Soccer Fact Sheet #5

Best Start Ever: The University of Arkansas is in its 21st year of women’s soccer, but the 2006 squad has done something that none of the previous 20 have, start the season 5-1-0. With its wins over the weekend, Arkansas has its best start to a season ever and could continue to improve the mark with another set of wins this weekend.
Five Straight: With its pair of wins last weekend, the Lady Razorbacks picked up their fourth and fifth consecutive wins, also a Lady Razorback record. Prior to this weekend, Arkansas had won four straight at four different times, but never won five.
Six in a Row: The Lady Razorbacks all-time best unbeaten streak, six. During the 1996 season Arkansas won four, then picked up a tie before winning another.
4-0 at Home: With its current winning streak, the University of Arkansas is now 4-0 at home this season. Their four wins match Arkansas best over the past four years and five would be the most since 2001. Arkansas’ best ever home record came in the first year of Lady’Back Field, 1992 when it went 6-2-0.
Burger Leads Again: Senior Christina Burger was once again Arkansas’ scoring leader over the weekend as she tallied a pair of goals including the Lady’Backs’ game winner against Alabama A&M. Burger’s two scores give her four for the season, five behind her career high and coupled with her one assist she leads Arkansas in scoring with nine points.
Four Games with a Goal: Christina Burger has scored a goal in each of the last four games for the Lady Razorbacks. The research is pending, but the four-game effort is believed to be a record for home games and potentially a school record for consecutive games with a score.
Tournament MVP: Thanks to her efforts in Arkansas’ wins over the weekend, Christina Burger was named the Lady Razorback Classic’s most valuable player and a member of the all-tournament team.
Moving up the Career Charts: It may be impossible for Christina Burger to catch Julie Williford and break Arkansas’ all-time school records for goals and points, but the Southlake, Texas, native is certainly placing her name high on the books for other to catch. With her four goals, assist and nine points this season, Burger is currently tied for fifth on the goals scored charts, fifth on the points list and tied for fourth on the game-winning goals top 10.
Second-Team All-SEC: Thanks to her outstanding 2005 season in which she was third in the SEC in goals scored, Christina Burger was named second-team all-SEC, her first conference honor and just the 10th in Lady Razorback history.
The University of Tulsa: After trading wins and losses through the first six matches of the season, Tulsa took its first back-to-back losses at the Pepperdine Tournament in Malibu, Calif. Losing to Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara, Tulsa enters the weekend 3-4-0 overall and hoping to get back to its winning ways. The Golden Hurricane is 2-1 at home this season with victories over Oral Roberts and Georgia Southern and a loss to TCU.
Arkansas’ Oldest Rival: The University of Arkansas and the University of Tulsa have a long history in women’s soccer which begins in 1987 and continues through 2006. The two squads have met 24 times over the past 20 years and the Golden Hurricane has a decided advantage in the all-time series, 17-6-1. The Lady Razorbacks have been the aggressors over the past two years with a pair of wins, but overall Tulsa has dominated including a string of seven consecutive wins or ties between 1995 and 2003.
Last Season: The Lady Razorbacks dominated their 2005 meeting with Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla., to the tune of 5-1. The mist lopsided victory by either team in the 24 meetings, the two squads opened their 2005 schedules against each other and the Lady Razorbacks seemed to not be able to do any wrong as they consistently broke down the Tulsa defense and peppered the goal with shots. Alison Harter led the Lady’Backs with two goals and an assist with Christina Burger also netting a pair.
The SEC Standings: With a 5-1-0 record, the University of Arkansas is tied for first in the SEC west with 21st-ranked Auburn in the latest SEC standings. The conference office listed Arkansas ahead of Auburn thanks to the alphabet, but the interesting thing is that the Lady’Backs not only lead the west, but also hold the best record in the conference regardless of division. Tennessee is the eastern division leader and has a 3-1-1 record.
Memphis: The Memphis Tigers should almost be considered a member of the SEC when you consider who they have played this fall. Memphis has a 3-3-0 record and has played Alabama, Mississippi and Mississippi State. Opening the year with a pair of wins, Memphis then lost to Alabama and Samford before coming back with a victory over Mississippi State. A loss to Mississippi leads the Tigers to their upcoming midweek game against Southeast Missouri on Thursday.
Their SEC Matches: Arkansas’ game with Memphis should give it a decent idea of what is to come in SEC play which begins next weekend. Memphis has played Alabama, Ole Miss and Mississippi State and gone 1-2 over those three matches. A 2-0 loss to Alabama at home was the Tigers first defeat of the 2006 season. They defeated Mississippi State 2-0 in Starkville before losing to Ole Miss, 3-0.
A Clean Slate: The Lady Razorbacks have a clean slate against the University of Memphis over the years with a 3-0-0 record. The last meeting between the two schools in the regular season came in 1997 where Arkansas defeated the Tigers 4-2 in Fayetteville. The two matches prior to that game came in 1995 and 1996.
Their Last Meeting: On Oct. 31, 1997, the Lady Razorbacks took on Memphis in Fayetteville and picked up a solid 4-2 victory. Arkansas picked up goals from former Lady’Backs Brittany Burns, Heather Cato and Clare McKenna and outshot their opponent 19-13. Goalkeeper Jessica Shoffner was solid in goal with a seven saves.
No Broadcasts: The Lady Razorbacks are scheduled to broadcast 14 of their 19 matches on the internet or on radio this season, but the upcoming weekend is not on the schedule. Following the weekend of Sept. 15-17, the Lady Razorbacks will host at least an audio call of the games for all but one of the remaining 11 matches.
One Down: On Friday night against Louisiana Tech, Carrie Dillsaver eclipsed the first of what should be several all-time records at Arkansas. Breaking the minutes played record; Dillsaver is attempting to put the mark out of reach as she still has more than half the season to play.
Next: The next record on the radar for Dillsaver is the games started mark which should be tied this Friday night when she returns to her hometown to face Tulsa. She is also one win behind tying Arkansas’ all-time wins record so a good night in Tulsa could lead to a pair of records for the fifth-year senior.
How Many Could Fall: Discounting class and season marks, Carrie Dillsaver could or should break five all-time Lady Razorback records this fall. She already has the minutes played mark and should get the games played, games started, wins and shots faced records. Other records that she might catch are the shutouts and goals against average, but those might be long shots. She is unlikely to break the saves record.
The Actual Numbers: Some of the records are posted to the left, but for quick reference on each of the Arkansas career numbers, here they are:

Carrie Dillsaver: In 2005, Carrie Dillsaver was considered a senior by her coaches and teammates as she was scheduled to graduate with her nursing degree in May of 2006, despite the fact that she redshirted her true freshman season and was on her third actual season of playing. She indeed received her bachelor’s degree last May, but the call of the soccer pitch was too great for the Claremore, Okla., native and she chose to delay her professional career by six months in order to play her final season of eligibility with the Lady Razorbacks.
Lady Razorback Classic All-Tournament Team: Four Lady Razorbacks were named to the Lady Razorback Classic All-Tournament Team over the weekend. Christina Burger was the MVP of the weekend and was joined by Carrie Dillsaver, Devon Burger and Abbey Wilburn on the squad.
Wilburn Number Two: Abbey Wilburn scored her first goal of the 2006 season on Friday night in Arkansas’ 2-1 win over Louisiana Tech. The effort moved her into second on Arkansas’ scoring chart for the season with six points when you factor in her team-leading four assists.
First Game Winner: Abbey Wilburn’s goal against Louisiana Tech was the first game-winning strike of her career. In fact it was just her second career goal.
Approaching the Top 10: Abbey Wilburn has been an assist machine this fall with four in six games. Coupled with her six from last season and the sophomore has 10 for her career and is quickly approaching Arkansas’ all-time top 10. Tenth on the list is a three-way tie with 12 career assists.
Scoring First: In six matches this season, Arkansas has been the aggressor and to prove it, you only have to look at one stat, first goals. The Lady Razorbacks have scored the first goal in each match they have played in this season putting pressure on opposing teams to match Arkansas’ efforts.
Playing From Behind: Thanks to its six consecutive matches with the game’s first score, the Lady Razorbacks have been ahead for most of their playing time this year. In fact, Arkansas has only played 6:23 of 555 total minutes down by a score.
The New Class: To say that Arkansas’ 2006 freshman class is shaking things up would probably not be much of an overstatement. Five new Lady Razorbacks started in the Oral Roberts exhibition match and eight of the 10 played, two missed the match to injury. Since that game, at least three freshmen have been in the starting lineup and five were in the season opener against Missouri State.
Martin Nets a Pair: Freshman Kelsey Martin didn’t allow the fact that she started both of Arkansas’ opening weekend matches on the sideline to bother her. She still did her part and that included a pair of goals against Southeastern Louisiana.
First Since: Kelsey Marin’s two-goal effort against Southeastern Louisiana is the first two-goal match by a Lady Razorback since Christina Burger netted a pair against LSU in the final match of the 2005 season.
First Freshman Since: While it wasn’t so long ago that a Lady Razorback scored two goals in one game, it stands to note that Kelsey Martin is the first Arkansas freshman to score two goals in a game since Sarah Gwisdala accomplished the fact against Southern University on Sept. 12, 2004, in an 11-0 Arkansas rout.
Injuries: Following a rash of injuries to start the season, the Lady Razorbacks appear to be in much better health than they were just a few weeks ago. Those that continue to be sidelined include Megan Fawley (foot), Katie Stauffer (back), Sarah Finn (knee) and Jackie Booker (knee).
Recovering: While the Lady Razorbacks still have several key contributors on the sideline to injury, they hope to have a several back in the next two weeks. Senior Katie Stauffer’s back is getting better and could allow her to play very soon. Megan Fawley is no longer in a boot and could see action by the end of the month if all goes well. Jackie Booker’s knee injury already has her back in training mode and she could play if needed.