Women's Soccer | 8/29/2016 10:34:00 AM

Monday, August 29, 2016

PORTALES, N.M. — On Thursday afternoon, the Eastern New Mexico University women's soccer team will open its 14^th season of competition and third season of the Omar Morales era. With a strong group of returners and talented newcomers, Morales will try to get the Hounds back to the form which led to a third-place finish in the Lone Star Conference in the 2014 season.

The Greyhounds will kick off the season at Western State. The game's start time is set for 2 p.m. MT, on Thursday. There will be no need to miss any of the action in the season opener, as live statistics and a video stream will be available on the WSU website.

The Matchup
Eastern has split a pair of contests with the Mountaineers, most recently a 3-2 setback early in the 2014 season, in Denver, Colo. Thursday will mark the first time either team has hosted the other, as both previous meetings have been on neutral fields.

Last season, the Greyhounds posted a 4-14- 1 record, before they ended the season in the LSC tournament with a 1-0 setback to Texas Woman's University. Western State posted a 7-7-4 record last year, with a 4-5-2 mark in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.

Under Morales, Eastern has posted a 2-4 record against teams from the RMAC. The last time ENMU faced a RMAC team, Morgan Fairbanks scored 19:11 into the game to lift the team to a 1-0 win over New Mexico Highlands.

Morales enters his third season with a record of 13-22-1, and trails only Travis McCorkle (40-47-2) in wins at Eastern New Mexico University. The Greyhounds will be the first opponent for WSU as head coach Amy Bell enters her first year with the program. Bell became the second coach in program history, after she served as head coach at Chowan University from 2012-15.

In the Numbers
Morgan Fairbanks leads all ENMU returners with three goals last season. She most recently tallied the game-winning goal on October 13, 2015, against University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Tori Hendrickson added a pair of goals last year, which included a game-winner at Texas A&M-International. Goalkeeper Cristina Escobedo posted a 1.54 goals-against average in 12 appearances and had a shutout win over UTPB.

In 2015, WSU ranked 14^th in the nation in save percentage. Jennifer Kahle was the team's top scorer with five goals and one assist. Katie Simpson Johnson is the top returning goalkeeper, with a 0.83 goals-against average in five games last season and a 1-2-1 record.

Around the Lone Star Conference
Lone Star Conference Website
LSC Women's Soccer
LSC Schedule
LSC Statistics
LSC Standings
LSC Scoreboard

In the preseason poll, last year's LSC tournament champion, Texas A&M-Commerce was chosen to unseat defending league champion Angelo State. ENMU was chosen to place sixth in the conference.

Also set to open the season on Thursday will be Midwestern State (at Regis), UTPB (vs Lubbock Christian), Texas Woman's (at CSU-Pueblo), and West Texas A&M (at Metro State). Texas A&M-Commerce (at Florida Tech) and Angelo State (at UC-Colorado Springs) will open the season on Friday.

Mountaineer Notes
Western State Website
WSU Athletics
WSU Women's Soccer
WSU Roster
WSU Schedule
WSU 2015 Statistics

WSU established its women's soccer program in 2012. The Mountaineers are coming off a program-best seven-win season last year. Jeremy Clevenger coached the team for four years and posted a 20-38-11 record with a 10-21-8 mark in RMAC play.

Up Next
The Eastern New Mexico University women's soccer team will play three of its next four games at home. The home opener is against Fort Lewis College, next Monday at 1 p.m. The game will mark ENMU's first contest played on Al Whitehead Field at Greyhound Stadium. Later that week, the Hounds will host Adams State (Friday, 6 p.m.) and St. Mary's (Sunday, 12 p.m.). After a road trip to Colorado State-Pueblo, Eastern will return home to face University of the Southwest.