Frogs Remain Undeafeated on the Season!

We picked up another win tonight to move to 2-0 on the young season with a 1-0 victory over UTSA. We racked up 28 shots and 16 corners, just couldn't stick more home. Kaylie Garcia had the game winner in the 25th minute on a blast from on top of the box.

Training tomorrow and then Houston Baptist on Sunday.

#28 Horned Frogs Battle UTSA and Houston Baptist Over The Weekend

The No. 28 TCU women's soccer program will close the month of August with home matches against UT San Antonio on Friday and Houston Baptist on Sunday, respectively.

Start time for the match against the Roadrunners is set for 7 p.m., while the contest against the Huskies will begin at 1 p.m. in Fort Worth.

Follow The Horned FrogsFans not able to attend tomorrow's home match against UTSA can follow the game live by logging onto www.gofrogs.com. There you can find links to gametracker and watch the match live via web streaming. Both links are located on the women's soccer schedule page.

All regular season home contests will be broadcast live via webstreaming on gofrogs.com.

Scouting UTSA
UT San Antonio, who is currently on a five-match road swing, opened its season dropping a 5-0 decision at Texas Tech on Aug. 21. Seniors Halee Hamm and Jenny Munoz posted a shot apiece for the Roadrunners, all coming in the second half in Lubbock.
Hamm gave UTSA its first win of the season with a golden goal in a 2-1 double overtime victory over Houston last Sunday afternoon. Munoz netted the other goal for the Roadrunners in the match, putting the ball into the back of the net in the 36th minute.

The Roadrunners, who were picked to finish third overall in the preseason conference poll, posted a school-best 10 wins and nine shutouts in 2008. UTSA also accumulated a 6-2-1 conference record, which tied for second-place in the league standings.

Scouting Houston Baptist
Houston Baptist will open its 2009 season Sunday against the Horned Frogs. HBU and the University of Houston were supposed to play last Friday night, but had their match cancelled due to lightning and storms in the Houston area.

The Huskies, who went 9-7-1 overall last fall, will look to build on a 2008 season in which they opened the season with four-consecutive victories. In HBU's seven losses last season, four of them were by just one goal and two of those came in the second overtime period.
HBU was recently picked to finish second in the Great West Conference West Division in the conferences preseason poll.

Scouting TCU
TCU opened its season last Friday night with a 2-1 victory over No. 15 Texas in Austin. The win over the Longhorns snapped UT's 26-match home unbeaten streak at Mike A. Myers Field.

Following the victory over UT, the Horned Frogs garnered their first national ranking of the season on Tuesday as they are currently No. 28 in the NSCAA/ADIDAS National Poll.

In their final exhibition match against the Mexican National Team on Tuesday, the Frogs' Katie Taylor netted a first half goal off a corner kick, but it wasn't enough as the Mexican National Team dropped TCU, 4-1, in front of 2,089 spectators at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium.
All-Time Series OutlookFriday's match against UTSA will mark the fourth time in program history that the two Texas schools have faced each other. TCU leads the overall series, 3-0-0, and have outscored the Roadrunners, 6-1. In 2008, Lizzy Karoly and Jackie Torda netted first half goals to lead TCU to a 2-1 victory over UT San Antonio at the UTSA Recreational Sports Complex.

Sunday's match against Houston Baptist will mark the second time in program history that HBU and the Frogs have met on the pitch. TCU leads the overall series, 1-0-0, dropping the Huskies, 5-0, in 1986.

Crowded Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium
This past Tuesday, TCU closed out its exhibition slate in front of 2,089 spectators against the Mexican National Team. The 2,089 in attendance was the third-largest attendance figure in program history and largest ever for a non-regular season match.

Back In The National Rankings
Following its season-opening victory over Texas, TCU found itself in the national polls this week. TCU landed at No. 28 in the NSCAA/ADIDAS National Poll and heads into Friday's contest ranked No. 4 in the Pacific Region. The Frogs also remain just outside the Top 25 of Soccer Times at No. 29.

Last fall, TCU was ranked in nearly every poll throughout the course of the season, including a program-high No. 24 during the halfway point of 2008.

Calhoun Picks Up National Award
TCU sophomore Jordan Calhoun was honored on Tuesday by Soccer America as the magazine selected Calhoun to its Team of the Week.

The award for Calhoun marked the first time in her career that she was selected to Soccer America's Team of the Week. In 2008, the returning first-team all-conference selection was selected to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week following matches against Ole Miss and Xavier.

TCU On The National Scene
Following its season-opening victory, the Frogs have fared well amongst the national leaders.

Jordan Calhoun currently sits at No. 15 in the NCAA in goals-per-contest, while also ranking No. 29 overall in points-per-game in the nation.

As a team, TCU is currently ranked No. 17 in scoring offense. Defensively, the Frogs sit No. 45 overall in the NCAA in goals-against-average with an average of .814 after one match.

Mountain West Statistics Update
Heading into Friday's contest, TCU currently ranks No. 2 in the conference in points (6), goals (2), goals-per-game (2), assists (2) and assists-per-game (2).
Individually, sophomore Jordan Calhoun leads the MWC in points-per-game (4), goals (2), game-winning goals (1) and goals-per-game (2), while junior Jackie Torda and sophomore Kaylie Garcia rank first in assists-per-game with one, respectively.

Home Field Advantage
Through Dan Abdalla's five years in Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs have fared well at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium. Heading into Friday night's match against UTSA, the Purple and White last fell in Fort Worth on Oct. 16 to BYU, 1-0. Overall, the Frogs have not lost in nine of their last 11 matches at home. TCU has outscored its opponent, 32-7, in those 11 outings.

Calhoun and Taylor Honored By Mountain West
TCU sophomores Jordan Calhoun and Katie Taylor were selected as the Mountain West Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week on Monday.

Calhoun, a native of Norman, Okla., netted the game-winning goal in the 85th minute to give TCU a 2-1 victory over No. 15 Texas. The win by the Horned Frogs snapped the Longhorn's 26-match home unbeaten streak at Mike A. Myers Field. Calhoun scored both of TCU's goals in the game, putting the Horned Frogs on the board early in the match when she found the back of the net in the fifth minute of the contest.

Taylor, a defender from California, led a TCU defense that held the Longhorns to just seven shot attempts for the entire match, including only three in the second half. UT's first shot attempt in the second half came with only 17 minutes remaining in the contest.

Calhoun Does It Again
For the second-consecutive season, sophomore Jordan Calhoun netted two goals in the Horned Frogs opening-season match. In 2008, the returning first-team all-conference selection found the net twice against Stephen F. Austin. Last Friday night, Calhoun simply dominated Texas at times, scoring one goal in the first half and the game-winner late in the match.

Up Next
TCU will take on in-state rival Texas Tech next Friday night at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium before traveling to Houston for an away match at Rice. Start time is set for 7 p.m. against the Red Raiders, while the match against the Owls will begin at 6 p.m.

Highlights from TCU Win over Texas

Getting ready for tonights match versus UTSA at 7:00. Mark put together a great highlight video from our win over Texas:
http://www.youtube.com/frogsoccer

Frogs Crack National Rankings!

The TCU women's soccer team garnered its first national ranking of the season on Tuesday as the Horned Frogs landed at No. 28 in the NSCAA/ADIDAS National Poll.

TCU, who is coming off a 2-1 season-opening victory over No. 25 Texas in Austin, heads into Friday's contest ranked No. 4 in the Pacific Region. The Frogs also remain just outside the Top 25 of Soccer Times at No. 29.

TCU will open its regular-season home schedule on Friday against UT-San Antonio at 7 p.m.

Calhoun Named To Soccer America National Team of the Week!

Sophomore Jordan Calhoun was named this morning to Soccer America's National Team of the Week for her 2 goals versus Texas.

The Horned Frogs also ranked 4th in the NSCAA Pacific Region Rankings, following Stanford, UCLA and USC. The team is also receiving votes nationally by SoccerTimes.com.

TCU's Calhoun & Taylor Named Mountain West Conference Players of the Week!

TCU sophomore forward Jordan Calhoun and sophomore defender Katie Taylor have been named Mountain West Conference Women's Soccer Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively.

Calhoun, a native of Norman, Okla., scored the game-winning goal in the 85th minute to give TCU a 2-1 victory over No. 15 Texas. The win by the Horned Frogs snapped the Longhorn's 26-match home unbeaten streak at Mike A. Myers Field. Calhoun scored both of TCU's goals in the game, putting the Horned Frogs on the board early in the match when she found the back of the net in the fifth minute of the contest.

Taylor, an Escondido, Calif., native, led a TCU defense that held the Longhorns to just seven shot attempts for the entire match, including only four on goal. With the score knotted at 1-1 in the second half, Taylor and the Horned Frog defense limited Texas to only three shot attempts for the entire half. The first shot attempt by Texas in the second half was blocked by the defense, which came with only 17 minutes remaining in the match.

Calhoun's Game Winner Lifts Frogs Past #15 Texas

Jordan Calhoun scored the gamewinner in the 85th minute to give TCU a 2-1 victory over No. 15 Texas on Friday night and snap UT's 26-match home unbeaten streak at Mike A. Myers Field.

Calhoun secured the win in the second half when she beat UT goalkeeper Alexa Gaul off an assist by junior Jackie Torda. On the play, Torda played a beautiful ball between two Longhorn defenders to Calhoun who put the ball into the back of the net with only five minutes remaining in the contest.

"It's a good win. Anytime you go on the road and get a chance to beat a team of their caliber it is good," said head coach Dan Abdalla. "Give our kids credit, they came out in the second half and really went after them. They worked hard and got a result because of it."

In a back-and-fourth first half, TCU got on the board when Calhoun, a sophomore from Norman, Okla., found the back of the net in the fifth minute off an assist by Kaylie Garcia. On the play, Calhoun beat Gaul from about 15 yards out from the left side of the box.

UT fired right back though as Leah Fortune just beat Kelsey Walters a minute later off a deflection just outside the box.

The Horned Frogs, who pressured the Longhorns on the offensive attack for nearly the entire match, looked to have taken the lead halfway through the period when Garcia connected off a cross by Lizzy Karoly, but the sophomore had her shot saved by Gaul to keep the score knotted at 1-1 at the half.

Following the break, Chelsea Cody almost gave the Horned Frogs the advantage, rocketing a shot towards the goal to a streaking Jackie Torda, but the ball sailed wide of the net.
A few minutes later, Cody broke through the Longhorn defense again and found freshman Leigha Leonard on the right side of the box, but she could not connect with Katie Runyon who was running wide open down the left side of the field.

TCU continued its relentless pressure on UT midway through the period as Kristen Halverson, a sophomore from California, fired two consecutive shots towards the goal, including one deep in the box off a cross from Alex Mechalske with only 16 minutes remaining in the contest, but just missed giving TCU the 2-1 advantage.

Following Calhoun's second goal of the match, Walters came of huge as she saved a shot off the foot of Fortune with 1:12 remaining on the clock to preserve the Purple and White's first win in Austin in program history.

"I think it's a great start to our season especially winning on the road since we have a lot of away games this season," said Calhoun, who earned Soccer Buzz Freshman All-America honors last fall.

For the match, TCU outshot Texas, 14-7, including 8-3 in the second half. Calhoun led the offensive attack for the Horned Frogs with three shots for the match, while Garcia and Halverson chipped in with two apiece.

On defense, Walters recorded three saves on the night, while Gaul posted four on Friday.
The Horned Frogs moved to 1-0-0 on the year, while UT dropped to 0-1-0 on the year. With her two-goal effort, Calhoun moved into No. 6 all-time in career goals in TCU history.

TCU will open its home schedule next Tuesday against the Mexican National Team. Start time is set for 7 p.m. at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium.

TCU Opens Season at #15 Texas Friday Night

The TCU women's soccer program will open its 2009 regular season slate on Friday at Texas.
The match against the Longhorns, which will mark the second time in three years the Horned Frogs have traveled to Austin to begin a season, is set for 7 p.m. at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Follow The Horned Frogs

Fans not able to attend Friday's away match against Texas can follow the game live by logging onto www.gofrogs.com. There you can find a link to gametracker, which is located on the schedule page.

All regular season home contests will be broadcast live via webstreaming on gofrogs.com.

Scouting Texas

The Longhorns come into the season-opener ranked No. 15 in the NSCAA National Rankings. UT, who was recently picked to finish fifth overall in the preseason Big 12 Conference rankings, returns plenty of talent off a 2008 squad that closed the season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They come into Friday's contest holding a 26-game unbeaten streak at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Overall, Texas returns seven starters, including preseason all-conference selection Erica Campanelli and 2008 Freshman All-America honoree Kylie Doniak. Finally, UT closed out its exhibition slate, dropping a 2-1 decision at LSU.

Scouting TCU

The pieces are in place in 2009 for the Horned Frog women's soccer program to make a serious run at a conference title and NCAA Tournament berth. With 10 of 11 starters returning, including its top-four goal strikers and entire defensive backline, TCU has the potential to be one of the top teams not only in the Mountain West Conference, but also the country in 2009.
The Horned Frogs will enter 2009 looking to improve upon a program best 14-4-2 record overall and 4-2-1 mark in conference action.

TCU's last line of defense this fall will consist of fwo-year starter Cheryl Martin, sophomore Katie Taylor, who earned all-conference honors in 2008, Alex Mechalske and Lindsay Holmes. The quartet started nearly every contest last fall and will once again play a key role in TCU's success in 2009. Sophomore Chelsey Wilgenburg will also probably start after showing some dominating stretches during last fall. Between the posts, Kelsey Walters once again returns following a season in which she recorded the lowest goals-against-average in program history.

The midfield position could be one of the most dangerous positions this fall for TCU as the Horned Frogs return junior's Chelsea Cody, 2008 MWC All-Tournament selection Jackie Torda and Nikki Wilbur. Both Michelle Nguyen and Kaylie Garcia will push for starting spots in 2009 as well after netting multiple goals during the 2008 campaign. Look for sophomore transfer Kristen Halverson to also play into the midfield mix after starting for TCU during its exhibition contest against North Texas.

Up front, TCU possess one of the most dangerous attackers in the country in sophomore Jordan Calhoun. Calhoun is coming off a freshman campaign in which she earned Freshman All-America status by Soccer Buzz, while netting a program-best 15 goals. Along side Calhoun will be senior Lizzy Karoly, a two-time all-conference selection. Karoly recorded 11 goals in 2008 and should see her goal production increase during her final season.

Last Time Out

Junior Nikki Wilbur netted a goal in the 72nd minute to give TCU a 1-0 exhibition victory over North Texas last Saturday night. Wilbur, a defender from California, scored the lone goal of the match late in the second half off a corner kick by Michelle Nguyen. On the play, Nguyen blasted the ball into the middle of the box, finding Wilbur who headed the ball into the back of the net to give TCU the 1-0 advantage.

"From a training standpoint, I was happy with how we progressed as the game went on against a quality opponent," said head coach Dan Abdalla. "I thought we just got a little bit more comfortable throughout the night and increased our pressure on the ball. We now just have to get a little bit more organized and bite in our play. We also have to work on our transition game. Overall, it was a good building step for us from our last game to this one, now we just have to move forward."

Preseason Rankings

Coming off its best season in program history, the TCU women's soccer program was recently selected to finish second in the Mountain West Conference this fall. The second-place selection is the highest preseason ranking ever for the Horned Frogs. The poll was selected by a vote by the league's coaches.

TCU, who received one first-place vote, is predicted to finish behind BYU, who received 49 points and seven of the eight first-place votes. Utah tied TCU for second-place points with 39 in the poll.

San Diego State and UNLV were predicted to finish in fourth and fifth-place with 30 and 28 points, respectively, while New Mexico was ranked sixth with 18 points. Wyoming and Air Force round out the top eight selections with a total of 14 and seven points, respectively.

The All-Time Series

Texas comes into Friday's contest holding a 6-5-0 advantage in the all-time series record. The No. 7 Longhorns upended TCU, 2-1, in double overtime last fall in Fort Worth. In that contest, Jordan Calhoun netted a second half goal, but UT found the back of the net late in the second overtime period to record the victory in front of 2,161 spectators at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium.

Going For Two

TCU will be going for its second-straight season-opening victory on Friday night. In 2008, the Horned Frogs blanked 2007 NCAA Qualifier Stephen F. Austin, 5-0. Jordan Calhoun and Lizzy Karoly each netted two goals apiece in the contest to give the Horned Frogs a 1-0-0 start to the 2008 season. Overall, the Purple and White are 2-2-0 in season-openers under head coach Dan Abdalla.

The Mexican National Team

Following its season-opener against Texas, TCU will come home to Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium to play an exhibition contest against the Mexican National Team on Tuesday, August 25. The 7 p.m. match against the National Team will mark the first time in TCU history that one of the premier national teams in the world will make its way to Fort Worth. Horned Frog sophomore Kaylie Garcia, who netted two goals and dished out four assists in 2008, played for Mexico this summer and could possibly play for both TCU and the National Team in the exhibition.

Roster Breakdown

With 10 of 11 starters returning this fall, TCU returns plenty of experience in 2009. Of the 33 players that dot the Frog roster, there are three seniors, six juniors, 16 sophomores and eight freshman. In the Purple and White's exhibition match against North Texas, TCU started one senior, three juniors and seven sophomores.

Up Next

The Horned Frogs will open their home portion of their schedule against the Mexican National Team on Tuesday, August 25. Start time is set for 7 p.m. at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium.

Team Visits Cooks Childrens Hospital

The TCU women's soccer program took a break from preseason preparations on Monday to visit Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth.

In the spring, the soccer program presented the local children's hospital a check for $7,000. On Monday, the team toured the facilities, seeing first-hand some of their contributions.

The soccer program raised $7,000 hosting two Kicks For Kids Soccer Clinics last spring. The clinics, which had approximately 149 participants from local youth teams around the Metroplex, were organized, marketed and planned completely by the women's soccer program.

Frogs Win PreSeason Scrimmage Versus UNT

We had a chance to finish up the preseason segment of our year with a solid 1-0 victory against the University of North Texas. A goal by Nikki Wilbur off a Michelle Nguyen corner proved the difference. Both teams were working on different combinations and really using the game as a training session, but I was proud of how our group finished the game.

We really started to come into our personality as a team in being the aggressor and stepping the game forward. Our back line (Alex Meschalske, Lindsay Holmes, Katie Taylor, Nikki Wilbur, Elise Kensinger and Chelsea Wilgenburg) came together to preserve the shutout in being much more aggressive and compact which is something we had been working on-also need to mention how Wally in goal got her confidence in coming off the line, plus she's got to have the best hands in college soccer.

Our center mids (Michelle Nguyen, Chelsea Cody, Birthday Girl Kaylie Garcia, Kaitlin Shelledy and Kelly Faerber) also did a great job in getting forward and combining with our width in the second half. Also, need to mention Jordan Calhoun and Lizzy Karoly who both got into the rhythm of things and created numerous scoring chances-these two are going to be so dangerous this year!

So we take a day off tomorrow with just dinner at the famous Joe T's and then Monday, we'll have some team building at Dave & Busters, followed by a tour of Cooks Children's Hospital and then an evening training session.

Great Programs vs Great Teams

We've moved past the midway point in our preseason and have seen the group start to gel. We always spend a good bit of our time on how the team comes together as a group and we've started to see some real good progress. It's funny because many people think just because one year a group gets it and then it's there for good. But the truth is every year is unique and poses different opportunities and challenges. This is the difference between great programs versus great teams. Great teams are short term and have sporadic success, great programs are successful year in and year out.

But if you trust the process and view things in the long termm, it's easier to keep things in perspective. This year we broke our season into 6 phases - this first phase has been about defining our personality as a team. The next phase will include specifics about positions and what we want to make sure we are accomplishing as a team. The object is to be building towards the end of the season and putting ourselves in a position to accomplish all of our team goals.

It's a tough process to stay focused and disciplined but it's the foundation for great programs, not just great teams.

Horned Frogs Picked 2nd in Mountain West!

The Mountain West Conference released their pre-season poll today and had us picked to finish second in the conference. It is the highest pre-season ranking we've had and we received 1 first place vote (only 2 teams in the conference, TCU and BYU received any first place votes).

Tomorrow we head out to Baylor for our first pre-season scrimmage-it will be nice to see the team against a different uniform.

Pre-Season Update

Well, today we gave the team a day off from the field to recover from a great 4 days of training. We met for breakfast, got the team moved out of the hotel into their dorms, apartments and houses and will meet up again for dinner tonight. I've always thought that it was important to give the team some good down time away from the field to keep them fresh!

Last night we trained beneath the lights with an 11v11 inter-squad scrimmage. Loved how competitive it got. Some of the thoughts after going back over the video:

-The back line of Alex Meschalske, Katie Taylor, Nikki Wilbur and Chelsea Wilgenburg looked pretty sharp in their shape. Lindsay Holmes who is coming back from an injury also looked real solid as we limited her minutes in not wanting to rush her back. In goal Wally was solid as usual.

-In the middle of the park Chelsea Cody, Michelle Nguyen and Kaylie Garcia had great movement and great creativity for this time of year. I was amazed to see the speed of play so early.

-Offensively Lizzy Karoly looked strong and was combining really well, while Jordan Calhoun has picked up where she left off last year in putting away 3 or 4 goals.

-All of our newcomers looked to settle in well as the game progressed. Sophomore transfer Kristen Halverson showed a lot tenacity and good understanding of the game in being very dangerous, while freshman Leigha Leonard and Elise Kensinger made strong pushes in competing for playing time.

Overall, was a great effort by everyone. Tomorrow right back it!

Day 3-Intensity Ramps Up!

We had a great session this morning, spending most of our time on small group defending. The new group is really starting to pick up on things which has created a lot more competition.

Click on the link to GoFrogs.com to check out a photo gallery and interview from the first 3 days of training:
http://gofrogs.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/080709aab.html

Tonight we'll jump back out with some possession, a walk through and then some more 11v11!

Take a Tour of TCU!

Day 2 of pre-season is in the noon break after a competitive 1v1 morning session-I can't wait to see the group on the full tonight with some 11v11.

But I ran across this while checking emails and thought it was a great tour of TCU to share with everyone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPVm6498_Ig&feature=channel

1st Day of Training!

Girls showed up with a great energy today as the excitement for the 2009 season kicked in. The first day of training always brings such a wide array of emotions, but fun was definitely on top of the list today. The effort was exceptional as we started with a bit of fitness-it was extremely impressive to see everyone come in as fit as they did. It's always nice to have that base so we can focus more on playing rather than having to run.

We then opened things up and just let them play 3v3 for most of the rest of the session. We mixed up the teams every 5 minutes so we could see different players in different situations.

Ended up with Michelle Nguyen winning all 5 games she played, while Jackie Torda picked up 4 wins. In goal freshman Kira Michelson-Bartlett ended up winning 4 games, but returner Kelsey Walters looked extremely sharp as well.

Tonight we'll jump back it and spend some time playing again-more to just let the girls get to know each other and for us to sit back and see what all works.

Reporting Day!

Today the team has reported to campus to start pre-season training. This is the earliest we've ever been able to get to the team in, so it's exciting to know we've got a good amount of time (although August 12 does seem right around the corner for our first exhibition).

Today is filled with all of the administrative stuff, introductions, compliance, physicals, etc. Then it gets better later in the day when Christmas comes early with equipment & team photos. We'll finish up the day by moving the team into the team hotel for the first week of training and a great team dinner at Cheesecake Factory!

Tomorrow, 8:00 am the fun begins!