Aug. 27, 2001

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Samford at #11 Texas A&M
Aggie Field, College Station, Texas
Aug. 31, 7:30 p.m.

Dog Bites:
The Bulldogs enter the 2001 season returning six starters from last season's 8-8-1 team. The Bulldogs have a senior in goal and two juniors on defense but the rest of the team will be very young. The Bulldogs have two seniors, three juniors, seven sophomores, and 12 freshmen on the roster entering the fifth year of the program's existence.

Texas A&M:
The 11th ranked Aggies are coming off an 11-0 win over Tulsa in the last exhibition game. A&M scored 10 first half goals and had eight different players scored against Tulsa including a hat trick by Lindsey Johnson. The Aggies are picked to finish second in the Big 12 behind Nebraska and had four players Nicky Thrasher, Esther Thompson, Kristen Strutz and Adrienne Dillard on the Big 12 preseason all-conference team.

Dogs in Brazil:
Samford returned from a preseason training session in Brazil on Sunday. The Bulldogs went 6-4 over the 10 matches including a 2-1 win over Santos to finish the trip. Samford scored 16 goals in the ten games. Hayley Kolb had four goals, Lisa Stucki and Lindsay Shanks each scored three times for the Bulldogs. SU freshmen accounted for 10 of the 16 goals.

Homecoming:
Texas is represented more than any other state on the Samford roster as five Bulldogs call the Lone Star State home. Junior Sara Litteken hails from Wichita Falls, sophomore Kelly Christoffer and freshman Kathy Nichols both attended Colleyville HS near Dallas, sophomore Hayley Kolb is from Gunter and freshman Adrianna Zertuche is from Houston. The Bulldogs have four players each from Alabama and Florida, three from Indiana, two from Georgia, Tennessee, and Washington and one each from Ohio and Virginia.

On The Watch:
Sophomore Hayley Kolb scored nine goals as a freshman and enters her sophomore campaign seventh on the all-time goals scored list. Senior goalkeeper Carrie Ollom is 25-24-4 in net for the Bulldogs. She holds all of Samford's goalkeeping records.

Season Openers:
The Bulldogs are 2-2 in season openers after falling to Mississippi State to start the 2000 season. Samford is 1-1 when opening the season on the road. Texas A&M is the first ranked opponent the Bulldogs have ever played.

Series History:
Samford has never faced Texas A&M. The Bulldogs are 1-1 all time against teams from Texas having split two games with Southwest Texas the last two seasons. The Aggies are also the first Big 12 opponent the Bulldogs have faced.

Up Next:
Samford will be on road again on Sept. 4, when the Bulldogs play at Montevallo. The Bulldogs are 2-1 all-time against the Falcons.