Huskers Honor Cooper with 4-0 Victory

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Louisville, Ky. ? With only three days of practice under its belt, the Nebraska soccer team turned in a dominating 4-0 exhibition victory over Louisville at CardinalPark on Friday. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

In a game that honored former Husker and Louisville native Jenna Cooper, NU displayed the aggressive style of play that Cooper showed, scoring three goals and recording eight shots in the first half, while holding Louisville to only two.

 

Following a pregame ceremony that included both teams and Cooper’s family, Nebraska started quickly and never looked back. For the game, NU outshot the Cardinals 17-4 and won the corner kick battle in decisive fashion, 10-0.

 

NU Head Coach John Walker was pleased with the Huskers' effort.

 

“This was a good way to start a season,” Walker said. “We kept things fairly simple and just asked them to play hard and play together for 90 minutes and they did a pretty good job of that.

 

“There is still a lot of work to be done on a lot of things, but overall I’m happy with the team’s performance.”

 

Senior Brooke Bredenberg put NU up 1-0 in the 10th minute when she was able to control a ball in the box and find the back of the net. In her first game as a Husker, junior Sasha Andrews scored off a corner kick by sophomore Brittany Timko to extend the Nebraska lead to 2-0 just 17:45 into the game.

 

NU added one more goal in the first half when freshman Meghan Hungerford turned an Abby Penas pass into a breakaway goal after she beat Louisville's goalkeeper Meredith Miller. The goal came with just more than nine minutes left in the half and capped a superb opening 45 minutes.

 

Nebraska continued its aggressive play in the second half, posting nine shots, while limiting the Cardinals to only two. Timko added a goal at 69:46 to go along with her assist and finish with three points on the night.

 

In goal, sophomore Katie Wright recorded two saves in her shutout performance.

 

Nebraska returns to game action on Saturday, Aug. 21 when the program welcomes former Huskers back to the Abbott Sports Complex for the Alumni Game at 7 p.m. On Friday, Aug. 20, all fans are welcome to attend the annual Meet-N-Beat the Huskers event beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Abbot Sports Complex.