Ferris State Women's Soccer Notes

Aug. 23, 2004

Ferris State concluded the 2003 campaign with an 11-5-1 overall mark under first-year head coach Melissa Lalonde, which represented the program's best performance in its five-year history and included a fourth-place 5-3 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) finish.

The Bulldogs, who won eight of their final 11 outings last season, opened the year with a school record three consecutive wins and compiled a program-best 5-2-1 road mark in 2003. FSU also set school single-season records for most goals (40), assists (36) and points (116).

Ferris State will host 10 home contests this campaign at the FSU Varsity Soccer Field. The Bulldogs' first home encoutner is a non-conference outing against Madonna Friday, Sept. 10, at 2 p.m. (EDT).

The Bulldogs return four starters and 12 letterwinners from a year ago, including junior forward Lisa O'Brian (Kalamazoo/Loy Norrix). She received first-team All-GLIAC plaudits last campaign. O'Brian, who presently ranks as Ferris' second all-time leading scorer and goal producer with 45 points and 19 markers, posted a team-best 15 goals last year while recording the school's top individual single-season performance.

USI, which lost only one player from last season’s team, was 6-9-1 overall and 3-7-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. They return 13 players from last season's squad. Friday's meeting will be the first between the two schools.

Ferris State will also battle Quincy (Ill.) this Sunday (Aug. 29) in an 11 a.m. (EDT) non-conference tilt at Allendale, Mich.

The Hawks hold a 1-0 series advantage entering Sunday's contest by virtue of their 2-1 triumph in 2002 (9/8) at Indianapolis, Ind.

Twenty-second year Quincy head coach Bill Postiglione returns nine starters and 14 letterwinners from last season's 8-7-3 team, which finished 4-4-2 (sixth place) in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.