The Northern Arizona women's soccer team (8-10-0, 4-3 Big Sky) travels to Ogden, Utah, this week to compete in the Big Sky Tournament on the Weber State campus. NAU, the No. 3 seed, faces off against No. 2 Montana Thursday at 11 a.m. The match marks the first time in the Jacks' two-year history that they will compete in postseason play. NAU qualified for the tournament by defeating Cal State Northridge, 2-1, Friday in Flagstaff. Junior midfielder Julie Olsen scored the game-winner with 10 minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the match. Olsen's goal is her only one this season. The Jacks closed out the season at home with a 1-0 loss to Kent on Sunday.

Tournament Schedule
No. 1 seed Weber State faces off against No. 4 Eastern Washington Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The tournament's championship match will be Saturday at noon.

Travel Plans
At press time the team was en route to Odgen, Utah. The team will be headquartered at the Odgen Marriot (801-627-1190).

Gen. Custer
The second-year NAU program is under the direction of Tracy Custer (Washington State 1995), who is 11-22-0 at the school, including a 5-7-0 Big Sky Conference slate. Custer has transformed the Lumberjack program into a competitive outfit, listed as the third-most improved second-year program in Division I this season. Custer is assisted by Scott Reynolds (Boise State 1996) and graduate assistant Sarah Comeaux (Mississippi 1997).

About Montana
The Jacks have not defeated Montana (14-4-1, 6-1), posting an 0-2 all-time record. The Jacks have been unable to score against the Grizzles. NAU lost 7-0 on Oct. 18, 1998 in Missoula and 4-0 in 1997 in Flagstaff. The Grizzles closed out the regular season with seven consecutive wins. The team has six players in double-figures in points this season. Senior forward Karen Hardy leads the league with 27 points (nine goals, nine assists) with her only hat trick of the year coming in the NAU match.

About the Other Semi-finalists
The Lumberjacks have had more success against the tournament's other two
teams. NAU's all-time record against 1998 regular-season champion Weber State is 1-2. One of the losses came in a non-conference match early last season in Ogden, the second loss came in last year's 5-0 regular season finale in Flagstaff. NAU's lone win against the Wildcats came this season in Odgen, snapping the Jacks' 14-match road losing streak and Weber State's two-year home win streak as the only time they've been shut out this season. NAU lost its first meeting to Eastern Washington (4-13,3-4), 2-0, in Cheney.

Postseason Honors
Freshman forward Holly Jones was one of four freshmen and the only NAU player named to the Big Sky all-conference first team. Raegin Eyre and Erin Rummens are the only sophomores who received all-conference second team honors. Sophomore Krista Earp got an honorable mention nod for her defensive efforts.

Goalkeepers
NAU has relied on freshman goalkeepers Erin Beckman and Katie Maxwell to keep their nets clean. Beckman has started in all but one of the Jacks' matches this season, posting a 2.440 goals-against average with 106 saves. Maxwell recorded a 1.443 regular season GAA having played in nine of the Jacks' matches. Beckman earned her first solo shutout against Weber State and shares both the Portland State and Cal State Sacramento shutouts with Maxwell.

Defenders
The Jacks' goalkeepers get support from sophomore defenders Trina Green and Krista Earp. Green received honorable-mention All-Big Sky accolades last season after recording two hat tricks as a forward. Earp has started in every NAU match and has helped this year by reducing opponents shots by 20 percent and goal production by 40 percent.

The Eyre Up There
The NAU offense is lead by sophomore forward Raegin Eyre who has 25 points (10 goals, five assists) on the season. Eyre, a member of last season's all-Big Sky first team, surpassed her team leading eight goals from a year ago. Two of her goals came as game-winners in the Jacks' 3-2 double-overtime win against UC Santa Barbara and their 2-1 defeat of Boise State.

Ms. Jones
Freshman forward Holly Jones has helped by taking some of the scoring pressure off of Eyre. Jones shares the teams goal scoring lead with Eyre as well as having contibuting four assists (24 points). Five of her 10 goals have
come in conference matches, making her the most prolific scorer against league opponents. All three of her game-winners have also come against conference foes.

Second-Year Improvement
NAU has improved drastically from last season's inaugural 3-12 record and is tied with Belmont as third most improved second-year program in the NCAA posting a six-game improvement. The Jacks went 1-4 in league play last year, opposed to 4-3 this season and did not lose to a conference opponent at home this year. While the team hasn't scored a consideral amount of more goals, with 29 opposed to 23 last season, their overall scoring has been more consistent. The team, which was shutout only four times in 1998, suffered seven goose eggs a year ago.

Underclass Help
More than 40 percent of NAU's regular-season goal and point production was provided by the team's freshman class. Of goals scored by freshmen, 10 came from Holly Jones. Angie Reed and Kate Soetaert each added one. Four of the Jacks' regular starters are freshmen.