Aug. 12, 2006

FORT WORTH, Texas - As the first week of practice comes to a halt on Saturday, head coach Dan Abdalla has been happy with what he has seen so far.

"We are healthy because the kids came in relatively fit and I'm pretty pleased with how everything has blended together," Abdalla said. "We have a good mix of rookies and veterans and it has been very helpful."

With 10 freshmen joining the squad, Abdalla said the transition has been going well.

"The entire freshmen group has done a great job," Abdalla said. "Michelle Nguyen continues to impress us. Kelly Faerber has done a dynamite job and Lizzy Karoly has continued to keep it going. Both of the freshmen goalkeepers, Kelsey Vross and Kayde Bowman, are a little banged with injures, but they both have shown great potential. A couple of the other freshmen need to get fitter, but as a group, they have done very well."

With the preseason opener at Oklahoma on Tuesday, practices have shifted more towards game preparation with less focus on the basics of fitness and fundamentals.

"We've started to move into more of the team stuff and started to give the girls a better feel for what they are going to see on the field," Abdalla said. "We will continue to do that and have them play more and more as we move towards Tuesday's match."

The Horned Frogs have practiced the entire week with temperatures well into the 100s and Abdalla looks at the conditions as an advantage.

"We look at it as more of an advantage and hope to use it as an advantage when we are playing afternoon games in September," Abdalla said. "We have great chemistry and the group has kind of embraced it and they don't look at is a bad thing because it will make them stronger and more fit down the road."

TCU begins its preseason schedule on Aug. 15 when the Horned Frogs travel to Norman, Okla., to face the Sooners at 3 p.m.