Aug. 14, 2008

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - After 10 days of fall camp, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack soccer team will get its first taste of outside competition Friday when it takes on Oklahoma in a road exhibition contest. The game against the Sooners is set for a 7 p.m. start from the OU Soccer Complex in Norman, Okla.

The game will feature two experienced squads, each with first-year head coaches. The Ladyjacks return 14 letterwinners, including nine starters, from the 2007 team. Oklahoma brings back 17 letterwinners, seven of whom had starting experience last season.

SFA's George Van Linder and Oklahoma's Nicole Nelson are each entering the first season with their respective programs. But the two have more in common with that. For starters, Nelson served as an assistant coach under Van Linder at Baylor in 2005.

Before that, though, Nelson spent three seasons in the position Van Linder now holds at SFA. She was the program's fourth head coach, holding the job from 2002-2004. Nelson is a key figure in the Ladyjacks' current success, having guided the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003, then an SLC regular-season title in 2004. SFA's second-place finish in the Southland in 2003 began the team's current five-year run of finishing in one of the top two spots, with three league championships during that stretch. Nelson left the program as its winningest coach. Her 33-19-9 career mark at SFA still stands as the second-best coaching record in program history.

SFA is coming off a 13-5-2 season in 2007. The Ladyjacks won a share of their fifth Southland Conference championship and took the SLC Tournament title, reaching the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2003. The Sooners finished with a 6-10-3 mark a year ago, placing ninth in the Big 12.

The Ladyjacks are 1-1-0 all-time against Oklahoma. SFA won the initial meeting, a 2-1 home victory in 1998. The Sooners tied the series with a 3-0 win in Norman in 2006.

SFA will open the 2008 regular season on Aug. 22, when the Ladyjacks travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on TCU.

-- SFA --