WASHINGTON, D.C. - Jordan Brown scored four goals and Owyn Manson added three as the Howard University women’s soccer team blanked Columbia Union, 9-0 in a women’s soccer exhibition at Greene Stadium.

Brown and Manson are both forwards who figure to be keys in the Lady’s Bison quest to improve on last season’s record and make a strong push to be among the elite teams in the Great West Conference under second year head Brent Leiba.

“This was a good opportunity for us to see where we are before we play our season opener,” said Leiber.  “I was a little disappointed with our first half play, but we did a much better job in the second half of executing what we wanted to do.  It’s a good start, but we have a lot of work to do.”

Howard finished 5-11-2 in 2009 and showed improvement under Leiba down the stretch, advancing to the semifinal round of the Great West Conference tournament before losing.  The Lady Bison are picked to finish second behind New Jersey Institute of Technology in the East Division of the conference.

“We made a very strong effort to improve in a lot of areas during the offseason,” said Leiba, a former standout at George Mason University.  “We had a fine recruiting class, we put a lot of emphasis on off-season conditioning and we put in some concepts that allow for us to be more effective in our overall approach.  We are progressing and I am pleased.”

Howard opens regular season play on Sunday against the Lady Owls of Temple in Philadelphia, PA at 1 pm.  The Lady Bison will then turn around and play their home opener on Wednesday, August 25 against George Mason at 7 pm in Greene Stadium.