ever women's soccer game in school history for UCCS.  CSUP plays Augustana on Friday, before Sunday's game with SMSU.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Colorado-Colorado Springs: The Mountain Lions will play their first-ever women's soccer game on Friday against SMSU.  UCCS's roster is loaded with freshmen and transfers, including three players from the United States Air Force Academy and another from NCAA I George Washington.
Colorado State-Pueblo: The ThunderWolves were 14-6-1 overall last season and finished second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  Senior goalkeeper Chrissy Mandarich returns after posting a 14-6-1 record and 1.56 GAA last year.  Second team All-RMAC midfielder Rikki Warmack (Jr.) also returns.

SERIES HISTORY
SMSU has never played either team.

MUSTANG NOTES
Head coach Amy Olson is entering her first season at SMSU.  The Mustangs return 11 letterwinners and six starters, led by sophomore defender Tatum Borstad, who netted three goals and had two assists as a freshman.  Heather Holmes (F, Jr.) returns for her junior season after scoring a pair of goals and assisting on two others.  Ashley Elbers (D, Jr.) scored her first career goal last year.

HEAD COACH AMY OLSON
Southwest Minnesota State University director of athletics Chris Hmielewski announced on Dec. 28, 2007, that Amy Olson would be named the new head women's soccer coach at SMSU.  Olson, who is the third head coach in the program's 12-year history, replaces Jill McCartney who resigned following the 2007 season.

Olson completed her fourth season as head coach at NCAA Division I South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C., in 2007.  Prior to taking over the helm at South Carolina State, Olson spent two seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M University where she helped start its women's soccer program.  During her two years at Prairie View A&M, Olson also coached a pair of club teams in Minnesota, the West Side Soccer Association in St. Paul and the Minneapolis Soccer Association in Minneapolis.

Olson's teams had tremendous success in the classroom, as South Carolina State's Academic Progress Rate (APR) was a perfect 1,000.  On the field, SCSU had five players earn postseason honors from the United Soccer Conference in 2007.

Olson has a record of 0-0-0 at SMSU.

FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACHES AT SMSU
Olson is in her first year as the third head coach in SMSU history.  Jen Zebroski posted a 1-13 overall record and 1-3 record in the NSIC in 1996, the first year of the program.  SMSU's lone win that season was a 4-2 victory over Bemidji State on the road in the fourth game of the season.  Jill McCartney took over in 1998 and went 7-11 and 3-3 in the NSIC, including shutout wins over Wayne State, Minnesota, Crookton, Viterbo (Wis.), Minnesota-Morris and Northern State (twice).

MUSTANGS PICKED 12TH IN NSIC
The Southwest Minnesota State women's soccer team was picked to finish 12th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason coaches poll.  Minnesota State, Mankato was picked to win the conference with 164 points, including nine first-place votes.  SMSU had a total of 34 points in the poll.

Winona State was picked second, just nine points behind MSU after winning the regular season conference title a year ago.  University of Mary's Megan Wilson was chosen as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while Winona State's  Heidi Woerle was selected as the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.