Huskers Tie in Preseason Opener

Lincoln --  Sophomore Nikki Baker notched the Huskers' only goal of the contest to lead the Nebraska soccer team in a 1-1 tie with the Canada Under-17 National Team Wednesday night at the Abbott Sports Complex.

Baker received a stellar pass from freshman Jessie Bruch before she nailed a shot from nearly 20 yards out to put NU on top 1-0 in the first minute of the second half.

Amanda Cicchini fired back and knotted the score on a short range shot that sailed wide of Nebraska goalkeeper Brooke Bredenberg and into the corner of the net at the 59:51 mark. Aysha Jamani contributed an assist on the goal.

"This was a good training exercise for both teams," Coach John Walker said. "They have two similar styles. It helped get the younger players climatized to playing at this level. They got to see what it was like to play a good team. It was a good goal by Nikki and there was good effort, but we didn't play that well."

Neither team was able to score the go-ahead goal in the final 30 minutes of the contest. Nebraska was out shot 12-8 by the U-17 team, but got closer to scoring, putting six shots on goal compared to Canada's four.

Most of the Huskers saw action after only practicing once Wednesday morning before the competition began. Freshman goalkeeper Katie Wright saw her first action of the year with almost 24 minutes remaining in the contest.

Freshmen Tanya Dennis and Brittany Timko missed the match up with their fellow Canadians due to Canada team obligations. Dennis is playing with Canada in the Pan American Games and Timko is in training camp with the Canada Women's National Team.

Baker and sophomore Vern Fitzgerald each had two shot each for NU, while three players for the U-17 team got off three a piece.

Bredenberg posted three saves to Elizabeth Cook's five for Canada.

Nebraska will return to the practice field for the next eight days before taking on Denver in their final exhibition game Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Abbott Sports Complex. They will also host the annual Meet N Beat the Huskers, Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Abbott Sports Complex.