Arkansas State vs. Lipscomb at Belmont
Sept. 3 & 5 • 5 p.m./2 p.m. • Jonesboro, Ark./Nashville, Tenn.

KICKING IT OFF: Arkansas State begins action this weekend hosting Lipscomb to the Arkansas State Soccer Complex Friday at 5 p.m. and then hit the road to face Belmont in Nashville on Sunday at 2 p.m.

THE SERIES: This will mark the first meeting between the Red Wolves and these two squads.

THE OPPONENT: Lipscomb stands at 2-2 owning wins past UT-Chattanooga (2-1) and Jackson State (1-0). One of Lipscomb's losses came at the hands of Tennessee-Martin, who the Red Wolves battled to a 2-2 tie in their season opener. Lipscomb is led by Meghan McGuire and Hunter Summers who each have scored one goal. Erin Zerio has played in all four games in goal making 18 saves and allowing three goals. Jon Ireland is in his third season at Lipscomb and owns a career record of 14-43-4. Belmont is still looking for its first win of the season, owning a 0-3 mark with losses to SEMO (2-1) and Clemson (2-1) in overtime and Minnesota (0-7). Erica Carter and Lauren Paynter have each scored goals to lead the Bruins. Sari Lin has played 162 minutes in goal for Belmont, giving up seven goals and making 15 saves, earning each decision for the squad (0-3). Nicole Berner has allowed four goals and made six saves in 135 minutes of action. Lisa Howe is in her fifth year at the helm of the Bruins program owning a career record of (47-40-16).

LAST GAME:  Solid goalkeeping and a goal from junior forward Kara Nitti in the 79th minute (78:57) kept the Arkansas State women's soccer team undefeated with a win past Louisiana Tech, 1-0, last Sunday at Lady Techster Field.
    The Red Wolves improved to 2-0-1 on the season while the Techsters took their first loss of the campaign, falling to 2-1.
    Nitti's goal came on a header off a corner kick from Junior Michele Clark. Nitti rose above everyone to put her head on the ball and sent a powerful header past everyone, finding the back of the net.
    Sophomore goalkeeper Susan Brown made five saves, turning in her second clean-sheet of the season. In fact, Brown has not allowed a goal yet this season making two starts in goal and playing 42 minutes in reserve action.
The Red Wolves were outshot in the contest 13-6 and in shots on goal 5-3.
    Nitti led three Red Wolves players with two shots. Alex Furr and Kelsey Finders also had two shots for Arkansas State. Olivia Lukasewich led all players with five shots for Louisiana Tech.

SUSAN BROWN POW: Arkansas State sophomore goalkeeper Susan Brown was named the Sun Belt Conference women's soccer player of the week for the competition week of August 23-29 announced by the league office Monday.
    In two starts last week, Brown kept a clean sheet, allowing no goals while making nine saves and helping the Red Wolves to their first two victories of the 2010 campaign shutting out Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Louisiana Tech.
    On the season, Brown has made 12 saves and is yet to give up a goal. She has turned in two shutouts which, after only three games, is half of her record-setting total from a year ago.
    During last season, Brown set school goalkeeping records in saves, wins, minutes played and shutouts.

HOT START: ASU is one of only two teams in the Sun Belt to open up the season undefeated after three games. This marks only the second time in program history that ASU has been undefeated after its opening three contests. In 2008, the Red Wolves opened play with a 3-0 start.

GOAL SCORERS: After three games ASU has outscored its opponents 4-2. Junior forward Kara Nitti has scored two of those goals including scoring the game-winner against Louisiana Tech. Junior Michele Clark also scored the game-winner against UAPB and sophomore Tory Pitts has also scored one goal. Clark leads the team with two assists.

CLEAN SHEETS: Sophomore goalkeeper Susan Brown has turned in two solid starts for the Red Wolves, not allowing a single goal in 228 minutes of action this season. Brown set a single-season record in 2009 with four shutouts.

RECORD SETTING YEAR: Besides their appearance in the SBC tournament for the first time since the 2004 season the Red Wolves had a record setting season in 2010 in a number of categories. ASU has set records in wins (8), conference wins (5), shots (330), goals (35), assists (32) and attendance (3,551).

ASSIST RECORD: Sophomore Ashley McMurtry, during her first season with the team set a single-season assist record for the program, recording eight. She also ranks third on the career assist chart. She also led the team with 16 points (4 goals, 8 assists).

COMING BACK: The Red Wolves were one of the youngest teams in the league last year, but those younger players all now have a year or two under their belt. ASU has 16 letterwinners returning from last year's team and nine starters from their best season in program history. With only five losses and eight newcomers, ASU is poised to have another great season.

HIGHEST JUMP: ASU had one of the highest jumps in the conference standings last year, moving from 11th in 2008 to 6th in 2009.  FIU made a similar jump, moving from 6th to the top of the league last season.

TOP RETURNERS: ASU has three players returning who scored four or more goals a season ago. Junior Kara Nitti, for the second year in a row, led ASU in scoring with five goals and 13 total points. McMurtry led the Red Wolves with 16 points notching four goals and eight assists while sophomore Tory Pitts had four goals and one assist for nine points.

SAVE RECORD: ASU sophomore Susan Brown set a single-season record with 108 saves during her freshman campaign. She also set records wins (8), shutouts (4), minutes (1854:58) and ranked second on the single-season chart with a goals against average of 1.60

PRESEASON COACHES POLL: Arkansas State  was voted to finish in seventh place by the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll which was released Thursday. The poll is voted on by the 12 Sun Belt head coaches.
    ASU received 54 points in the poll. Defending champion Denver was picked to finish first receiving 140 points and nine first place votes. Florida International, the 2009 regular-season champion was tabbed second garnering the other three first-place votes and 127 total points.
    Western Kentucky was picked third, followed by North Texas, Middle Tennessee, UALR and Arkansas State in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.
    Florida Atlantic and Troy were picked to finish tied for eighth. ULL, South Alabama and ULM were voted to finish 10th, 11th and 12th places, respectively.

HEAD COACH TAFADZWA ZIYENGE: Tafadzwa Ziyenge is in his first season as head coach at Arkansas State. Ziyenge comes to ASU after reviving both the men's and women's teams at University of Alabama-Huntsville. Ziyenge left the UAH women with a 96-90-6 career record, advancing to the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference tournament on five occasions and consistently achieving top-10 regional ranking. In his final season the women's team posted a 9-7-0 record and a third best 4-3 conference record. The women finished the season ranked seventh in the south region. In his first and only season as men's head coach Ziyenge directed the UAH men to the conference finals en route to a sixth place regional ranking. The men ended conference league play in second place. Ziyenge who is an Olympic Development Program regional coach has also coached both boys and girls youth teams.
    “Tafadzwa is highly respected by his peers within his profession,” said Dr. Dean Lee, ASU Director of Athletics. “He is very passionate about the game and loves the game, which is very evident.  He has a great work ethic and tremendous character, integrity and knowledge about the game.”
    Ziyenge was a four-year letterwinner (1993-96) on the UAH men's soccer team. He is first overall in the UAH record books for most goals in a career, most game winning goals in a career. He also holds the UAH records for most goals in a season, most points in a season, most game winning goals in a season and tied for most shots on goal in a season. In addition, he is also second on the list for most points in a career, most shots on goal in a career. Ziyenge is ranked third overall in goals scored, fifth in points and eighth in career assists. He is only one of six players to score 100 career points at UAH.
    Ziyenge who still holds the conference record for most goals scored in a season was named Conference Player of the Week on three separate occasions in the first year the GSC sponsored soccer. He was also Most Valuable Player in the Mayor's Cup Classic vs Alabama A&M in 1996. Ziyenge also set the standard for numerous conference records. During the 1996 season, Ziyenge was ranked third in the nation in goals scored. He also led the GSC in the same category, as well as total points. In his senior year, he was named to the All Region first team, GSC regular season MVP and conference finals MVP.
    Ziyenge's professional soccer career began in 1997 in the Eastern Indoor Soccer League where he played for 2 years with the Huntsville Fire. He finished the 1998 season as the club's second leading scorer. He continued his professional career in the USL A-League where he spent 2 seasons playing for Tennessee Rhythm before retiring in 2001. The Marondera, Zimbabwe native holds a degree in Business Administration.  
    Ziyenge holds a USSF C License.

ASSISTANT COACH LISA BERG: Beginning her second season with the ASU Soccer program, Lisa Berg was named assistant soccer coach at Arkansas State University Aug. 9, 2008.
    Berg comes to ASU from Minnesota, where she served as a volunteer assistant for the last two years with the Golden Gopher soccer program.   Berg was an Academic All-Big 10 player for the Golden Gophers from 2003-05 and helped rebuild the Minnesota soccer program during her time as a player and assistant coach.  While at Minnesota, Berg helped lift the Gopher program from the bottom of the Big 10 to a consistent qualifier for the conference tournament in a league that annually sends multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament.
    “Lisa brings a high level of passion and energy to the team. Her overall understanding of all facets of the game is excellent,” said ASU head coach Tafadzwa Ziyenge. “She is very dedicated and loyal and has done an outstanding job this year with team fitness.”
    She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2006 after majoring in Kinesiology/Pre Physical Therapy, with minors in Chemistry and Spanish.  Berg currently holds a USSF National C Coaching License and while in Minnesota worked with the St. Croix Soccer Club, the North Suburban Soccer Club and the East Select Soccer Club.  She also worked with the Minnesota Olympic Development Program.
                “My experience with helping to rebuild the program at Minnesota and seeing the processes involved with that will really fit well with Arkansas State,” said Berg.  “There is so much potential here with the facilities, staff and community support.  The players have bought into wanting to build a really solid program as well.”

HELP BUILD A WINNING TRADITION:  ASU soccer fans have the opportunity to help the Red Wolves build a winning soccer tradition by joining the Red Wolves Goal Club.  Level 1 ($50) members receive a quarterly newsletter and an autographed 2009 ASU Soccer poster.  Level 2 members($100) receive the benefits of Level 1, plus a ticket to the ASU soccer banquet and an ASU T-shirt.  For more information or to join the Red Wolves Goal Club, contact assistant coach Lisa Berg at 870-972-8193 or lberg@astate.edu.

RED WOLVES KIDS' CLUB:  Youth ages 9-13 are invited to join the Red Wolves Kids' Club and be a ball kid at any of ASU's home soccer game.  Kids' Club members also have the opportunity to participate in team introductions and pregame ceremonies.  To join the Red Wolves Kids' Club, contact assistant coach Lisa Berg at 870-972-8193 or lberg@astate.edu.

FOLLOW THE RED WOLVES ON FACEBOOK: To become a fan of our Facebook Page, go to www.facebook.com and search for "Arkansas State University Soccer".  We currently have 212 fans and we are aiming to get 500 Facebook Fans by our Sun Belt Conference opener next Friday, September 25th at 4:30 PM against South Alabama.  On our the "Arkansas State University Soccer" Facebook Page you can find events that the soccer team will be participating in and hosting, game results, and interesting stories and photos of all your favorite Red Wolves Soccer players.  We encourage all fans, alumni, and family members of the Red Wolves Soccer Program to become a fan today!

ASU SOCCER IS TWEETING: The Arkansas State soccer team is on twitter! You can follow all the action via ASU Soccer “Tweets”. To follow ASU Soccer on Twitter visit twitter.com/redwolvessoccer. Twitter is a great way to follow anyone via microblogs and get the most up-to-date information on your favorite people and groups. GO RED WOLVES!