Aug. 25, 2003
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Houston vs. North Texas, Friday, 4:30 p.m.
Baylor vs. Eastern Washington, Friday, 7 p.m.
Eastern Washington vs. Houston, Sunday, 4:30 p.m.
Baylor vs. North Texas, Sunday, 7 p.m.
all games at Betty Lou Mays Field
For the fifth straight year, the Bears open their home regular season by hosting the Baylor Labor Day Classic. Baylor has compiled a 6-1-1 record in the three previous classics, losing only to then-No. 21 Arizona State in 2001.
The games will mark the Baylor debut of new head coach George Van Linder, who came to Baylor in December after four successful years at SMU. In those four years, Van Linder led the Mustangs to four straight conference titles and three NCAA appearances.
Joining Baylor at this season's Baylor Labor Day Classic are Eastern Washington, Houston and North Texas. The Bears face the Eagles Friday at 7 p.m. and the Mean Green Sunday at 7 p.m.
Houston plays North Texas Friday at 4:30 p.m., and Eastern Washington plays Houston Sunday at 4:30 p.m. All games will be played at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field.
Last Time Out - 2002 Season Recap
In the end, the Baylor soccer team just couldn't get over the hump in 2002. After a strong start to the season, the Bears slumped mightily during conference play. Baylor finished with an 8-9-2 record, but just 2-6-2 in Big 12 play.
After the season, head coach Nick Cowell tendered his resignation. Just after Christmas, George Van Linder was introduced as the Bears' new skipper. Van Linder comes to Baylor from SMU, where he had piloted the Lady Mustangs to three NCAA appearances and four straight conference titles.
Van Linder inherits an experienced but young team that was led in 2002 by a freshman and two sophomores. Second-year player Kristin Ruef topped the Bears in goals with seven, and she tied redshirt freshman Tiffany Boshers for the team lead in points with 15. Sophomore Ginny Rosario-Tull, the Bears' top scorer in 2001, finished third on the team in 2002 with 11 points. Junior Candace Reilly led the Bears with four assists.
After an impressive 6-1 start to the season that tied the 1999 Baylor squad for the best start under Cowell, the Bears ran aground when conference play began. Baylor never quite seemed to be able to put it all together. The team's talent was displayed the weekend of Oct. 11-13, when the Bears tied sixth-ranked Texas A&M and narrowly lost on the road to third-ranked Texas. Baylor led 1-0 at the half in both games, but couldn't close out either game. The Aggies forced overtime by scoring with just five minutes left in the game. Two days later, Baylor led for 60 minutes before Texas scored three late goals for the victory.
For the second straight year, the Bears struggled to find consistency at goalkeeper. Redshirt freshman Mel Pannell, expected to start the year in goal, reinjured her shoulder and eventually retired. True freshman Tanya Sena stepped in and started nine games while battling three separate thumb injuries. In September, the Bears got a boost when junior Monica Housden transferred in from North Texas. Housden started 10 games, including seven in conference play. She also received an invitation to train with the Mexico National Women's Team.
Year-end highlights included senior defender Tamura Crawley earning her fourth-straight all-Big 12 selection and senior Whitney Barrett earning a nod on the Academic All-America third team. Eight Bears were named to the Academic All-Big 12 first team, the best total in program history, and three of those (Barrett, Emily Fukuchi and Melissa Humke) were named to the Academic All-District VI teams.
Van Linder was named head coach on Dec. 27, becoming the third head coach in Baylor soccer program history. At SMU, his teams finished in the Top 25 three times and compiled a four-year mark of 59-21-10 (.711 percent) and a conference record of 24-3-2 (.862).
In 2002, Van Linder took the Lady Mustangs to a 13-6-4 record and to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, as well as a WAC championship. SMU finished with a No. 20 national ranking by NSCAA.
Van Linder was named the 2000 WAC coach of the year and in 1999 led SMU to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and a No. 17 national ranking.
Baylor Picked 10th in Big 12 in Preseason Poll
Baylor was picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 Conference this season as the league's coaches compiled their annual preseason poll. Texas was picked to win the 2003 Big 12 title, followed by defending conference champion Texas A&M and defending conference tournament champion Nebraska. Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Iowa State placed ahead of the Bears, with Texas Tech rounding out the field in 11th place.
The Bears finished the 2002 season in 10th place in the Big 12.
Working Their Way Up the Charts
Several Bears are aiming to continue making their ways up the leaderboards in the Baylor recordbook in 2003. Most impressively, senior Emily Fukuchi begins the year ranked fourth in school history in career goals and tied for fifth in career points. Juniors April Robertson, Ginny Rosario-Tull and Kristin Ruef have already impacted the leaderboards, as well.
Notable records:
Career Points: Emily Fukuchi (t-5th, 33), Ginny Rosario-Tull (7th, 30)
Career Shots: Ginny Rosario-Tull (5th, 92), Candace Reilly (8th, 82)
Career Goals: Emily Fukuchi (4th, 13), Ginny Rosario-Tull (5th, 12), April Robertson (t-6th, 9), Kristin Ruef (t-6th, 9)
Career Multi-Goal Games: Emily Fukuchi (t-4th, 2), April Robertson (t-4th, 2), Ginny Rosario-Tull (t-4th, 2)
Career Multi-Assist Games: Ryan Lee (t-4th, 2), Emily Fukuchi (t-5th, 1), Kate Hensman (t-5th, 1) Kristin Ruef (t-5th, 1)
Career Game-Winning Goals: Emily Fukuchi (t-4th, 4)
Career Game-Winning Assists: Candace Reilly (6th, 4), Emily Fukuchi (t-7th, 3)
Bears in the Pros
Former Baylor all-America goalkeeper Dawn Greathouse completed her third season as a member of the Woman's United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2003. Greathouse, an all-American for Baylor in 1998, spent all of 2001 and part of 2002 season with the Washington Freedom. She appeared in five games for the Freedom early in the season, but was released and signed by the San Jose Cyber Rays, with whom she completed the rest of the season. Greathouse spent all of 2003 with San Jose, appearing in two games.
Greathouse is one of three Baylor-related players to have participated in the WUSA's first two seasons. Courtney Saunders, a1998 all-American at Baylor, spent the inaugural season with the Philadelphia Charge, while former assistant coach Rebecca Hornbacher was a member of the Boston Breakers in 2001.
Head Coach George Van Linder
George Van Linder is in his first season as head coach of the Baylor women's soccer program in 2003.
He comes to Baylor from SMU, where he led the Lady Mustangs to four straight conference championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. Under Van Linder, SMU finished in the Top 25 three times and compiled a four-year mark of 59-21-10 (.711) and a conference record of 24-3-2 (.862).
In 2002, SMU finished with a 13-6-4 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, as well as winning its fourth-consecutive WAC championship. The Mustangs finished the year with a No. 20 national ranking by the NSCAA.
Van Linder was named the 2000 WAC coach of the year after leading the Mustangs to a 13-5-1 record and their second-straight conference title.
In 1999 he led SMU to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and a No. 17 national ranking with a final record of 17-6-1. For his team's outstanding accomplishments, Van Linder was tabbed Central Region Coach of the Year by Soccer Buzz at the conclusion of the season.
Prior to his stint at SMU, Van Linder spent five seasons at Butler, the final three (1996-1998) as head coach of the women's program. He was named the 1996 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year after he led Butler to the MCC regular-season and tournament championships. The Bulldogs were ranked No. 22 in the final poll, the highest national ranking in program history.
Van Linder also has worked extensively with the Olympic Development Program. He coached the Indiana youth squad from 1994-98. He spent 1999 and 2000 working with the North Texas ODP team. Van Linder led the 2000 squad to a second-place finish at the national championships. With his proven success as an ODP coach, Van Linder has spent the last four years working with the top high school players in the Southeast as the Region III Olympic Development Staff Coach.
Van Linder is a native of Galesburg, Mich., and a 1990 graduate of Western Michigan University where he played on the soccer team for two seasons. He and his wife, Chris, are expecting their first child early in the soccer season.
Van Linder Adds Pair of Assistant Coaches
Head coach George Van Linder added two other new faces to the Baylor coaching staff for this season with the hiring of assistant coaches Jean Delaski and Mario Rincon.
Delaski comes to Baylor from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, where she served as head women's soccer coach for five seasons. During that time, she led the Jaguars to four conference tournament appearances. Delaski was named Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year in 2000.
Prior to her time at IUPUI, Delaski played four seasons at Butler University (1993-1996), where she first played under Van Linder as a senior. A four-year starter, Delaski was a first-team all-Midwest Collegiate Conference defender in 1995 and helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back MCC titles in 1995 and 1996. Delaski spent the 1997 season as a graduate assistant at Butler under Van Linder before taking the head job at IUPUI.
Delaski also has worked as an assistant coach for the Indiana Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program from 1997-2002 and served as director of the IUPUI Soccer Camp for three years. She played in the women's USISL pro league for the W-1 Jackson Calypso during the summers of 1997 and 1998. During the summer of 1999, she competed with the Indiana Blaze.
Rincon joins the Baylor program from Duke, where he spent the 2002 season as an assistant with the Blue Devil women's soccer team. At Duke, Rincon's responsibilities included recruiting, scouting, travel and working with the team's goalkeepers. His 2002 Blue Devil recruiting class was ranked eighth in the nation.
Prior to Duke, Rincon spent one year as an assistant with the Miami women's soccer program. His coaching resume also includes three years as a women's assistant at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., three years as head boys' coach at Pope John Paul II High School in Boca Raton, and years of club coaching with the Team Boca Soccer Club. Additionally, Rincon has worked as a member of the Olympic Development Staff in Florida (1997-2000, 2001-2002) and in North Carolina (2002-2003).
Rincon also served one year as a team administrator and scout for Major League Soccer's New York/New Jersey Metrostars. During that time, he assisted in evaluation for the MLS draft and advance scouting, as well as coordinating the team's travel arrangements.
Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field
The 2003 season marks the fifth year for the Baylor soccer team at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field. The former Baylor Soccer Stadium was retitled during the 2000 season in honor of the late Betty Lou Mays of Amarillo, Texas. Mrs. Mays was the wife of Troy Mays, a 1945 graduate of Baylor; the two were longtime supporters of Baylor athletics.
The stadium seats 3,000 fans, making it the largest soccer-only facility in the Big 12. Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field is is set in the plush backdrop of the Brazos River on University Parks Drive. The field is part of the Jim and Julie Turner Riverfront Athletic Park, which includes the Baylor Ballpark, Getterman Stadium and the Baylor Tennis Center. All four venues share the parking lot with the Ferrell Special Events Center.
