The Washington State soccer team begins its 2016 campaign by hosting No. 16 BYU Friday at 7 p.m. at Lower Soccer Field. The game will be televised by Pac-12 Network.The Cougars finished last season with a 14-6 mark and a fifth-straight appearance at the NCAA Championship. Last season BYU posted a 16-3-2 record, winning the West Coast Conference title and reaching the second round of the NCAA Championship.

WASHINGTON-BYU: THE SERIES
Washington State is 2-3-2 all-time against BYU. In the last meeting the two teams played to a 0-0 tie in 2014. The last meeting in Pullman, 2009, WSU came away with a 2-1 victory.

COUGARS READY FOR 2016 SEASON
Washington State returns 17 student-athletes, including 15 letterwinners and eight starters from its 2015 squad...the Cougars return senior Kaitlyn Johnson, who led the 2015 team with seven goals and six assists...the Cougars also welcome back redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Ella Dederick, who tallied 99 saves, the most by a WSU 'keeper since 2008.

WASHINGTON STATE IN THE RANKINGS
The Cougars entered the week receiving votes in the NSCAA Coaches' poll…Washington State was named the 23th-best team in the country by HeroSports.com.

NEXT WEEK
WSU will host No. 21 Santa Clara at Lower Soccer Field, Thursday, Aug. 25, before traveling to Spoakne to face Gonzaga Sunday, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. The Cougars are 0-7-1 all-time against Santa Clara and hold a 3-0-1 advantage in the all-time series against Boise State. 

WASHINGTON STATE HEAD COACH TODD SHULENBERGER
Cougar Head Coach Todd Shulenberger is in his second year at Washington State…In 2015 Shulenberger became the seventh head coach in program history after spending the previous two seasons as the associate head coach at Texas Tech…last season the Cougars reached the NCAA Championship for the fifth-straight season and finished with a 14-6 record.

COUGARS SEEK RETURN TO POSTSEASON
Washington State has made five-straight NCAA Championship appearances, a first for the program…the Cougars have made seven trips to the NCAA postseason in the last eight years...the Cougars haveadvanced to the second round twice in that span…last year, Washington State fell to Northwestern in the first round in double overtime to finish 14-6.

ALL-REGION HONORS
Last season four Cougars earned NSCAA All-Pacific Region Awards, the most for WSU in program history...two of those honorees, Kaitlyn Johnson and Ella Dederick, return for the Cougars this season.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Cougars found most of their success away from the Palouse last season…WSU boasted a 9-1 overall record and a perfect 6-0 record in Pac-12 play on the road during the regular season…the Cougars were perfect on the road in conference play for the first time since 2000 (4-0-0)…Washington State tallied 19 of its 34 goals in away matches, while allowing eight goals.

COUGS PLACE FOUR ON ALL-PAC-12 TEAMS
Washington State garnered four selections on the 2015 All-Pac-12 teams…senior captain Kourtney Guetlein led the Cougars with a first team selection, the first of her career…junior Kaitlyn Johnson joined the All-Pac-12 Second Team, as the Cougars' leader in goals (7), assists (6), points (20), and game-winning goals (4)…senior Cara Wegner was named to the honorable mention team…and freshman Ella Dederick rounded out the WSU honors, selected to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.

WSU FINISHES THIRD IN PAC-12 CONFERENCE
The Cougars concluded the 2015 regular season in third place in the Pac-12 Conference…the Cougars have finished in the top three spots of the conference two of the past three seasons…WSU's record was unblemished on the road in conference play with six wins, 13 goals for, and four goals against…Washington State was picked to finish in ninth place in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches' Poll.

WSU TIED FOR SINGLE-SEASON WIN RECORD
With their win over Washington, Nov. 5, the Cougars register their 14th win of the season, tied for the highest single-season total in program history…WSU's win total of 14 victories was achieved three previous times…Previously, Washington State boasted 14 wins in the 2013 season when it finished second in the Pac-12, and also accomplished the feat in 1990 and 2009.

WSU BREAKS SEASON ATTENDANCE RECORD
Throughout the 2015 home schedule at Lower Soccer Field, WSU drew a school-record 11,177 fans…the mark breaks the previous program record of 7,295 (2014) by nearly 4,000 fans…Cougar fans have now bested the cumulative attendance record for three-straight seasons.

SOCCER FANS FLOCK TO LOWER SOCCER FIELD
When the Cougars welcomed Arizona to Lower Soccer Field, Oct. 16, 2015, there were 2,251 fans in attendance…the number set a school record for the largest crowd to attend a match at Lower Soccer Field, besting the previous record by nearly 600 people (1,652 vs. UCLA, Oct. 14, 2011)…WSU has established a reputation as a soccer hotspot, having drawn four of the six largest crowds in school history during the 2015 season.