Aug. 18, 2005

Memphis, Tenn. - The Memphis women's soccer team, now a week into preseason training after beginning practice on August 12, will travel to Indiana for two exhibition games this weekend. The Lady Tigers face the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big Ten Conference this Friday, August 19 at 7:00 at Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Ind. They will then travel to the Western edge of the state to face Missouri Valley Conference member Indiana State on Saturday, August 20 at 1:00 p.m. in Terre Haute.

Though the games will not count in their overall record, the Tigers will debut the 2005 recruiting class, which was ranked 27th in the country. Memphis also returns 11 players from last year's team, including a 2003 All-Conference USA selection in junior Nicky McLeod, who sat out last year as a medical redshirt. Melissa Savage, another junior, was an All-Conference pick last year. Sophomore Isabel Briones will look to keep ahold of the starting goalkeeper position after having a strong spring season, but she will be pushed by freshman Caroline Allen, who was the Gatorade State Player of the Year in Arkansas a year ago. Also figuring to make their Memphis debuts, among others, are sophomore transfer Asuka Kubota, an NAIA All-American last year at Martin Methodist College, freshman Chloe James, a high school All-American last year, and freshman Aika Young, a member of the Guam National Team.

Indiana finished eighth in the Big Ten last year with a and the Hoosiers were recently picked sixth in the Big Ten preseason poll. Kristen Zmijewski and Megan Pipkens are two of the top players for the Hoosiers. Zmijewski, a team captain, recorded one goal and four assists last year. Pipkens, a junior, led the team in assists last year with seven and was second on the team in points (15), shots (40) and shots on goal (23). Last year, IU had just one senior on its roster and finished 9-7-3 and 3-5-2 in the Big Ten.

The Sycamores return their top two goals scorers from a year ago in junior forward Nichole Tiggs and sophomore forward Lauren Podolski, who scored eight and seven goals last year, respectively. Indiana State finished with a 9-10-0 record last year, and a 4-3-0 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference, which was tied for second place.

The Tigers have never met Indiana or Indiana State in the regular season. Two members of the Tigers will have an opportunity to play in their home state. Senior Robyn Smart, one of the two seniors on the Tiger squad, hails from the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville, while freshman Sarah MacGregor is from Indianapolis. Smart has only played in her home state once in her Tiger career and that came in 2003 when Memphis visted Evansville.

"This will be a welcome change in pace for the girls since they've been concentrating on conditioning and playing against each other for the last week," said Memphis coach Brooks Monaghan. "It's an opportunity to get out of town and see how we stack up against two teams that I feel are both going to have strong seasons. It will also help us get used to the quick turnaround of playing on back-to-back days, because in order to get where we want to go this season, we will have to be able to perform on short rest."

Memphis will have one more exhibition after this weekend, a matchup against the women's soccer Alumni, next Friday, August 26, prior to the men's exhibition game against Lambuth at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. The regular season starts on Sunday, August 28 at home against Tennessee Tech.