Kicks for a Cure

	About Kicks
	Event Committee
	Schedule of Events
	Sponsors
	Participating Teams
	KFAC History
	Picture Gallery

Participating Teams

Kicks for A Cure is extremely fortunate to bring together some of the country’s top women’s soccer teams and host such a talented group of players. We applaud each team for taking time from their busy spring schedules to join us in Omaha and thank each of the universities for supporting this event. Please take a moment to review thier accomplishments below. We hope you can join us to witness these talented athletes first hand and watch their kicks support a cure.				Laurel Karnes
2008 Schedule of Games
11:00 AM	Omaha Westside	vs	Millard West
1:30 PM	Omaha Marian	vs	Omaha Burke
4:00 PM	University of Nebraska - Omaha	vs	Truman State University
6:30 PM	Creighton University	vs	University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Women's NCAA teams

Creighton made its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in school history in 2007, earning the Missouri Valley Conference’s automatic bid with a shootout win over Illinois State in the league championship game. The Bluejays lost to eventual national champion USC, 3-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Columbia, Mo., to finish with a 11-8-2 record.

After finishing third in the MVC during the regular season, the Bluejays captured their third tournament title in four years with wins over Northern Iowa and host Evansville, before prevailing in the exciting finale against Illinois State. Trailing 1-0 in the 87th minute of the title game, sophomore Kyla Hoskins scored her first goal of the season to force overtime and the Jays won 4-3 in penalty kicks.

Junior Marcy Gans was named the MVC Tournament MVP after scoring 11 points in the Jays’ three tournament games. Gans became the first two-time tournament MVP in Valley history and one of only six to be named to three all-tournament teams. She was joined on the MVC all-tournament team by Hoskins, Casey, and sophomore defender Eden Hingwing.

Gans led the team with MVC with 13 goals, 29 points, 76 shots and six game-winning goals during the season to earn first-team all-MVC honors. She was joined on the first team by senior Sam Russell. Midfielder Emily Orbell was named the MVC Freshman of the Year, as she led all Valley rookies with 15 points on six goals and three assists. Orbell was also a second-team all-MVC pick. Junior goalkeeper Kristen Casey and redshirt freshman defender Tara Bailey earned honorable mention accolades. Casey led the MVC with seven shutouts.

Following the season, Russell and Gans became the first two players in school history to earn Scholar All-America honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, garnering third-team NSCAA/adidas Scholar All-America accolades. The pair was also named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VII first team. Senior Heather Duncan was named to the Academic All-District VII second team and joined Russell and Gans on the MVC Scholar-Athlete first team.

Head coach Bruce Erickson finished his ninth season at Creighton in 2007, and now has a 92-76-18 (.543) career record with the Jays. Erickson is the winningest coach in school history and was the 2002 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year. He has guided Creighton to all four of its NCAA Tournament appearances after winning MVC Tournament championships in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Headed into the 2007 campaign, head coach John Walker knew the season would test his club. The Huskers would be looking to fill a hole left in the midfield by the graduated Brittany Timko, while 24 of the 31 members of the team were underclassmen, including 14 freshmen.

The season lived up to its billing as challenging as the Huskers finished with a 5-10-4 record, including 1-8-1 in the conference, but Walker and the team refused to let the final record define the season.

Offensively, Nebraska distributed the ball well, as 17 Huskers scored points during the season. Six freshmen recorded points, including two goals and three assists by Cardona. Sophomore Carly Peetz had only two goals on the season, but she made both count as each was a game-winner. Nebraska scored at least one goal in their last eight competitions, which included a 4-0 victory over Lamar on Oct. 12.

Nebraska’s 4-0 win over the Cardinals was the offensive high of the season as the Huskers racked up 44 shots, including 26 in the first half. The 44 shots were the most in a game since NU recorded 44 in an 11-0 win over Drury on Sept. 3, 2000. Nebraska put half their total shots on goal as 22 of their shots found their way towards the net. NU’s defense would not be outdone though, as the Huskers allowed Lamar just three shots

The Huskers failed to qualify for the Big 12 Championships, but the knowledge and experience gained by the young squad in the 2007 season will prove to be invaluable in the upcoming season. Nebraska loses only three players to graduation, midfielder Jessie Bruch, defender Meghan Hungerford and defender Abby Penas, including only one starter of a 31-player team.

The 2007 season saw the Huskers:

-Earn one Big 12 Player-of-the-Week Award (Mills)

-Take 44 shots, including 26 on goal, in a 4-0 win over Lamar

-Place nine players on the academic All-Big 12 first and second teams

-Win 12th consecutive league opener in 12 tries with a 1-0 win over Oklahoma

-Improve the program’s all-time record to 166-2-2 when leading at the half, finishing 4-0-0 in 2007

-Improve to 21-9-7 at the Nebraska Soccer Field

Complete story =>

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=38&SPID=26&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=1312190

Truman State U

The Truman State Bulldogs finished the 2007 season with a 15-7-1 overall record and 10-3-1 in MIAA conference play. The Bulldogs were regular season co-champions in the MIAA and also won the inaugural MIAA post-season conference tournament to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. This year’s conference title was the Bulldogs eighth in nine years of MIAA conference play. The Bulldogs were lead by senior Emily Newsham and junior Kim Wolff who were selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America all-Central region team. Nine players were selected all-conference as well.

Truman saw its season come to an end in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer tournament, their fifth trip to the post-season in the past seven seasons. The Bulldogs were defeated by Nebraska-Omaha 3-0 in Winona, Minnesota after defeating UNO 2-1 earlier in the regular season. They look forward to a re-match of that game when they face UNO on April 18th at Kicks for a Cure.

The Mavericks had another outstanding run at the National Championship in 2007. Top-ranked Grand Valley State ended the Mavericks' 11-game unbeaten string and their season with a 1-0 decision in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals.

It was the second-straight year that UNO's run for a national championship ended against the Lakers, who are now 21-0-1.

Katie Johnson converted a corner kick by Sue Christenon 8:41 into the contest, closing a 655-minute, 3-second shutout string by the Mavericks. Meanwhile, Laker goalkeeper Kristina Nasturzio stopped five shots to preserve the margin.

Nasturzio denied Whiteny Telschaw, Amanda Iwansky and Dani McCawley in the first half and stopped Brandie Beale and Casey Bigsby in the opening minutes of the second half.

No. 23-ranked UNO, 14-6-1, outshot the Lakers, 12-11, but Grand Valley State held a 6-5 edge in shots on goal.

UNO had not allowed a goal since the 3:38 mark of a game at South Dakota on Oct. 19. After that 2-1 win, the Mavericks reeled off six straight shutouts, including a double-overtime game against Winona State. The Mavs plan to carry that momentum into 2008 and lookforward to another successful season.