Oct. 20, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

LOOKING AHEAD: The No. 19 (NSCAA) Oregon State women's soccer team hits the road this weekend when it travels North to take on Washington State (6-9-0 overall, 1-3-0 Pacific-10 Conference) Friday, Oct. 22 starting at 7 p.m. and the University of Washington (9-5-1, 2-2-0) Sunday, Oct. 24 starting at 12 p.m.

FOLLOW ALONG: Live stats for both games can be found via Gametracker on osubeavers.com. Video for Sunday's match against Washington can be found on gohuskies.com.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON STATE: The Cougars come into the weekend with an overall record of 6-9-0 and a conference record of 1-3-0. Their lone Pac-10 win came in a 1-0 win over Arizona on Oct. 10. Mecaela Chastain leads the Cougars in goals with six on the season and shots with 36. Washington State has been outscored this season by a mark of 21-to-18. Meghan Berlingo has played the majority of the season in goal for the Cougars and has a 5-6-0 record on the season. She has allowed 12 goals and has 50 saves. Ariana Byrd has also spent time in goal and has allowed nine goals in six games. Head coach Mark Potter is in his eighth year at the helm of the Cougars and has a school-record 75 wins at Washington State. The Beavers are 7-10-3 all-time against the Cougars with the last win coming in a 3-2 win in Corvallis in 2008.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON: Washington comes into the weekend with an overall record of 9-5-1 and a conference record of 2-2 having beaten both Arizona and Arizona State but falling to California and No. 1 Stanford. Kate Deines paces the Huskies with eight goals on the season. The Huskies have amassed 30 goals this season and have only allowed 16. Jorde LaFontain-Kussman has started 11 out of 15 games for the Huskies in goal and has allowed 14 goals this season while recording 46 saves. Head coach Lesle Hallimore is in her 16th season at the helm of the Huskies and has a record of 178-138-25 at Washington. Oregon State is 6-14-1 all-time against the Huskies but won the last meeting between the schools in a 2-1 win at home in 2009.

LAST TIME OUT: The Beavers stunned the then-No. 16 (NSCAA) UCLA Bruins at home in a 3-0 shutout. Chelsea Buckland scored the first goal of the game in the 38th minute of the match on an assist from Megan Miller. Lindsay Meiggs got her first career goal in the 59th minute when she received the ball from senior Courtney Wetzel at the top of the box and shot it over UCLA keeper Chante' Sandiford's head, just under the crossbar. It was Wetzel's team-leading sixth assist of the season. The Beavers kept up the pressure and it paid off in the 84th minute when Jenna Richardson scored her fourth goal of the season after getting the feed from Milan Cabrera. Richardson took the ball from Cabrera on the right side of the field and scored in the lower left of the net.

INTO THE RANKINGS: The Beavers jumped into the top-20 in every major poll this week following their sweep of USC and UCLA. Oregon State was unranked in the NSCAA coaches' poll but is now ranked No. 19. The Beavers are also ranked No. 12 according to SoccerAmerica.com after previously being unranked. The biggest move for the Beavers was in the national RPI in which they dropped from 74 to 37.

PAC-10 HONORS: Keeper Colleen Boyd was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 11-17. She recorded two shutouts against ranked opponents USC and UCLA while recording six saves. It is her first time winning the award and the eight time for Oregon State.

NATIONAL HONORS: Junior defender Brittany Galindo was named CollegeSoccer360.com's Primetime Performer of the week for the week of Oct. 11-17. Galindo and the backline defense for the Beavers only allowed six total shots on goal this past weekend. Junior keeper Boyd was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com team of the week for the same week.

PRIMETIME SHOWDOWN: The Nov. 5 match against No. 1 Stanford at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium is scheduled for 8 p.m., which is the latest start time of the season for the Beavers. Why the late start? The match has been selected to be one of six NSCAA College Games of the Week telecasts on the Fox Soccer Channel. It could prove to be a pivotal match for the Beavers. Stanford and Oregon State are currently first and second respectively in the Pac-10 Conference standings.

ALL WE NEED IS ONE: Everybody knows if a team does not score a goal, that team is not going to win. However, a goal does not necessarily mean victory will be secured. This season, however, that does not seem to be the case with the Oregon State women's soccer team. Incredibly, Oregon State carries an unblemished mark of 11-0-1 when the Beavers score a goal. In Oregon State's lone loss this season, the Beavers were shut out by the opposition. Going back to 2009, the Beavers are 24-0-2 when scoring at least one goal.

WHAT RANKINGS?: With their wins over then-No. 19 USC and then-No. 16 UCLA last weekend, the Beavers are 2-0 against ranked opponents this season. The Beavers had a school-record four wins against ranked teams in 2009 and are 6-5 over the past two seasons against ranked opponents.

RED HOT BEAVERS: The Beavers started the season with a five-game winning streak, all five games coming as shutouts and are riding a season high six-game winning streak going into action this weekend.

QUICK START: With wins over USC and UCLA this past weekend, the Beavers move to 3-0 to start conference play for the first time since they did it in 1994, which was the first year the Beavers made the NCAA tournament. Since Oregon State started its women's soccer program in 1988, it has never started conference play with four straight wins which is what they look to do against Washington State.

MAKING HISTORY: Oregon State did something they have never done before: sweep the Los Angeles schools in a single season. The Beavers came into the season with an all-time record of 3-13-1 against USC and 2-13-0 against UCLA. The Beavers are now 3-1 against the two teams over the past two seasons with their only loss coming against UCLA in Los Angeles last season.

EVERYDAY CHAMPION BOYD: Junior goalkeeper Colleen Boyd was selected to be Oregon State Everyday Champion for the week of Oct. 11 for her excellence both on the pitch and in the classroom. The La Cañada, Calif. native is majoring in education with an Oregon State cumulative GPA of 3.58. On the pitch, she is hitting the books, record books. Earlier this season, Boyd set the Oregon State record for consecutive scoreless minutes when she posted five consecutive shutouts to start the season. She did not give up a goal in 531 minutes, 51 seconds going back to the 2009 season. She currently has nine shutouts on the season which is a new school record for solo shutouts in a season.

INTO THE RECORD BOOK: Making an impact on the record book as well this year is junior forward Melinda Ingalls who scored a goal in four consecutive matches this season which puts her tied for third on the all-time list at Oregon State. Ingalls is currently second on the squad with five goals this season.

PRESEASON COACHES' POLL: Following the best season in school history that saw the Beavers reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, the Pac-10 coaches picked them to finish fifth in the preseason poll. Oregon State finished tied for sixth in conference play in 2009 before making their tournament run.

JOIN THE DAM SQUAD: The Oregon State women's soccer team is encouraging people to join its fan club, The Dam Squad. Anyone interested can pick up applications at the Paul Lorenz Field entrances. Members receive a t-shirt, signed poster, seating in the Dam Squad section and a membership card with discounts on Game Days at community partners the Downward Dog, Cloud 9 and Corvallis Sports Park. "Just join the Dam Squad!!"

SIGNING DAYS: Members of the team will be signing posters following the Sunday Pac-10 matches on October 17 following the match against UCLA and on October 31 following the Arizona Game.

BRING OUT THE COMMUNITY: The team will be doing a "Post-Game-At-The-Park" following the Sunday Pac-10 Games, Oct. 17 at 4 pm and Oct. 31 at 3 pm. The OSU Soccer Staff will be at the Corvallis Sports Park to discuss the games with fans. Everyone is welcome.

HELP THE HUNGRY: As always, admission is free for fans for all Oregon State home games. Those attending the match are encouraged to "Help Fight Hunger" by bringing a canned food item to donate to community outreach.

Support Oregon State University Athletics by making your tax deductible donation to the Beaver Athletic Student Fund. For more information follow this link or call 541-737-2370. You can make an "Everyday Champion" Follow Beaver Athletics on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.