Soccer Looks For First NCAA Tournament Win On Friday

Courtesy: University of North Texas
Release: 11/10/2005

College Station, Texas (11/10/05) - The North Texas soccer team takes on SMU in the first round of the NCAA Tournamenton Friday at 5 pm. It marks a rematch of the two teams from earlier in the year when North Texas defeated the Mustangs 3-1 in Dallas.

North Texas is looking for its first ever-win the NCAA Tournament. The Mean Green is the second seed in the College Station Regional along with top seed Texas A&M, third seed SMU, and the fourth-seed Northwestern State. Northwestern State takes on Texas A&M in the other game, and the two winners will meet on Sunday at 2 p.m


Courtesy University of North Texas

The Series With SMU

North Texas beat SMU 3-1 on Sept. 4 in Dallas as sophomore forward Heather Hutyra recorded a hat trick in the win. Goalkeeper Kandice Ellis made a career-high 11 saves in the match. SMU leads the all-time series with North Texas 5-3-1, but the two teams have split the last five matches evenly at 2-2-1. The two teams have three common opponents this season in Houston, UTEP, and Rice. North Texas went 1-1-1 against the three teams while SMU was 2-1 against the three teams. This will be the first time that the two teams have met in the post-season.

Hutyra’s Recording Breaking Year

Sophomore forward Heather Hutyra’s 2005 season will go down in the record books. Her 20 goals rank sixth in school history while the 47 points she has amassed are tied for fifth in school history. She is only the fourth player in school history to score 20 goals in a single season. Her awards this season have been numerous. She was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, the SBC Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, was named to the all-tournament team and was a first-team all-conference selection for the second straight season. She ranks sixth in the nation in goals and goals per game, and eighth in the country in points per game. She is one of only six players in the nation to score 20 goals this season.

The Winning Continues

The 2005 season will go down as the winningest season in North Texas history. The Mean Green has tied the school record with 16 wins, and no matter what happens in the NCAA tournament North Texas will have the best winning percentage in school history. The Mean Green has won 11 of its last 12 games and has lost only once in their past 19 games.

UNT soccer team is model for success

Depth of area talent has helped put team on the map, set an example


10:27 PM CST on Thursday, November 10, 2005

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

DENTON – Rick Villarreal asked his coaches to follow a plan when he took over as North Texas athletic director a little more than four years ago.

Villarreal challenged North Texas teams to mine the area for talent, develop dominant programs in the Sun Belt Conference and be competitive regionally.

Villarreal would like to see all UNT teams model the soccer team.

Under coach John Hedlund, the Mean Green won the Sun Belt Conference title and earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the second straight season with a roster featuring 18 Dallas-area players. UNT (16-3-2) plays SMU (14-4-2) in the first round of the College Station Regional at 5 p.m. today.

"John understands our expectations," Villarreal said. "His ladies are always among the highest rated academic teams that we have, and he has been to the conference tournament finals six straight times. He creates an atmosphere that creates success."

UNT has won four consecutive Sun Belt football titles, but the Mean Green has won once in four trips to the New Orleans Bowl and has lost its last 10 nonconference games.

The UNT soccer team has overcome the nonconference hurdle and has quickly gained national recognition. The Mean Green, which has knocked off a pair of NCAA Tournament qualifiers and regional rivals in SMU and Rice this season, is ranked No. 15 in the central region by Soccer Buzz magazine and No. 36 in topdrawersoccer.com's national poll.

UNT ranks ahead of SMU, Illinois and Cal State Fullerton nationally and ahead of both Oklahoma State and Missouri in the regional poll. The Mean Green is 2-1 against teams in the NCAA Tournament field.

"I have always had a firm belief that we could get the best local kids," Hedlund said. "It's always a challenge. We have our wars for players with SMU and Big 12 schools, but the depth in Dallas is so superior that we get good players."

Sophomore forward Heather Hutyra of Fort Worth Western Hills finished the regular season tied for sixth among NCAA leaders with a 1.0 goals-per-game average. Former UNT greats Marilyn Marin and Melinda Pina also ranked among the nation's top players during their careers that ended in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

"John is such a good coach, and all of his teams are successful," sophomore midfielder Dani Slavonic said. "That has attracted a lot of attention and players to the team."

Hedlund played for the Dallas Sidekicks during a 12-year professional career and started the UNT women's program from scratch in 1995. A little more than a decade later, he ranks 14th among active NCAA women's soccer coaches with a .707 winning percentage.

"We keep pushing the ceiling every year," UNT midfielder Kristen Campbell said. "Now that we are going back to the NCAA Tournament for the second time, we want to take that next step and win a game."

OUCH. UNT loses 3-0 to arch-rival SMU in NCAA opening round :bang: Poor timing for payback for earlier 3-1 Mean Green win at SMU. :bang: