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Sept. 10, 2007

CANYON, Texas - West Texas A&M women's soccer head coach Butch Lauffer recorded his 150th career win this weekend when the Lady Buffs defeated St. Mary's, 2-0, at The Pitch Saturday afternoon. Lauffer started the women's soccer program at WTAMU in 1996 and since then, he has coached the Lady Buffs to 10 or more wins in all but one season. Lauffer's overall record with the women is now 150-54-10 (.724).

"So many people contributed to this accomplishment - coaches, players, administration - it's not just me," Lauffer said. "But this is a validation of my work and what we all have been trying to do here."

One of the people who has helped Lauffer reach the 150 win mark is assistant coach Chad Webb, who has been a member of the coaching staff for 10 years. Webb played for the Buffaloes from 1992-1995 then was a student assistant for one season and a graduate assistant for four seasons before accepting his current full-time position.

Over the course of the past 11 years, the women have won either the Lone Star Conference regular season or Tournament title six times, winning both in 2001. That same year, the Lady Buffs made their first-ever NCAA-II National Tournament appearance. WTAMU made a second consecutive NCAA-II National Tournament appearance in 2002 after winning their second-straight LSC regular season crown. Three seasons ago, the Lady Buffs won their third consecutive LSC Championship and made the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Finals.

Lauffer has coached two players to All-American status; Kathy Clutterbuck became the first women's soccer honoree when she was named to the third team in 2001, followed by Sarit Shenar earning first team honors in 2004 and third team honors in 2006. Shenar was also named to the Academic All-American Second Team in 2006.

A number of international players have also come to Canyon to be a part of Lady Buffs soccer; currently, the team has many players who also have played for their senior national teams, including Miriam Dominguez (Mexico), Nadia James (Trinidad & Tobago), Elisabeth Markussen (Denmark), Jenelle Nedd (Trinidad & Tobago), and Adi Stein (Israel).

In Saturday's win, junior forward Markussen scored both goals for WTAMU; the first was unassisted while the second came off of a through-ball from sophomore midfielder Stein that split the Rattler defense.

"The jury is still out on this year's team because we haven't played any conference games yet," Lauffer said. "But their cohesiveness and unselfishness so far has shown their potential to be special."