Cougars Entertain Bruins and Trojans

THIS WEEK

Washington State (10-2-3, 5-2-1 Pac-12) host UCLA (15-0-2, 7-0-1 Pac-12) and USC (10-5-2, 4-4-0 Pac-12) at Lower Soccer Field…Cougars entertain Bruins, Friday at 2 p.m…UCLA is No. 1 in Soccer America and NSCAA polls and No. 2 in RPI…Bruins leads series 15-2-4, including 6-1-1 in Pullman…Trojans visit, Sunday at 1 p.m…USC is unranked and No. 61 in RPI…Trojans lead 9-7-3…Cougars are 5-1-1 in Pullman…live stats available on wsuocougars.com…Friday’s match will be televised by Pac-12 Networks with Jason Knapp (play-by-play) and Tara Bilanski (analyst) providing the commentary…Sunday’s match will have a live webstream on wsucougars.com with Trevor Williams (play-by-play) and Jim Crawford (analyst) calling the action.

LAST WEEK

Washington State swept Colorado and Utah on the road…Cougars fell behind 1-0 to Colorado before Cara Wegner scored the equalizer in the first half…Kaitlyn Johnson provided the game-winner in the 50th minute for a 2-1 win…Johnson scored and assisted on Kourtney Guetlein’s goal in the first half at Utah for a 2-0 lead…after the Utes closed the gap to a goal, Chelsea Harkins and Jocelyn Jeffers each scored before intermission and Washington State went on to post a 4-2 victory.

WASHINGTON STATE HEAD COACH STEVE NUGENT

Cougar Head Coach Steve Nugent is in his first year at Washington State, and his fourth year overall as a head coach...owns 10-2-3 record with the Cougars and 40-25-9 overall…mentor at UNC Greensboro from 2011-13.

SETTING RECORDS

With a 1-0 victory at California, Oct. 3, Washington State tied, set or extended several records…Cougars set school record unbeaten streak at 15…extended school-record road unbeaten streak to 10 (9-0-1)…equaled best start through nine matches (set last season) at 7-0-2…tied a school record (set in 2009) with fifth-straight road win…won school-record sixth-consecutive Pac-12 road match seventh-straight Pac-12 match overall…Cougars recorded a school-record seven-consecutive clean sheets, (last three matches of 2013, first four of 2014)…did not yield a goal in school-record 798:15 before Hawaii scored in the first half, Sept. 7.

COUGARS SEEK RETURN TO POSTSEASON

Washington State has made three-straight NCAA Championship appearances, a first for the program…Cougars have made five trips to the NCAA postseason in the last six years, one of 28 schools nationally to accomplish the feat…Cougars have advanced to the second round twice in that span…last year, Washington State was eliminated by Illinois in the first round on penalty kicks to finish 14-3-4…victory total tied a school record set in 1990 and equaled in 2009.

ROAD WARRIORS

The Cougars are 7-1-1 (.833) on the road this season…school record for winning percentage on the road is .773 (7-1-3), set last season.

SHARING THE WEALTH

Eleven-different Cougars have scored a goal this season…last time Washington State had this many goal scorers in a season was 2009 when a baker’s dozen found the back of the net.

NEW CONTRIBUTIONS

Freshman Chelsea Harkins has scored two goals…freshman Jordan Branch has one goal and one assist…junior Mariah Powers, who played her freshman season at Oregon, scored her first goal as a Cougar (overtime game-winner against the Ducks)…senior Jamie Schnieders notched her first-career goal…redshirt-junior Beau Bremer is tied for the team lead in goals (three), assists (three) and points (nine) after sitting out last season…redshirt-freshman Lianna Simms recorded an assist on the equalizer of a 2-1 victory at Colorado in her collegiate debut.