Aug. 28, 2003

ABILENE, Texas - Preseason American Southwest Conference favorite Hardin-Simmons will hit the road for two tough games in the Great Northwest with Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound this weekend in Tacoma, Washington.

The Cowgirls open the season on Friday with a 6 p.m. CST game with Pacific Lutheran and follow that up with a 9 p.m. CST game with seventh-ranked Puget Sound on Saturday.

HSU opens the season with six returning starters from last season's 14-3-1 team. Leading what should be a stingy defense are All-American sweeper, Mollie Porter and junior goalkeeper, Rachel Goold. Goold is a native of Everett. Wash. and is making a homecoming. Sophomore Cathy Castagnos is the Cowgirls top returning scoring threat and will start up front.

"We are going to be extremely athletic, compared to last year," said fourth-year head coach Marcus Wood. "We have a lot of talent and this will be a couple of big tests for us against two traditionally powerful teams.

"We just want to improve because although we have some experience, we are still going to be playing seven or eight players who have never played in a college game. This team is not yet what it will be come playoff time, but we wanted to see what we have early."