Another day, another thread to start. The second team I follow closely, Nebraska, is primed to have a fantastic season. This team starts and finishes with Brittany Timko. The 2004 and 2005 Big 12 Player of the Year comes back for one final season in Lincoln. Her goal this season is to join the 20-20 club after he 11 goal 21 assist season of 2005. Brittany will continue to play forward and handle free kicks and corners for the Huskers. Jamie Klages comes into her sophomore season having already earned her first big honor. The athletic keeper from California was named Preseason All Big XII by the coaches last week. I personally feel that the biggest reason for Nebraska's struggles over the past couple seasons has been the lack of an elite keeper from a program that has always had an All-American candidate in goal. Klages can be that keeper. The defense will feature some new faces after the graduation of Katie Bunkers and Sasha Andrews. It's hard to say exactly who those new faces will be, as Coach Walker has the tendency to move players from forward to defense to midfield to keeper over the course of their careers (don't think I'm kidding, it's happened!) Tanya Dennis will probably be playing defender this season, but she could see time in midfield or at forward. The senior and World Cup veteran was 1st Team All Big XII her sophomore season in the back, but played a more offensive role last season. USC transfer Shannon Dickerson could figure into the back, along with Ali Lokanc and Canadian U-20 member Sari Raber, both who are returning from injuries (Raber sat out all of 2005, Lokanc played only 5 games.) Both players could play midfield or forward as well, like I said, these Huskers play all over the place. I also have a feeling that Carly Peetz, an incoming freshman, will settle into defense this season. This girl has talent and was vastly underrated as a recruit. She was last year's Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year. The midfield looks to rely heavily on the tandem of Jessie Bruch and Selenia Iachelli. Two ball winners who can score, and are adept at dropping back into defense. In short, a prototypical Husker midfielder. Other players will shift into this position, but these two are the stalwarts. Besides Timko at forward, the Huskers will be looking for a breakout season from sophomore Aysha Jamani. A quick, creative and among the best 1 v 1 players in Husker history already, Jamani should benefit immensely from a year's experience at the college level. She started slow last season while adjusting to the physical play of NCAA soccer but finished the season with 7 goals and 2nd Team All Big XII honors. Also up front, Jessie Goodell is looked to fill the void created after Lauren Isenhower went down with injury over the summer. She is a darkhorse to be the breakout player of the year. Another player to watch out for is freshman Shay Powell. Powell played with the boys in high school as her school didn't offer soccer for girls. She responded by being amongst the leading scorers and being named team captain her junior and senior seasons. Powell came off the bench in the exhibition with Louisville and was an instant hit that nearly came up with a few goals. It should be an exciting season in Huskerland. This team WILL be ranked after the first few weeks, surprised that they've missed out on most lists.
Huskers! Still no lights at the stadium this year. They are supposed to have live stats and live audio for some games (they had streaming video for a few games last year), but it doesn't look like the live stat thing is working right. They don't even have the right logo for the opponent. Oh well, it might be neat if they can get the bugs worked out- sort of like the matchtracker for national team games.
I'm betting that B. Timko will have a great season this year. She's been saving all the goals that she hasn't been scoring for Vancouver or for Canada! Saw Jamani at the U20 WC. Must say I'm not a a great admirer. She's wonderfully elusive with the ball but has very little sense of when she needs to release it. Then when she tries to pass she isn't very accurate.
Nebraska tied Wright State 1-1. Honestly, I'm not even going to comment on this team until Timko, Raber, Iachelli and Jamani hit the field.
It looks like the live stats thing is working correctly for the Wisconsin game. Not a very exciting way to follow the game, but it is better than nothing. The website also has some nice pictures of the new facilities for the Huskers, which are rather snazzy.
I went to the Iowa game, today. The weather was very nice. I think the Huskers will be okay this year, but I don't think they're that great.
1-0 over Carolina last night, Western Carolina that is. Timko cross headed in by Jessie Bruch in the 2nd overtime. Nebraska is still "unbeaten" at 4-0-2 but have had several shaky outings thus far.
Great win tonight (2-0) over the highest ranked Big XII team (Missouri) at this time, and in their crib, to boot. Even more impressive is the fact that they blanked their hosts. Perhaps this team is coming together?
Brief writeup on Iowa State's comeback 3-2 win over Nebraska today: http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=613298 ISU scored on a PK in the final minute of regulation and got the game winner with 22 seconds left in OT.