Four Longhorns tabbed Preseason All-Big 12 performers
AUSTIN, Texas -- One week prior to starting the 2004 campaign, The University of Texas women's soccer team was not only picked in a poll of the Big 12 head coaches to finish second in the league, but also garnered a No. 8 national ranking from Soccer Buzz and had four of its student-athletes earn Preseason All-Big 12 accolades on Wednesday, Aug. 18. While UT placed second to only Texas A&M in the preseason Big 12 coaches poll with 75 points and one first-place vote and was one of five league teams included on Soccer Buzz's top 30 preseason poll (A&M - 4th, Kansas - 11th, Colorado - 17th and Nebraska - 26th), the four Preseason All-Big 12 honors received by Longhorns in a vote of the Big 12 head coaches marked the most for any conference school. Included in that group were defenders Charisse Co (Spring, Texas) and Laura Kram (Wildwood, Mo.) as well as sophomore midfielder Nikki Thaden (Clive, Iowa) and senior forward Kelly McDonald (Littleton, Colo.). Of note, the preseason All-Big 12 accolades mark the second of their careers for both Kram and McDonald and the first for both Co and Thaden. A 2003 NSCAA All-American, McDonald matched her own single-season school record for goals with a club-high 14 one year ago en route to pacing the Horns in scoring with 32 points and ranking second in both goals and points among league players. Meanwhile, Thaden pulled in Big 12 All-Newcomer Team honors in 2003 after tying for second on the club in scoring with 18 points and the duo of Kram and Co were staples on a Longhorns defensive unit that posted seven shutouts last season.
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