May 9, 2006--We are in the process of wrapping up the 05-06 school year and have completed our spring training sessions and are nearly done with building our incoming class of freshmen.  Hopefully the work our team has done here on campus lifting weights and getting some quality work in on the field.  We were a bit thin this spring with a couple of athletes studying abroad and a few more unable to train consisently due to heavy academic course work this semester.  Yet, I think those people who put in the work this spring will be better off come the fall.

In terms of recruiting, I think we have built a very solid class of girls who are going to help us in the fall and for the next few seasons.  I am excited about them and here is a little bit about each:

Kelsey Hogan--(Defender/Livonia, MI/Ann Arbor Arsenal FC) She has played for a very good club in Michigan and in the Michigan ODP program until she seriously injured her knee.  She has worked very hard to overcome the injury and is now back to 100% and eager to come on board and help us out.  She is a tough defender and can play as either a center back or on the left side.  She is a very solid athlete and will bring some size and toughness to our group of defenders.

Erin Kugler--(Midfielder/Peoria, IL/Sporting FC)  We're adding a very capable central midfield player in Erin.  She is a very good technician and passes the ball very well.  At Notre Dame High School, she is currently helping her team to an excellent spring season.  Following in the footsteps of another PND graduate (Lyndsay O'Brien), she will be a nursing major and hopefully bring the same impact to the team as did Lyndsay!  Erin says, "Illinois Wesleyan has the perfect mix of academics and athletics. That was the main reason I chose the school and after visiting and going to camp, I knew that I wanted to be a part of the team and attend IWU."

Carlie Mangieri--(Midfielder-Forward/Galesburg, IL)  Carlie has played club soccer with the Peoria SC and Sporting FC, and was named All-Conference again in 2006.  Also a very good swimmer, Carlie is a good athlete who I think will most be able to help us as a wide midfielder or a striker.  However, her versatility will be an asset and it remains to be seen where exactly will be her best position in college.

Emily Marcheschi--(Forward/Hinsdale, IL/Hawks SC)  I have a good feeling that Emily may emerge as quite a find for us.  She attended our soccer camp last summer and fell in love with IWU.  She attended Nazareth Academy and is currently leading her team in scoring this year despite playing through injury.  She was an All-Sectional selection in 2005 and seems on that path again this year.   She is tough and LOVES soccer.  She'll work really hard and once she settles I hope she'll be able to help us replace the scoring punch we lost through graduation last season.

Lindsay Norton--(Defender/Earlville, IL)  Lindsay is an interesting story in that she is from a small town that did not offer girls soccer in high school.  So, she played, started for, and was all-conference for the BOYS team!  She is a defender by trade and played stopper for her high school team.  She made the team for the Rockford Dactyls but could not play due to the fact that she also plays firstbase for her high school softball team.  I don't know much about her other than she is a tough competitor who managed to more than hold her own with high school boys.  I am looking forward to seeing her play with and against other females! Lindsay says of her college choice: "Illinios Wesleyan provided what I was looking for in a school.  It has a great program for my intended major, a comfortable campus atmosphere, and a good atheletics program.  I am thrilled to be able to be a part of all three things I have mentioned!"

NEW ADDITION!
Alexa Nosek--(Defender/Geneva, IL/Windy City Pride FC)  Alexa is a versatile player with excellent club and high school experience.  For her club, Alexa was able to gain valuable experience playing on the Pride elite team at a variety of positions.  For Benet Academy, she is primarily a defender, having played as a defensive midfielder and this year as a sweeper.  She possesses more of a defensive mentality which is a great asset to the depth of our group of backs we have already in the team.  However,  her technical ability and willingness to play where ever she is needed are strengths coming into a new environment.

Elizabeth Sinclair--(Midfielder-Forward/Peoria, IL/Sporting FC)  Elizabeth is a very good athlete having played three varsity sports at Richwoods High School.  She was also an all-conference cross country runner and a basketball player for a State Champion team.  In high school, she has been all-conference and a captain for two seasons.  She is a tough player who is strong and physical, but also has a very good touch on the ball.  I envision her playing either as a striker or attacking midfield for us and challenging for time right away in the fall.  Here are some comments from Elizabeth about why she chose IWU:
"Though IWU wasn't one of the first schools I looked at, when it came time to check out the campus and the soccer program, I knew I would become a Titan.  I choose IWU becuase the team and coaches are wonderful people and were very welcoming."

Christine Szukalla--(Defender-Midfielder/Mt. Prospect, IL/American Soccer Club)  Christine is a quick, hard-working athlete who can play a variety of positions, although most likely will be a wide player either in midfield or in the back.  She is the captain of her high school team this spring and will add some speed and athleticism to our squad.  Christine says of her decision to attend IWU: "I choose to attend Illinois Wesleyan because of a combination of opportunities academically and athletically. In terms of soccer, I knew that at Wesleyan I could continue to improve and reach my full potential. It was a great opportunity that I could not pass up".
 

Beth Talentowski--(Forwad/Midfielder/LaGrange, IL/Windy City Pride FC)  Beth's versatility and soccer brain are her best attributes.  She is a central midfielder for a very good high school team at Lyons Township, and has played forward and defender with her club.  She is also very competitive and loves to play.  I think she is going to really challenge for playing time right away and will be difficult to keep off the field.  She has been seeing a lot of minutes as a striker this spring during the high school season and doing very well playing that spot.  Beth will be a very useful player either at the striker position or in midfield.  Beth says of her choice of IWU: "Illinois Wesleyan University has the perfect balance between acedemics and athletics that I was looking for.  It has a strong acedemic reputation and soccer program.  This and the welcoming atmosphere made it clear that IWU was the right fit for me."
 

NEW ADDITION!
Patty Troxell--(Defender/Lakewood, IL/Crystal Lake Central HS) Patty is a late addition to the incoming group of athletes.  She was a two-sport athlete in high school (cross country and soccer) and has captained her team to the playoffs this spring.  Her coach believes she is a very good athlete and is one of the fittest players he has coached (obviously the x-c background helps that out!).  Adding another defender to the mix is always a bonus, and I am confident she'll make a very positive impression on the team come August 18. Comment from Patty: "Illinois Wesleyan is a school that offers both competitive sports and academics.  Its status as a D-III school creates an environment favorable to academic focus while still providing the opportunity to participate in athletics on a higher level.  The Titan soccer program is very prestigious, with a showing at the NCAA Division III tournament in 2005.  Coach Barrett has been very helpful and open to all of my questions and the players are warm and inviting. I am excited to have the opportunity to play for Illinois Wesleyan University!"

If there are any other updates I will post them as they happen.  Go Titans!
 
 

December 21, 2005--With the calendar year quickly drawing to a close, it always provides an opportunity to reflect on the year that was.  2005 was, for the Titan women's soccer team, a year to remember.

This year was one of firsts for the program, beginning with our first foreign tour of Italy back in March.  Everyone who traveled had a wonderful time sightseeing and playing three games against Italian professional women's teams.  The trip was memorable for the things we saw, things we did, and relationships that were strengthened over the 10 days of travel.

The trip doubtless had a positive effect on the team's approach to the fall.  We welcomed into the team a very strong freshman class who quickly were acclimatized to the Titan soccer way.  Four of the members of the Class of 2009 were in the starting 11 for much of the season, with another 2-3 playing key roles off the reserves bench.  Blending their abilities with those of our returning players proved to be quite a potent combination, as the team was a fixture in the national and regional rankings for most of the season.  The highlight of the year was our first appearance in the NCAA tournament and while we were "one and done" I think it was a very important accomplishment for the program.  A milestone like reaching the NCAA's for the first time can only serve as motivation for the returning players and help out in the recruiting process.  For the past couple of years I have been trying to communicate to prospective Titan players that we are ambitious and annually competing for conference and national championships are goals we have for our program.  Until this year, I don't know if the team actually understood what it meant to play in the NCAA tournament.  However, I think they know now and it will be important for them to communicate this to the members of the Titan Soccer Class of 2010 next fall.

Several of our players were honored with post season conference and regional awards.  Seven members of the team were either first or second team All-CCIW.  The first teamers were:  Katie Kelly (4th year on the first team), Katie Korder, Lyndsay O'Brien, and Ashley Goergen.  Second team honorees were Mary Karson, Caroline Leighton, and Brittany Kirkpatrick.  Katie Kelly picked up her third All-Central Region award (2nd team), and Mary Karson was selected to the All-Central Region 3rd team.

Team awards were handed out at our annual banquet in December.  Our team Most Valuable Player was defender Ashley Goergen, who really had a breakthrough season and we expect her to be the best defender in the CCIW next fall.  The Most Improved Player Award was deservedly  given to sophomore Meghan Rynne for all of her hard work over the past 12 months.  The captains for 2006 will be seniors Emily Castner and Ashley Goergen.

We'll welcome back 15 players come next fall, so the core is in place for another run at a conference title and a shot in the national tournament.  I am hard at work trying to build another strong recruiting class for us, and I think we have some terrific players in the mix.  I know we'll be better next fall; I am going to strongly encourage our returning athletes to work on not only improving their weaknesses, but also making their strengths even stronger.  We'll need to show great determination over the next 6-8 months as a team and as individuals in order to keep the standard we have established for the program.

I am looking forward to an exciting year in 2006.  Happy Holidays and best wishes for a fulfilling New Year!

Go Titans!
 
 

November 12, 2005—A terrific soccer season came to an end on Saturday as the Titans fell in their first-ever NCAA appearance 1-0 to Loras College in a game played at the University of Chicago.  The Titans finish the season with a record of 13-7-1.

The lone goal of the game came about 30 minutes into the game.  Loras won a throw in and they have a girl who can do a flip throw and nearly get it to the back post.  We misplayed the toss and somehow the ball ended up in the back of our net.  It was a strange and unfortunate goal to concede as until that point Loras had not threatened our net through the run of play.  We knew they were most dangerous on set pieces and still couldn’t find a way to be sharp defending this particular one.

In a tournament game like this there aren’t going to be too many offensive chances as both teams are reasonably matched and not going to concede too many opportunities.  We only had a handful ourselves, with our best chance coming in the first half when Lyndsay O’Brien played a great ball to a streaking Katie Kelly on a counter down the field.  Unfortunately the keeper made the save and kept the score even at that point.  I thought what really hurt us on the day was simply we didn’t play with enough urgency in the attacking third of the field.  We had a lot of the possession and certainly had chances around the Loras goal.  Unfortunately, it seemed like yesterday the Loras defenders and goalkeeper were a half-step ahead of us getting to the final ball.

While the season ended a bit prematurely, we accomplished a lot this year and I think made significant strides forward in the evolution of our program.  Despite our slide at the end of the year (we lost 4 of our last 5 games), I hope our returning players are starting to learn the mental requirements to become a championship team, or even a team that is to be reckoned with in the post-season.  A winning mentality is growing in our team, but has not yet fully developed.  We certainly see glimpses of it at times, and when it appears we play great soccer.  In order to get over the next hurdle, we need to find a way to make this mentality a more permanent part of our individual and collective psyche.

The end of the season is always sad as we say goodbye to another fine group of women.  Seniors Mary Karson, Katie Kelly, Brittany Kirkpatrick, and Jenny LaBrenz were instrumental in helping us get to the NCAA tournament this year.  All gave their hearts and souls to the team and for that we thank them and hope that we can continue to build upon the foundation they have helped create.

I will keep you updated regarding post-season awards as they are announced. Thanks to all of the parents, fans, and friends of Titan soccer who supported the team throughout this and past seasons.  We hope our run into the post-season is not a flash in the pan and that it sparked more of an interest in Titan Women’s soccer.

Go Titans!

November 7, 2005—First the bad news out of the way:  the Titans once again fell victim to the Wheaton College women’s soccer juggernaut in the conference championship game by a score of 4-0.  For the second time in two weeks, the team probably didn’t deserve to lose by the final score.  I think on Saturday a fair result would have been 2-0 but we were a bit unlucky at the end of the game and gave away two more goals.

The difference in the game, quite frankly, was their striker Jen Binger, an All-American and very likely CCIW Player of the Year.  She really made a couple of big plays that led to their first three goals and we simply didn’t match up to their physical presence on the field.  Thankfully, they will be once again graduating a couple of big (literal and figurative) players after this fall.

The good news is that we woke up this morning to find that we had been one of the 19 at-large teams selected to participate in the NCAA tournament.  This was huge news for our players, coaches, university, and soccer program.  This is the first time an IWU soccer program (men or women) has been selected for the national tournament.  We feel honored to be part of history, and certainly hope this will be the start of a string of appearances in the future!   I have tried to impress upon the team what a unique privilege it is to play in the NCAA tournament.  I was never able to compete in the tournament as a player, but did get to experience it as an assistant coach at Yale in 1999.  When we defeated Rutgers in overtime on their field, a feeling of sheer joy swept across the team.  It was just awesome and I want very badly for our current Titan athletes to hopefully feel a similar sensation come Saturday afternoon.

 I feel a special acknowledgement must go out to those Titan soccer players who have been part of the growth of the program but whose graduation over the past couple of seasons give them cause for feeling really happy for the current players but also a bit envious since they weren’t able to experience a national tournament.  Although players like Ann Bernard ’04 and Marisa Johnson ‘05 earned All-American, All-Regional, and All-Conference selections I am certain they would trade them for an NCAA appearance.  All I can promise all former Titan players is that the current group is going to be prepared to do our very best to represent our school and our program, take one game at a time and see where it takes us.

First up is Loras College whom we defeated earlier in the season 2-1 at home.  It was a tight game and I am expecting a similar contest again on Saturday.  They are well coached and hard-working and I am certain will be up for a second chance at us.  I think we’ll be as healthy as we have been in three weeks, and that is a good thing.  We’ll be ready come 1:30 on Saturday afternoon.

Go Titans!

November 2—On Tuesday evening, the IWU women’s soccer team defeated Augustana 3-1 in the CCIW Semifinals.  It was their second victory of the season over the Vikings, who end their season with a record of 15-4.  With the win, the Titans improve to 13-5-1 and earn the right to play defending champion Wheaton College for the conference championship.  The game will be Saturday night in Wheaton at 7:00 pm.

This will be the third time in four seasons that these two teams will square off for the title.  The Titans are 0-2 so far in title games so this year we are hoping that the third time is truly a charm.  Although Wheaton has already secured the CCIW’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament by virtue of accumulating more points than us through the regular season (7-0 for 21 points) and in the semifinal win over Carthage (3 more points for 24 total; IWU has 18 total points going into the final), the game on Saturday carries a lot of weight on the season.  The winner of the game will be the CCIW Champion and will take home the championship trophy.  Wheaton has won every single CCIW championship since play began in 1995, so wrestling away the title won’t be easy and would be a great accomplishment for our program.

Additionally, in my view we are on the NCAA bubble for an at-large berth.  We are currently ranked 6th in the NCAA Central Region poll, with every team ahead of us save for University of Chicago in position to or already has secured their conference AQ.  Our strength of schedule is excellent and I think a win or a tie (i.e. game goes to PK’s) will build a very strong case for us to receive one of the 19 at-large bids to the national tournament.  Our loss to Carthage is really the only “bad” loss (all of our others are to teams who are regionally ranked) on our record at the moment, and we have several quality wins (Loras, Augustana twice, Aurora, UW-Stout, Hope) on our resume for the national committee to consider come Sunday.  The final announcement of teams will be on Sunday evening.

We are grateful for the opportunity to have another chance to compete against Wheaton on Saturday.  We played some very solid soccer Tuesday against Augustana and we are finally getting some key people back from injury.  Our midfield played especially well on Tuesday, specifically freshman Tina Rodriguez (who had a hand in two of the three goals) and junior Katie Korder who possibly played her best game as a Titan.  Our backs once again did a good job and will need to be super-sharp again on Saturday.  I anticipate a tight game against Wheaton, with few goal-scoring chances for either team.  If both teams play well, it will be a game decided between the penalty boxes.  We will need to defend like we are capable of doing and find a way to capitalize on our chances to score when they are available.

We hope to have strong fan-support at the game, but for those who won’t be there the result will be posted on our website immediately after the game.  Additionally, once our post-season fate is determined that will also be posted on the web.

Go Titans!

November 1--The Titans, playing without 5 starters, dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Carthage College on Saturday afternoon.  The defeat, the team's second in a row, dropped the team's overall record to 12-5-1 and 5-2 in the CCIW.  The conference tournament begins Tuesday evening when the Titans host a very good Augustana team (15-3, 5-2 CCIW) at 7:00 pm.  If the Titans win, they will advance to the CCIW Championship game on Saturday that will either be at Wheaton (if the top-seeded Thunder defeat Carthage) or here at IWU (if Carthage upsets Wheaton).  The winner of the conference tournament will be the 2005 CCIW Champion.

We hope to have most of our injured players back for Tuesday's game, but won't  know for sure until we are out on the field warming up.  It has been a frustrating week for the team as not only did we see our unbeaten streak end with the defeat last weekend against Wheaton, but we also lost 4 more players to injury as a result of the game.  We took three days off before the Carthage game, but even with that were only able to practice with 12 players on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.  By last Friday we had a couple more back (not at full strength) but the lack of training was evident on Saturday where we simply didn't display any of the normal qualities of our team.  We certainly hope that they will return on Tuesday.

Go Titans!

October 25--In a game that lived up to our expectations for the first 83 minutes, the defending National Champion Wheaton College Thunder scored 3 times in the span of 7 minutes to defeat the Titans 4-1 on Saturday.

The defeat was hugely disappointing for the team who absolutely played their hearts out on the day.  We fell behind 1-0 about midway through the first half, but bounced back to even the game on a great goal from Lyndsay O'Brien.  The score seemed to give our team a lift and sent us into the half-time break with a lot of confidence.  The second half saw Wheaton insert a couple of key subs that gave them a lift.  Much of the second half was played between the midline and the top of our penalty box.  Despite a lot of possession, the Thunder really only broke through one time for a good scoring chance.  We were defending well, but often couldn't keep possession ourselves once we won the ball.  We became a bit too direct in our attack, not having enough balance between that and making feet to feet passes.  When we did connect and combine, we created a couple of nice opportunities in the attack.  However, our decisions in the final third weren't sharp on the day, and we didn't get as many looks as we need in a game like that.

Everything began to crumble in the 83rd minute when a Wheaton player scored off a header from a corner kick.  When it happened, I couldn't really understand how she got free to get her head on the ball.  After watching the tape, she managed to escape three Titan players to win the ball.  The same player scored again about 2 minutes later, and then the Thunder added one more for good measure in the final minute.  We hadn't allowed 3 goals in a game all year long, and we allowed that many in an 8 minute span!  It was frustrating, disappointing, and a bit embarrassing for everyone in the team.

At 12-4-1 and now 5-1 in conference, we approach the most important time of year.  We close the regular season on Saturday with a Senior Day game against Carthage College, a tough team to break down and very physical.  We'll honor our four seniors (Mary Karson, Katie Kelly, Brittany Kirkpatrick, and Jenny LaBrenz) before the game for their many contributions to Titan soccer over the past four seasons.

The CCIW Tournament will commence next Tuesday when we host #3 seed Augustana.  Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, we'll be the #2 seed, however every game from here on out is crucial for us as not only are we still in the hunt to win the CCIW championship and automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, but we are also in the mix for one of the 19 at large berths to the NCAA's.  If we make it to the conference title game, most likely it will be at Wheaton on Saturday, November 5.  It would be the third time in the last four years that IWU/Wheaton would be the final if that were to occur.

We are a bit banged up both physically and mentally but hopefully a couple of days off will help to recharge our collective batteries.  We have a lot to play for still this season and now isn't the time to feel sorry for ourselves.  We'll go out in training in the next few days and try to address some tactical issues we need to solve before Saturday and then Tuesday.  Losing the way we did on Saturday was upsetting, but at the same time very motivating as I feel like we have something to prove to ourselves, the conference, the region, and the NCAA committee.  We will make sure the team is up for the challenges ahead in the next week.

Go Titans!

October 20--The Titans fought off a very sluggish first half Wednesday night and exploded for 4 goals in the second half in order to defeat North Central College 4-0.  With the win, the team improves to 12-3-1 overall and 5-0 in the CCIW.  The team is ranked #21 in the national NSCAA/adidas Division III poll.

Our first 45 minutes was possibly the poorest we have played in some time.  Any number of reason could account for the performance, but the bottom line is that we did not have our usual concentration and connection.  We were not dangerous at all and only created 1 quality chance during the first half.  After some half-time encouragement and tactical adjustments, we broke open the scoring just two minutes into the second period when freshman Caroline Leighton volleyed home a cross from Lyndsay O'Brien.  Leighton got her second goal off a free kick only 12 minutes later from an assist from classmate Tina Rodriguez to make the score 2-0.  Leighton then finished her hat trick in the 65th minute off an assist from Rodriguez.  Junior Amy Slott finished the scoring in the 89th minute with an unassisted goal, her first of the season.

The Titans out shot the Cardinals 19-1 on the night and the game was really never in doubt.  We did hope to put together a solid 90 minutes in preparation for Saturday's game with Wheaton, but I guess we'll have to settle for a good 45 minutes. I think the team is going to put together a good performance on Saturday against the Thunder.  We have been looking forward to this game for some time, but as I have reminded the team it is only one game and counts for no more than one.  We would certainly like to get a big W on Saturday as the winner of the game will have the inside track to the number one seed in our conference tournament and the CCIW's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament  We are looking pretty good for a home game on November 1 (semifinals), but it would certainly be nice to get the top seed and not only host the first game but also, if we were to win that game, be able to host the conference championship game on November 5.

I have told the team that we have four more games to win before we can call ourselves champions.  After Wheaton on Saturday, we'll have a week off before hosting Carthage on the 29th in addition to the CCIW tournament.  Our game Saturday is important, but regardless of the outcome we have more to play.  Our goal is to prepare well today and tomorrow and come out and play our best game on Saturday afternoon.  Hopefully we'll but up for the challenge and relish the opportunity to play the defending national champions who certainly are not eager to part with their title.

Go Titans!
 
 

October 16, 2005--The Titans used two second half goals from seniors Mary Karson and Brittany Kirkpatrick to defeat Aurora University Saturday night in Bloomington.  With the win, the team extended its unbeaten streak to 9 games (8-0-1) and improved its record to 11-3-1.  This was the final non-CCIW game for the Titans for the season.  Next up for the team will be Wednesday against North Central (6-9 overall, 0-6 CCIW) before Saturday's showdown with defending national champion Wheaton College (12-2 overall, 5-0 CCIW).

Last evening was a game where we faced an opponent who is very hard-working and will not quit playing until the final whistle, regardless of circumstances.  We managed to create some very good scoring chances for ourselves in the first period, most notably a couple of break-ins that required only the keeper to beat, and we were unable to crack the scoring column.  I think in general last night our finishing and play in the final third, while not at all shaky, wasn't polished and sharp as we need to to be.  Specifically, we ended up with 12 shots on target and many of them were directly to the keeper.  We need to challenge goalkeepers to make good saves on our shots and we made her job a bit easy last night.  Nothing that can't be fixed in training however, with a bit of work in front of the goal during the upcoming week.

The two we did get were very nicely taken.  The first goal came off a nice set piece where freshman Tina Rodriguez served a great ball across the face of the goal where she found an unmarked Karson there knock it in the net.  The final tally came when Katie Kelly flicked a through pass to an on-rushing Kirkpatrick who calmly put the ball away and with it the game with about 5 minutes to play.

The shot totals indicated we only conced two all night, with our keeper Emily Castner only needing to make one save to earn her 8th shutout of the season.  Our defending was once again excellent, led by Castner and our back four of Karson, Ashely Goergen, Carissa Nemmers, and Tanya Hnastchenko.  I think we are gaining more confidence playing as a unit and it is showing in our results.

We are looking forward to a great week of soccer here in Titan-land with two big CCIW games.  Go Titans!
 
 

October 11, 2005—The Titan women’s soccer team unleashed a furious offensive attack today against the Principia Panthers, defeating the home team 9-0.  With the win, the Titans improve to 10-3-1 overall, while Principia saw its record drop to 7-6.  Additionally, IWU is ranked #24 in this week’s NSCAA National Poll.

Our success going forward today was due in large part to the way we solved the defensive tactics employed by the Panthers.  They play a very high restraining line (push their backs all the way to midfield) and try to get you to run yourself offside.  The tactic is effective in catching teams in offsides positions (we were whistled for 18), but is a huge risk as evidenced by the final score.  When teams begin to solve the tactic, as we did, many chances at goal (mainly 1 v 1 with the keeper) are created.  All credit to our players today who really did a good job of taking what we talked about in practice and putting it into play.  We knew what to expect today, and we also knew we’d be called for numerous offsides.  We also knew we would get chances and needed to finish them in order to make the game easier on ourselves.  We were ahead 5-0 in 20 minutes and never looked back from there.

The scoring today was led by Lyndsay O’Brien with 2 goals and 3 assists.  Caroline Leighton had 3 goals (all in the first half), Katie Kelly had 2 goals, and Brittany Kirkpatrick and Carrie Walz each had a goal.  Our keeper Emily Castner was very good today as well making a couple of good saves and doing a nice job managing the game from the back.  Although the scoreboard indicated a very one-sided affair, Principia played hard for 90 minutes.  They attacked and never quit.  They have an excellent forward (would possibly start for us) but today their tactics didn’t match up well for the game and got burned several times.

Next up for the team is a tough game at home on Saturday against Aurora University (10-4 on the season), in our final non-league game of the season.  It is the start of our final 4 regular season games, all at home.  We are in a great spot right now in terms of challenging for the CCIW championship and qualifying for the NCAA tournament.  Our fate is in our own hands; if we keep winning games we’ll punch our own ticket for the tournament by winning our conference title.  We certainly expect to carry this momentum into the game on Saturday in front of our home fans!

Go Titans!

October 9, 2005—The Titan women’s soccer team won two games last week, improving their record to 9-3-1 overall and 4-0 in the CCIW.  Last Wednesday, the team traveled to Decatur, Illinois and defeated the Big Blue of Millikin University 3-0.  On Friday, we hosted UW-Stout and defeated them 3-1.  This week the Titans are ranked #4 in the Central Region, behind Macalester College, Wheaton, and Chicago. National rankings are released on Tuesday afternoon.

Our performance last Wednesday against CCIW foe Millikin was not one of the seasons best.  In a typical mid-week, middle of the afternoon affair, the team was not as focused as they normally are for important games.  There was no lack of effort, just lack of execution.  It is often difficult for college athletes to avoid distractions especially when trying to go straight from class to the bus, then from the bus to warm up on the field.  This is something we coaches try to acknowledge and deal with but we don’t always succeed.  As a result, we weren’t sharp in our execution and as a result we were level at 0-0 after 45 minutes.

Thankfully, the second half was better and the goals we scored were met with relief rather than the usual joy that accompanies scoring.  Our hero that day was reigning Conference Player of the Week, Brittany Kirkpatrick.  She followed up her two goals last week against Elmhurst with a hat trick on Wednesday, saving us from a potentially disastrous result.

On Friday, we faced UW-Stout, a team that was 5-1-2 entering the game and had defeated us 3-0 in the final game of 2004 in the MAAC Tournament in Wisconsin.  Thankfully, Friday’s rematch was in the friendly confines of Neis Field and not on the crowned, rough, and hard surface at UW-Stout.  We conceded an early goal but were only behind for about 90 seconds before Lyndsay O’Brien equalized.  About 6 minutes later, Katie Kelly put us ahead for good with a great individual effort and a nice shot in the upper corner.

Once we tied the game, I never felt the game would be in doubt.  Katie Kelly got her second of the night on another great shot from outside the box and 3 goals was certainly well deserved on the evening.  We had the majority of the possession and really created some wonderful scoring chances through crisp passing and sharp movement off the ball.  Overall I thought we played well (aside from the goal we allowed) and were clearly the superior side on the night.

Next up for the Titans is a trip to Elsah, Illinois and Principia College on Tuesday, and then we play Aurora University at home on Saturday evening.  The Aurora game marks the start of a four-game stretch of home games to end the season.  After Aurora, we play host to three CCIW foes and those games will go a long way to determining the seeding for the CCIW Tournament.  Games against North Central (10/19), Wheaton (10/22), and Carthage (10/29) have been eagerly anticipated all season long.  But first, we have to play well against two good non-conference opponents this week.  We have earned the current unbeaten streak we are enjoying (6-0-1) through good defending and timely finishing.  I think the team’s confidence is growing with every game, and our hope is to take care of business this week and hopefully earn two more victories.

Click here to view the most recent NSCAA Regional and National polls.
 
 

October 2, 2005—The Titan women’s soccer team traveled to conference foe Elmhurst College for a key match-up on Sunday afternoon.  The team was coming off an important victory over previously unbeaten and nationally ranked Loras College earlier in the week, so it was important for the team to carry with them momentum from the big win.

It was a beautiful day for soccer in the Chicago suburbs, although some unseasonable heat made the conditions a bit warmer that normal for early October.  The Titans jumped out quickly and tested the Bluejay goalkeeper early and often.  She made several excellent stops in the first half single-handedly keeping Elmhurst in the game.  We could have easily scored 3 during the first half if it weren’t for some big time plays from their keeper.

We did manage to break through for one goal.  The play actually began when freshman Caroline Leighton took a shot from distance that was headed for the upper corner until the Elmhurst keeper made a fingertip save and pushed the ball over the crossbar.  On the ensuing corner kick, freshman Tina Rodriguez served a great ball to the back post where junior Ashley Goergen got her head on the ball and nodded it towards the near post where Brittany Kirkpatrick calmly redirected it into the goal for a 1-0 Titan lead.

The second half saw Elmhurst adjust their tactics slightly to try to account for our attack.  I thought we still did a nice job of creating chances for ourselves, and we got our second goal when Katie Kelly served a nice cross into the box that Kirkpatrick volleyed over the keeper for her second goal of the game and a 2-0 Titan advantage.

The game was never really in doubt from that point forward.  The Elmhurst keeper was credited with 10 saves on the game, and most of them were superb.  Elmhurst’s record dropped to 2-10 on the season, but they have been in every game this year and will continue to be in games for the rest of the season if their keeper plays like she did today.  We could have easily scored 3-4 more with a lesser player in goal.  Kudos to her for her efforts today.

I was generally pleased with the way we played today.  We moved the ball pretty effectively and sprayed the ball around.  We continue to defend well, as Elmhurst never truly threatened us today.  We need to still work on getting the final pieces of our attacking play in order as there were several chances we let squander today because of a poor service (at the keeper or over the end line).  If we can get that sorted out, I think we’ll be able to get even more chances to score in the coming games.

We have two more games this week, beginning Wednesday with another CCIW game at Millikin.  Every game in the league is tough and we’ll have to be sharp to play well midweek on the road.  We then have a big game on Friday night at home against UW-Stout, currently 6-1-2.  The beat us last season 3-0 and we have been looking forward to the rematch all season long.  They are a good, solid team and we are looking forward to having another go at them on our field for our Homecoming game Friday night!

Go Titans!
 
 

September 28, 2005--In what could prove to be a pivotal moment in our season, the Titans handed previously unbeaten Loras College its first defeat of the season last night in Bloomington.  With the result, the Titan team is now unbeaten in their last 4 (3-0-1) and stands at 6-3-1 overall.  Loras, who entered the game ranked #3 in the region and #20 nationally, fell to 7-1.

It was a good game from start to finish between two good sides.  I thought we had the better of the first half, and then for the first 20 minutes of the second half Loras had us on our back foot.  We finally broke through when Lyndsay O'Brien hit a shot (cross?) from a difficult angle that caught the Loras keeper off her line and settled into the corner of the net.  We found a bit of energy at that point and seized control of the game for the next 20 minutes or so.  Loras had been dangerous on restarts all night and their persistence finally paid off when they scored when they headed in a free kick with about 5 minutes to play.

The Titans quickly responded like they didn't want any part of overtime.  Less than a minute later we were deep in Loras territory and Brittany Kirkpatrick won us a free kick near the Loras endline.  Lyndsay O'Brien served a perfectly weighted ball to the back post where freshman Sarah Alley nodded home the game winning goal.  The tally was the first of Sarah's college career and couldn't have come at a better time or place.

I was really pleased with the way the team came back after conceding the tying goal.  Loras scored a good goal as there wasn't so much of a breakdown on our end as it was a great effort on their part to earn the goal.  We kept our heads about us and got right back after it.  Keeping composure and staying in control of our emotions is something we speak frequently about and last night we demonstrated what happens when we execute under pressure.

Next up for the Titans is a trip to Elmhurst for another key CCIW game.  Elmhurst has struggled through injuries and some tough results this year but I know they will be fired up for us.  Kickoff is at 1:00.
 
 

September 26, 2005—It was far from what we had expected going into our second conference game of the season, but at the end of day we walked out of the North Park stadium with a 2-0 victory, improving our record to 5-3-1 overall and 2-0 in the CCIW.

The game was scoreless for 65 minutes, much longer than we had anticipated, but all credit to North Park for playing very tough defensively and not conceding anything.  I told our team before the game that we were going to have to earn every goal we scored, and at the time I didn’t realize how correct I was.

Katie Kelly finally broke free about 20 minutes into the second half with two goals within a couple of minutes.  That put everyone at ease and allowed us to escape a possibly embarrassing result.  While North Park was much more athletic and inspired than we had seen them in the past, much of our shortcomings were our own fault.  We ended up outshooting the Vikings 15-0, and I didn’t feel like we were ever in danger of conceding a goal.  We were not sharp in the final third on Saturday, and despite being in the Vikings area with good looks at goal, we really struggled to make things happen.  We’ll need to improve on our decision-making, our technique, and our finishing.  We aren’t getting enough shots on goal as a result of our technical and tactical breakdowns.  With an entire half of our season to go, we must sort through this very quickly.

At the halfway point of the season, we are 5-3-1 and have been unbeaten in our last three.  We have played a difficult schedule so far, with our losses coming to teams with a combined record of 18-2-2. Our opponents overall record is 47-22-4.  While this is nice to talk about, if we are going to play past October 29th we’ll need to continue to improve and hopefully find our groove going forward.  Our defending has been very steady, conceding only 7 goals in our first 9 games, and rarely getting stretched thin like we did at times last season.  This is a good place to start, because as we know if we don’t give up goals we always will have a chance to win.

Next up for the Titans is 7-0 Loras College, who should be ranked again in the top 20 nationally this week.  This will be our third game against a nationally ranked team this season, and we are still looking for our first victory against the top 25.  Last season in Dubuque, we jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half only to end up losing a tough 3-2 decision.  I know we are going to be ready to play, as we always are, against good competition.  This is an important game for us for a couple of reasons.  First, we need to prove to ourselves we can beat a quality side.  Second, this game has NCAA implications for our team as a victory over Loras would be nice to add to our season’s resume.  They will end up with a very good winning percentage and we would get a significant amount of of NCAA points towards Pool C consideration should we not earn the CCIW automatic berth. We’ll do our best to get a good result on Tuesday night.  Stay tuned for the results!

The first half was one where we struggled to find much rhythm and the Bears came out sharp.  They were a physical side and we weren't mathing up well and as a result we weren't getting much consistent possession moving forward.  We thought we might be able to disrupt them by playing more direct and trying to put them under some pressure.  We made adjustments at the half to do just that and reversed the fortunes of the first half when we were outshot 8-4.  Both teams had chances at goal and could have gotten the one goal to win the game.  The game ended statistically even with each goalkeeper making 7 saves and each team being credited for 12 shot attempts at goal.

At the end of the night we left feeling good about our performance.  We certainly would have preferred to have found a way to get a goal and the W, but a tie on the road against a good side is nothing to be ashamed about.  I thought we defended very well and were opportunistic going forward, all the while gaining confidence in our play.  Wash U is a team that has played 4 of its first 7 games against top 20 teams, and we felt we played them evenly.

Our hope is that the game gives the team confidence in itself to find ways to get good results against good teams.  Only time will tell whether or not the game will be a turning point in our season, but I certainly hope so.  We have an important stretch of games coming up where we possibly can use the momentum of Tuesday night to our advantage.  Our next game is Saturday at North Park for our second CCIW game of the year.  We then host undefeated and nationally ranked Loras College on Tuesday evening.  We would like to continue to play well as the September turns into October and races for conference championships and post-season berths begin to take shape.

September 18, 2005—As the Titan’s season rapidly approaches its halfway point (as of next Saturday), the team is gradually beginning to find an identity on the field.

Our schedule has been tough, but at 4-3 we are only about a game or two behind where we perhaps deserve to be. We lost to a good Chicago team last Wednesday at home (2-0) and now have lost more home games in the month of September than we had in nearly two seasons.  We played hard that game but not particularly intelligently, especially in our attack.  We were unlucky to give up the second goal (an missed clearance fell nicely at the feet of a UC player in front of the goal), but didn’t create enough offensive chances to deserve more than what we got.  It is this tactical discipline that we have been lacking against good teams and therefore we have been struggling to score against well-organized defenses.

We managed to sort ourselves out in the CCIW opener on Saturday, earning a good 2-1 win over Augustana.  Augie always plays us very tough as it has become a rivalry game in many ways.  We were much more creative going forward for most of the game, and created numerous chances to score.  Ironically, it was on two set pieces that we scored our goals:  a free kick from Tina Rodriguez and a rebound from Mary Karson off a Jenny LaBrenz free kick.  We hit the post or cross bar a total of 4 other times in the game, so in many ways we should have had at least one more goal.  We were also unlucky to have conceded the one as it appeared (to both me and the Augie coach) that there was a strong suspicion of offisides on the play.

So we are 4-3 and head down to St. Louis for an important game against Wash U on Tuesday night.  They are again highly regarded and ranked in the top ten in the nation.  We always have good games with Wash U, and I hope we’ll be prepared to play well again.  As we have proven, we can play with good teams but need to be more disciplined tactically in order to get the results we either a) deserve or b) think we deserve.  I thought we did well in large stretches of the game against Augie, so perhaps we are getting some things sorted out.  It would be great to get a good result next week and give us some more momentum as CCIW play really heats up.

September 12, 2005--The Titan Women's Soccer team had a mixed bag of results this past weekend during their first excursion on the road.  On Saturday, the team played pretty well and defeated St. Thomas University 4-1 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  We jumped on the scoreboard early in the game and never really looked back despite not being a sharp technically as we would like to be.  Katie Kelly scored twice and added an assist, Tina Rodriguez scored on a bomb from about 40 yards out, and Brittany Kirkpatrick finished her first of the year.  All in all it was a good team effort on the day.  The weather proved to be quite an obstacle as both teams were fighting 90+ degree heat and humidity.  All of our players were able to play and contribute positive minutes.  The only negative on the day was that we conceded a wind-aided goal with about 5 minutes to play to spoil the shutout.  Our defense is playing well at the moment and allowing a goal from distance like that was disappointing because we deserved the shutout.

Sunday's game at UW-Eau Claire as a much different type of affair.  The heat was present again, along with long grass on the field and improperly inflated soccer balls.  Twice the referees had to stop the game to change the game balls which of course would have been avoided had the officials done their job prior to the game and recognzed the problem upon their initial pre-game inspection of the facilities!  The bigger problem during our 1-0 defeat was that we didn't respond well to a difficult style of play presented to us by our opponents.  Eau Claire is a big and physical team and we got banged around a lot.  Additionally, we never played with any rhythm to our game yet still managed to create more chances than Eau Claire.  Our opponents only managed 2 shots on goal, but one of them was a first half penalty kick that, upon reviewing the videotape, really should of never been whistled.  But, that happens in soccer sometimes and we just have to deal with it.  Allowing the unlucky goal didn't effect us as much as their style and that is something we'll need to improve upon if we want to still be playing in November.  That all being said, fair play to Eau Claire for doing what they needed to do to get the result.

We enter a critical stretch of the season this week.  On Wednesday we host a very tough team in the University of Chicago.  Then on Saturday we open CCIW play at Augustana who, at the time of this writing is 4-0 and have yet to concede a goal against them this season.  Then, next Tuesday we travel to Wash U who are also an excellent side.  We certainly didn't expect to be 3-2 at this point in the season and perhaps deserve to be a bit better than that.  Regardless, we will have played one-third of the season after Wednesday's game and with CCIW play beginning we need to get things going on a more consistent basis very quickly.  I believe we have a talented team who can still accomplish great things in 2005, but need to figure out a way to perform more consistently game to game.  A good result on Wednesday against a quality opponent would go a long way to restoring our confidence to play with and have a chance to defeat anyone in the country.

September 8, 2005--The Titans opened the scoring just four minutes into the game last night against St. Mary's and never looked back, earning a 4-0 win at Neis Field.  Freshmen Caroline Leighton and Tina Rodriguez each notched a goal and an assist, Lyndsay O'Briend had her first goal of the year, and Katie Kelly scored her third of the season to lead the way for the Titans.

The first half featured glimpses into what I think we can be as a team.  Our speed of play and commitment to attack created 16 shots on goal in the first period.  For the game, we posted 24 shot attempts and 16 on target, which was something we wanted to accomplish in the game.  We also wanted to get other people involved with scoring so we can be a mulitdimensional team rather than just relying on one or two people to gind a goal for us.  We scored very good goals last night through teamwork and combinations that we have been emphasizing in training.  Our finishing touches still leave a bit to work on, and we'll certainly try to address those techniques in training today and tomorrow.

The second half proved to be an opportunity for us to get everyone in the game and give people who didn't play last weekend an opportunity to demonstrate what they could do in a game setting.  It also allowed us to rest some regulars which is important with two tough games on the road upcoming for this weekend.

We head up north for regional games at St. Thomas and UW-Eau Claire on Saturday and Sunday.  I am expecting tough matchups against both teams as they are each well coached and going to be difficult to break down.  We will have to be at our best to come away from the weekend with two victories, so we'll work hard to prepare and get ready for the games!

September 6, 2005--Facing easliy the toughest opening season competition in 5 years, the Titans came away with a .500 record with a win over Hope following a tough loss to Wittenberg.  In the game on Friday against Wittenberg, we played some terrific soccer at times.  Our speed of play was excellent and we created a ton of very good scoring chances.  Our goal before the game was to get 6-8 quality looks at the target, and by the end of the game we counted 10 that were either saved by the keeper (who played excellent), cleared off the line by a defender, or hit the crossbar.  We were a bit unlucky to not get a favorable result, but as I told the team we can't make mental mistakes against good competition and expect to get away with it.  We had two breakdowns, each in the final 5 minutes of a half, that cost us defensively.  By and large, however, we played very well considering a number of freshmen are playing considerable minutes at key spots.

Saturday night's game against Hope started off a bit slowly for us.  We looked a bit sluggish, typical after playing a tough game the night before.  Two games in two days is always tough, especially against good teams.  Hope was difficult to break down as they are physical and played tough man-marking system with a deep sweeper that caused us some trouble initially.  We were much better in the second half, though, and really kept them pinned back for the majority of the second half.  We finally got our goal on a strike from Katie Kelly midway through the period and managed to gut out the remaining time to earn a tough win.

This week begins what I consider to be the "real" season.  Our final 16 regular season games are all either CCIW games or against regional opponents.  Conference games are obvioulsy important, but having a good record within our region will be important for consideration by the NCAA committee should something not work out favorably for us in the league.  Our schedule is tough and we must treat every game as a Cup final.  It begins on Wednesday against St. Mary's (IN), and then we head on the road for the first time this weekend to face St. Thomas University and UW-Eau Claire.  We will certainly learn a lot about our team over the next few days and hopefully will come away with positive results.

Pre-season training got off to a great start on Saturday the 20th.  We welcomed 9 new players into a squad eager to redeem itself after an inconsistent 2004.  To nobody’s surprise the new players have made a significant impact on the team.  Four of the ladies got a jump-start on their IWU careers when they worked our Elite Girls Soccer Academy in July along with 6 of our returning players.  I think this really helped the new players get rid of some typical nervousness that comes with entering college.  Newcomers Tina Rodriguez (from southern California!), Carissa Nemmers, Caroline Leighton, and Carly Calkins all were counselors at camp along with returning players Ashely Goergen, Lyndsay O’Brien, Jenny LaBrenz, Emily Castner, Mary Karson, and Katie Kelly.  It was a lot of fun for everyone to get to know each other in anticipation of the new season.

Practices on the 20th got off to a good start and the week of training was pretty good.  The end of the week came with the usual soreness that accompanies every preseason.  However, I think  we came through pretty well, with only a couple of sprained ankles and sore quad muscles to show for our work.  These will soon heal and these players will be back training this week (we think).

The scrimmage with Depauw was moved from Greencastle, Indiana to Bloomington thanks to the generosity of the Depauw men’s soccer coach/athletic director who offered to come to us on Sunday so our athletes could attend the funeral of football player Doug Schmeid.  This was an extraordinary act of kindness by the Tiger men’s and women’s teams showing sensitivity to the IWU community during a very difficult and unchartered time in our school’s history.

The scrimmage itself was a typical preseason affair with some good things and some not so good things by each team.  The final score was 3-3 and to be honest conceding three goals was not something I had expected and we need to fix before playing a game that counts on Friday.  Scoring three wasn’t really a huge surprise because I think we can cause some problems for teams when we attack this year.  I didn’t think we’d necessarily get 3 in our first day out, but I will take it!

We learned a lot about ourselves on Sunday and after watching some video of the game this week, we’ll hopefully be prepared for what I expect to be a very difficult opponent in Wittenberg University on Friday night.  We’ll close out the Titan Soccer Classic on Saturday night against Hope College.  This will be the third year in a row we’re playing Hope, and I am certain it will be another tough game.  This is a tough tournament field this year, perhaps the toughest ever with CCIW foe Elmhurst rounding out the field.

We are looking forward to the season and have high expectations for rebounding from a disappointing 2004 campaign.  The team has shown great commitment over the summer getting prepared for the season and we can’t wait to kick it off for real on Friday!

I hope to see lots and lots of Titan soccer fans at our games during the course of the season.  Stay tuned to this page for more updates during the fall.  Go Titans!

This is a great development for both the men's and women's soccer programs.  There are numerous reasons why the split went as it did with hiring a new men's coach and keeping me on as the women's coach.  Suffice it to say, lots and lots of conversation was had between myself, Coach Bridges, and other administrators to get this done.  I feel we possibly have the best staff of soccer coaches in the conference and I have no doubt that both the men's and women's teams will see instantly how having one person in charge of one team will pay dividends during the fall.

I am excited for the future of Titan soccer.  The women's program has already accomplished a fair amount in just four years, but we have barely scratched the surface of what is possible out there.  I fully expect the team to make significant strides forward this season.  The men's team has also improved significantly since 2001, but we've consistently had problems getting over the proverbial hump.  I believe the ship of the men's team is heading in the right direction, and I think everyone who has watched the men play over the last four seasons will agree.  Hopefully the mechanical tweaking that will occur with Coach Lakin as the skipper will enable the men's boat to not only stay on course, but accelerate the process and bypass others in the CCIW.

August 20th can't come soon enough for both me and Coach Lakin.  We are both geared up for the fall, looking forward to working with our teams and helping each other along the way.  I have great confidence that the working environment in the Titan soccer offices will be healthy and productive and will lead to successes on the playing field in 2005.

Carly Calkins (Park Ridge, Il), a forward from Maine South High School.
Christin Coffey (Park Ridege, Il), a left-sided defender from Maine South High School.

Both are young women who were not "recruited" in the traditional sense, and instead found IWU and decided to attend all on their own.  After expressing a strong desire to continue with soccer, we have decided to invite both athletes into the pre-season squad as we believe they can both be positive additions to the program.  Our pre-season roster now stands at 28 players.

From March 10-20, the team embarked on its first ever foreign tour.  19 players and 5 adults spent a glorious 10 days travelling through northern and central Italy, seeing wonderful sights and playing three games against professional Italian teams.  In the three games, the team went 1-2 but learned quite a bit about themselves and what is needed to play soccer at the highest level.  Our first game of the trip was against first division club S.S. Vallassinese who is in the middle of the table this year.  We ended up losing the game 1-3 after 0-0 in the first half.  In the second game, we defeated Lecco 5-2.  In our final game (and third in three nights), we lost 6-0 to Bardolino Verona who are currently the best pro team in Italy.  We heard they had several outstanding players, and our fears were confirmed after only watching for about 30 seconds.  We learned their team had 5-7 full National Team players from Italy and Finland and I think our players really saw some special soccer being played against us that night.

In addition to the soccer, the team stayed in the city of Como (near the Swiss boarder), visited Verona, Venice, Milan, Florence, Pisa, and Tuscany.  Our captains (led by cheif scribe Katie Korder) posted accounts of the trip online.  You can read her thoughts by clicking on the "Italy 2005" link on our main women's soccer home page.  All in all, the players and adults had a fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was truly a special experience and I know it was a very enjoyable time for me and each of the players.

On the home front, we are continuing with our spring training season, at least when the weather is cooperating.  We have about 9 more practices to go before the end of April and hopefully with the onset of spring we will be able to have more useful training sessions over the next few weeks.

On the recruiting front, we have received deposits from 7 players so far (we are still awaiting decisions from two additional players who are on our radar screen).  Here is a snapshot of what the freshman class will look like:

Sarah Alley (Zionsville, IN) Sarah is athletic and versatile and can play both in midfield and in the back.  She plays with Dynamo FC from Indianapolis (State Cup runner up last year) and was named Second Team All-State for her high school team in 2004 and  2003.  Her plan is to study science here at IWU.

Tanya Hnastchenko (Shorewood, MN) Tanya is a natural left-sided player and will immediately make an impact with the team in the fall.  She is athletic and tough, and could be a strong presence as an attacking left back.  She is a veteran of a strong club background (St. Paul Blackhawks) and we are very excited she has chosen to attend IWU.  She is leaning towards studying science.

Caroline Leighton (Bloomington, IL) Caroline is a local find for us.  She attended our Elite Girls Soccer Academy last summer and really stood out when surrounded by other good players.  Caroline is an excellent athlete: she also has run cross-country and played varsity basketball for Normal Community High School throughout her career.  Although she was named All-Conference and All-Sectional as a junior, she has always divided her time among her three sports and she is excited to be able to concentrate on soccer in college.  She is a forward whose athleticism and intelligence will serve her well in making the adjustment to college soccer.  She is going to study math at IWU.

Erin Murray (Park Ridge, IL) Erin is a midfielder whose brother plays football for the Titans.  Yet another player who we saw at our camp, I think Erin is going to bring to the team intelligence, strength, and an ability to do a couple of different jobs for us.  She has played ODP soccer for the last couple of years and that experience will surely serve her well in college.

Carissa Nemmers (Dubuque, IA) Carissa is another player we discovered through her attendance at our soccer camp last summer.  She is another versatile player who is best in the back, but can also play in midfield.  She is smart and skillful, and was named All-Conference, All-City, and Honorable Mention All-State in both 2003 and 2004.  She played club soccer for the Dubuque Power and the Rockford Dactyls.  She plans on majoring in accounting.

Jordan Pollack (Woodridge, IL) Jordan plays her club soccer with the Sockers and graduated from Downers Grove South HS in January.  This spring she is exclusively training with the Sockers and competing with her own team as well as with boys teams.  Jordan is a skillful player who can play as a midfielder or as a target striker.

Tina Rodriguez (Simi Valley, CA) Tina comes to IWU as a veteran of a very powerful club team in California, So Cal United.  She is coming back from a serious leg injury last summer and is now back competing with her club team at full speed.  We expect her to be at 100% by the time pre-season arrives.  Tina is a very skillful central midfield player.  Playing at a high level in California is going to prove beneficial for her in making the transition to college soccer.  She was unable to play high school soccer this past winter due to her leg, but was named All-Conference in both 2003 and 2004, and team MVP her junior season.

This is shaping up to be an outstanding class of quality players and quality people.  I really feel like this group is going to make an instant impact on our team.  We are adding some very good athletes who are going to challenge our returning players for playing time from day one.  After a frustrating 2004 season, I am hopeful that the addition of these players will enable us to get back to the level we were at in 2003.

That's all for now.  Check back over the next couple of weeks to see if we have added any more updates about our incoming players.
 
 

I think everyone associated with the team is filled with mixed emotions about the season.  On the one hand, we overcame many obstacles (namely all kinds of injuries) to win 14 games and reach the finals of the CCIW tournament.  On the other hand, I think we would all agree that we fell far short of the standards and expectations that we set for the Titan women's soccer program.  For example, we were only 3-6 away from home,  8-6-1 against teams above .500, and conceded 30 goals (more than double our total from last season).  For me, these statistics are symptomatic of some issues we'll be addressing in the off-season as I know I do not want a repeat of any of those stats in 2005.  We CAN and WILL do better.  Our schedule for 2005 is just about set.  Once again it will be difficult.  Games next year will include: Chicago, Wash U, Aurora, St. Thomas, UW-Eau Claire, St. Mary's (IN), Wittenberg, Hope, and Principia, in addition to our tough CCIW schedule.  We will also scrimmage DePauw in preseason as we did this year.  Our upcoming trip to Italy in March will allow us to have an extended spring season and ultimately help us to prepare for 2005.

We say good-bye to a fine class of seniors who have helped to build our team into what it is today.  Marisa, Woody, April, Stephanie, Zaya, and Jessa will be missed on and off the field.  I know they will be proud of what they accomplished once the dust settles and they have time to let the last 4 years sink in.

We recently had our annual CCIW coaches meeting where the All-League teams were selected.  We were fortunate to place three on the All-CCIW first team (Marisa, Katie, and Mary), and one on the second team (Lyndsay).  Congratulations to them.  Additionally, Marisa and Katie were both named to the 2004 Academic All-District V (College Division) third-team.  Announcements for the All-Regional teams for 2004 should be made public in the next week or so.

I will keep this page updated throughout the winter and spring with news about the Titans, including annoucements of incoming freshmen once that begins to take shape.  Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this page and I hope to see you at games in the future!
 
 

The statistical star of the game for us on Wednesday was Marisa Johnson. She tied an IWU record and a Carthage field record by scoring four goals for us in the game.  We made some tactical adjustments going into the game which I think freed up spaces for Marisa and others to operate.  As a result, she hit for three goals in the first half and added a fourth to put the game to bed with about 13 minutes to go.

It was a much improved effort and execution of details than we saw in our performance last Saturday at Carthage.  There was a spell in the second half when we absorbed a bit of pressure from Carthage, and they did get a goal out of it for their efforts.  However, there wasn't ever a time where our goalkeeper needed to make any sparkling saves to keep the Lady Reds at bay.  We played better on defense and did a better job keeping the ball when we were on offense.

We will need our absolute best effort and performance on Saturday.  Wheaton is very good, perhaps the best team in the nation when they are playing to their potential.  They are big, strong, athletic, and very confident.  The good news is that games aren't played on paper, and once the whistle blows to start things on Saturday anything is possible.  We all realize the task ahead of us, but we will be ready for the task.  Having played them once and knowing what to expect will help the confidence of our team.  Additionally, we couldn't have been more beat up the first time around and that didn't help our cause back in September.  I think we are a different team today than we were then, and I know we'll give a better performance than we did 5 weeks ago.
 
 

Tonight's conditions should be better than Saturday, when a steady wind of about 40mph effected the tactics of the game.  With the wind blowing hard down the field, each team had the wind at its back for half the game.  We unfortunately didn't do a good enough job when we had the advantage, and Carthage did.  We are going to have Katie Kelly back from injury tonight, which will certainly help our offense.  I think we have made some necessary tactical adjustments as well that will hopefully prove to be beneficial in the rematch tonight.

Should we win tonight, we will head to Wheaton College on Saturday for the CCIW championship game against either Wheaton or Augustana.  Game time will be 5:00pm, with the winner claiming the CCIW Championship trophy for 2004.
 
 

The Titans are coming off two more wins against Millikin (4-0) and Webster (3-2).  Our record now sits at 12-3-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the conference.  Carthage is 15-4 and 5-1 in the CCIW, with their most recent result a 4-1 loss at the hands of Wheaton on Wednesday evening.  Carthage is a very good team, playing with a great deal of confidence and energy, and we will surely have our hands full on Saturday.

If there is anything in our favor as we head on the road tomorrow, it is the fact that the game has been moved from Carthage's regular field on campus, which is a artificial field turf surface, to the practice field at the UW-Parkside campus, a 120 x 80, natural grass surface.  Carthage is an excellent team when playing on their turf; a clear home field advantage.  Playing on grass somewhat minimizes the advantage for the mere fact that we play on natural grass regularly and going to play a big game on an unfamiliar surface damages the confidence of the players.  Not having to adjust to a different field will help us be able to focus on what is really important: handling the Carthage team and bringing the CCIW semifinals to Bloomington on Wednesday.

Our team continues to plug along, finding different ways to win.  The other night against Webster, we used two penalty kicks, each taken by Mary Karson, to defeat a stubborn Gorlock team.  Mary's final, game-winning PK came with only 1 minute left in the game after Lyndsay O'Brien was fouled in the penalty box after beating a Gorlock defender.  Mary confidently stepped up and buried her second goal of the night to give us the win.  We were playing once again without leading scorer Katie Kelly (ankle), and most of the game without Marisa Johnson (hamstring).  As a result, we have been shifting players around and usually playing a couple of players in 2 or 3 spots during a game.  Everyone is handling the situation well and stepping up to do the best they can where ever their services are needed on the field.

We are looking forward to tomorrow's game and hope we have everyone healthy.

We had an interesting visit to Michigan last weekend, encountering rain, hail, mud, a lost hotel reservation, a cancelled game, but one good win against Hope College.  In easily some of the worst soccer conditions I have ever seen, we managed to defeat the hosts from the Michigan Conference 2-1 in double OT.  The game should really have never have reached OT, as we held a 1-0 advantage with under a minute to go and we had a free kick in our end.  However, we lost the 50/50 ball and the knock down, and Hope quickly countered into our end.  We failed to clear the cross and it fell directly to one of their players who tied the game with 00:42 showing on the clock.  It was a very disappointing turn of events for us, considering the game was well in hand at that time.  Falling asleep as we did allowed them to gain momentum heading into the extra session.

There was good news and bad news in the OT.  First, we found a way to win thanks to a special effort from Lyndsay O'Brien, who beat a couple of defenders down the flank and crossed a ball to Marisa Johnson who tallied the game winning goal after assisting on the Titans first goal in the second half.  The bad news was that Katie Kelly badly sprained her ankle during the first OT.  She missed the remainder of that game, as well as the game yesterday at the U of Chicago, which we lost 2-0.

Not having Katie in the lineup makes a big difference in our team.  In addition to the goals she scores, she enables us to stretch the defense with her pace and forces the opposition to account for her in ways that they don't account for others.  This enables other players to get open and find opportunities to score.  Yesterday, we were only able to create shots from distance and never were able to consistently mount a sustained attack against a quality opponent in Chicago.  That being said, I thought we did as well as we could have in the midfield.  We got caught a couple of times defensively, and while Emily Castner made a couple of very good saves to keep us in the game, we simply allowed Chicago too many opportunities and they took advantage.

We must win our final two conference games against Millikin and Carthage in order to host the semifinal tournament game on November 3.  In between, we play host to Webster University on October 27th.  In order for us to win our next three games and then get ourselves into the CCIW championship game, we need to tidy up our defending and find ways to create goals from other individuals.  With a bid to the NCAA tournament a long shot at best, we can look forward to perhaps playing in a first annual Midwestern Association of Athletic Conferences (MAAC) tournament.  Essentially, this is a post-season tournament for the 8 best non-NCAA qualifying teams, modeled after a similar event in the northeast.  Since this is its first year of existence, we don't know much about the logistics of the event other than it will run concurrently with the NCAA tournament.  As soon as I have any information, I will be sure to post it here.
 
 

We responded reasonably well on Saturday against a not-so-strong North Central team.  Both Katie Kelly and freshman Carrie Walz scored three goals each in the victory.  Lyndsay O'Brien had three assists on the day as well to help lead the Titans to victory.  The win on Saturday extended the Titans home unbeaten streak to 14 games, going 11-0-3 since losing to Wheaton College (MA) in September 2003.  Since 2002, the Titans are an impressive 24-2-5 at home.

We are going to have to find a way to win on the road this week, as we have three games away from Neis Field.  On Wednesday we travel to Aurora which is always a tough place to play.  Then, we head on the road to Michigan to play Hope and Kalamazoo on Saturday and Sunday.  This week will prove to be a good test for the team as we seek to continue to improve individually and collectively coming into the final stretch of the regular season.
 
 

October 4--On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Bloomington, the Titans bounced back from their disappointing midweek loss at Wheaton to register their second CCIW win of the season, 4-0 over the Bluejays of Elmhurst College.  Traditionally, our games with Elmhurst are very tight and over the past three years each game has ended at 1-0 for one side or the other.  However, on Saturday we were very clinical in our finishing and didn't miss any of the chances we got.

Four different people scored for us on Saturday, with Brittany Kirkpatrick, Eileen Ouska, and Stephanie Travers each notching their first goals of the season.  Lyndsay O'Brien got her second of the year as well.  Katie Kelly, while not scoring any goals, helped create two and logged two assists for the day.  Emily Castner needed only three saves to register the shutout.

We begin a busy week with a game tonight against St. Francis University, an NAIA school located south of Chicago.  This is our first meeting with them, and we don't know much about them other than they have been struggling to score goals in their last few outings.  On Wednesday, we'll head off to Dubuque, Iowa for our makeup game against Loras College.  This is an important game for us as Loras is currently ahead of us in the regional rankings and is unbeaten on the season.  Also, since we have had only one road game so far (which didn't go very well at Wheaton), it is important for us to get ourselves right when we are playing away from home.  Loras will present a good challenge for us and I hope we'll be up for it because I know they will be.  Finally, our week ends with a home CCIW game against North Central on Saturday afternoon.  With three league games remaining, we'll need to win them all to assure ourselves of second place in the conference and a home game in the CCIW tournament.

We hope to get healthy and not be distracted by midterm exams and travelling away from IWU.  If we do, I like our chances at getting three good results this week.

September 30--Sadly, we chose the wrong day to have a bad game.  The Wheaton Thunder women's soccer team gave us a beating we hadn't seen coming.  They came out firing on all cylinders and attacked from the opening moments of the game.  It could have been a lot worse, honestly, if not for some stellar goalkeeping from Emily Castner.  At the end of the day, I was glad it wasn't more because it certainly could have been.

Wheaton is extremely athletic, physical, and experienced.  They put us under a lot of pressure and we didn't do a good job dealing with it.  And, they are good enough to punish teams when mistakes are made in the middle or defensive third of the field.  They have three very solid forwards and although the concede space to play in the middle of the field, we weren't sharp technically last night and ended up giving the ball away quite a bit.  That resulted in quick Wheaton counter attacks and multiple chances on goal for the Thunder.

Not helping matters is the fact that we are very injured and ill.  Several of our regulars are playing through pain and sickness.  All of it came to light last night and our shortcomings as a team and as individuals were exposed by a motivated and well organized Wheaton team.

Not all will be lost on the evening for a couple of reasons.  First, last time I checked it only counts for one game.  If it were a win, the same would be true.  However, we must find a way to learn from the evening and just get better from it.  It will be a bit like getting a poor grade on an exam: you know you didn't do well, but unless you learn the correct answers you'll get the same grade the next time out.  We need to get the answers right before our next game against Elmhurst on Saturday.  Secondly, perhaps getting beat badly by a good team will teach the group what is necessary to compete at that level.  I still think we are a solid team, we just need to get healthy, be better organized when we don't have the ball, and take better care of the ball when we are in possession.

We'll put it all out there again at homecoming this weekend and hope for the best!
 
 

September 27--In a game that was not really expected to be all that close, the team dispatched the winless Vikings of North Park 4-0 on Friday night in Bloomington.  Our goals were scored by Katie Kelly (2), Mary Karson, and Lyndsay O'Brien.  All three goalkeepers played and combined to hold the Vikings scoreless.

I was pleased that I was able to get everyone into the game on Friday night, as all of the girls have been working very hard all season long.  Since we play so many tight games against good opponents, it can sometimes be challenging to get everyone playing time.  It is nice to have a game like Friday's in order to let everyone demonstrate to us what they are capable of doing during the heat of a game.

This week we head up to Wheaton to take on the Thunder.  WC is currently 8-1 and defeated previously unbeaten and #1 in the nation University of Chicago last Thursday night.  They are ranked #1 in our region this week and should move into the top 10 in the nation.  However, we are ranked #3 in the region this week (tied with Chicago) and we will be ready for the battle on Wednesday and will certainly head up north with a great deal of confidence after our win over Wash U last week.  Wheaton is a tough place to play with their "spirited" fans not afraid to voice their opinions about opposing teams.  But, I think our team will be looking forward to the game and hopefully will play well.

For homecoming on Saturday, we'll host Elmhurst College, who defeated us 1-0 last season.  This is another game the girls look forward to every year and I am sure Saturday will be no different.  We hope for a big homecoming crowd to cheer us on!

September 22--Soccer is a strange game.  In a span of ten minutes against the #6 ranked team in the nation on Tuesday night, the conversation among the IWU coaching staff went from, "How are we ever going to get through the final 30 minutes under this pressure?" to "Oh my, we are up by 2!"

The Titans withstood a furious 50-60 minute attack from the previously unbeaten Bears of Wash U with some outstanding defending and goalkeeping.  Although Wash U had us pinned in our own end for quite some time and were firing away at will, most of their shots were not dangerous or difficult for our keeper Emily Castner to handle.  Emily handled the routine shot and made a couple of very good stops (including a penalty kick) to keep the Bears off the board, all the while keeping us in the game.  This is one case where the statistics were misleading: the final sheet showed 23 shots by Wash U, but I can recall only 4-5 times were Emily needed to leave her feet to make a save, indicating that many shots were at the keeper or missed the target completely.

Our fortunes changed in the 61st minute when Katie Kelly scored a goal on pure effort.  She turned a potentially harmless situation for the defense and keeper into a goal when she pressured a ball that their keeper came off her line to play.  Katie challenged for the ball and won it from the keeper, then calmly poked it into an empty net for a 1-0 Titan advantage.

Just 8 minutes later, Katie was at it again.  After their keeper had caught a cross on our initial attack, her clearing punt was won by Katie Korder who quickly played the ball to Brittany Kirkpatrick.  Brittany turned and slotted a good pass for Katie Kelly who first timed a shot past their keeper for a 2-0 lead.

We fell asleep just at the end of the game when we allowed a free serve from midfield to find a wide open Bear in the penalty box to cut the lead to 2-1 with 30 seconds to play.  We managed to run out the clock after that and walk off the field with the victory.

In the end it was an excellent result for us.  We have played very good games with Wash U in each of the four years I have been here, going 2-0-2 in that time.  They are an excellent team who has defeated Wheaton, Depauw, and Ohio Wesleyan so far this season.  I hope the team's performance last night will give us some much needed confidence heading into three straight CCIW games beginning with North Park on Friday night.
 
 

September 19--Once again the Augustana Vikings have proven to have our number.  Despite outshooting them, having territorial advantages in both halves, and thoroughly outplaying them in every category, the Titans were unable to get any of their 11 shots on goal past the Viking keeper through regulation and 2 OT's.  While it was not a loss in the standings, it certainly felt like it was in many other ways as we felt we deserved better on the night.

Augustana plays a very discipline 4-4-2 with their back four plus their midfielders firmly camped deep in their end.  Very frequently they will have 6-8 defenders across the top of their box which takes away spaces behind and centrally.  Despite their attempts to keep us at bay, we created numerous chances for ourselves by attacking wide, combination play, and through passes between their backs.  Our finishing and service into the box was not sharp, as often our shots missed the target or shot or passed it directly to the keeper.  This is obviously something we'll be working on this week as we prepare for our next games (Tuesday at home against #9 nationally Wash U, and then Friday night against North Park).

The Vikings are going to make it tough for any team because they are so focused on defending and play with great confidence in the back.  I don't think they will be in very many high scoring games, but will certainly win their share of games given their style of play.  In the grand scheme, this is a good thing for the CCIW as I think Elmhurst, Augustana, Carthage, and ourselves can disrupt the run of Wheaton dominance in the conference.  I don't see many games being one-sided affairs this season, which means we must find a way to win close games.

We'll have our hands full on Tuesday night against Wash U, but we'll be ready when the Bears come to town for the 7:00 kickoff.
 
 

Septemeber 14--The Titans kept their record perfect on the young 2004 season with a 6-1 win over Cornell College from Iowa on Saturday afternoon at Neis Field.  The team received two goals apiece from Katie Kelly and Marisa Johnson, while Mary Karson and Zaya Fusco each added a goal each.

The team played markedly better than the previous weekend, which was good to see.  We possessed the ball better and we were much more efficient and composed inside the penalty area.  We still need to work on a few things defensively, but we are getting better each day.

We are also getting healthier as key starters Katie Korder, Lyndsay O'Brien, and Jenny LaBrenz are now all back in the lineup after missing significant time during the preseason.  With our overall depth a bit of a question mark, serious injuries are going to really be a problem for the team.  We have already lost for the season senior captain Kristin Wood to a torn ACL, so having the others return is an important thing for us.

We have a important stretch of games upcoming, beginning Wednesday at nationally ranked Loras College.  We defeated them in our first game last year and then they didn't lose again until the second round of the NCAA tournament.  They are undefeated this year and have lost only twice in their last 27 games.  It will certainly be a good test for us.  Then on Saturday we open the CCIW season with Augustana College at 7:00 pm.  It will be important for us to get off to a good start in the league with a good performance against the Vikings.  Then, next Tuesday we host nationally ranked Washington University, who have already defeated four nationally ranked opponents this season (Wheaton, DePauw, Ohio Wesleyan, Dennison).  Come next Wednesday, we will have charted a pretty definite course for our season; hopefully that course will be headed towards success in the league and in the nation.

I think we learned a lot about ourselves this weekend as we were challenged by two physical teams.  As is the case often in the early going, we missed several really good chances to score more goals and make the games a bit easier on ourselves.  However, as I reflect back to only a year ago, I think our start was very similar.  We played well enough to get the results we want, but know that we must be better to accomplish our team goals.

The bright spots for the weekend were that players who we will look to be our goal scorers (Katie Kelly, Marisa Johnson, and Mary Karson, etc.) did their job by scoring big goals for us.  We did a decent job at being dangerous and outshot both of our opponents.  Defensively, our backs did a really good job, especially Ashley Goergen who played as a center back in place of injured Jenny Labrenz for the first time in her career.  She did a great job, as did newcomer Taryn Hegi and senior Kristin Wood who was playing her first games in the back.  Jessa Pyzyna came off the bench to give us a lift as well.

We need to work on several things before our next game on Saturday against Cornell College of Iowa.  We would like to be better at finishing and need to do a better job of dominating the middle of the field through possession of the ball.  The first Central Regional rankings are out and they look like this: 1. Chicago, 2. Wash U (who defeated Depauw and Wheaton last weekend), 3. Loras (who we play on 9/15), 4. Wheaton, 5. IWU.  If anyone has any question at the difficulty of our schedule, one need to look no further than the regional rankings.  All four teams currently above us will face off against our Titans at some point during the season.
 
 

The Titan soccer team is getting prepared to open its 2004 season this weekend with participation in the 2nd annual Titan Soccer Classic.  This year, the Titans will face off against two Michigan teams, Calvin College and Albion College, in hopes of repeating their championship in the first soccer classic in 2003. (For a full press release story regarding the Titans fall season, please click here )

We have been working hard so far in preseason and have discovered quite a lot about ourselves so far.  We have played two scrimmage days, first against the Naperville Soccer Association Under 18 team.  Due to a driving rainstorm, we played the game in the Shirk Center as a 10 v 10 game.  All things considered, it went well and we ended up winning 3-1.  We followed that up with scrimmages against FC Barrington and #3 ranked Depauw University last weekend.  We essentially played two different units in each of the games to get everyone a really good look.  Against Barrington, the 60 minute contest ended in a 0-0 draw, although we did have a penalty kick saved late in the game.

The Depauw game showed us much about our team.  We ended up losing 5-1 to a very good team who reached the NCAA final four last season.  We aren't quite there yet, but Saturday was merely a milepost on our long journey that will hopefully have us reaching the NCAA tournament in November.  But, if we are to accomplish that goal, we are going to have to be much better at dictating tempo of games, finishing our scoring chances, and defending against restart situations.

Althought the result wasn't what we would have hoped for, I would much rather have this occur now than later.  Also, better to have played and lost against really strong competition in the preseason than simply play a team we know we can handle and not learn anything about ourselves that will make us a better team.

We are looking forward to the challenges of the season ahead and hope to kick off the campaign with two great performances this weekend in front of the home crowd.
 
 

We will welcome 8 new faces into the fold in the fall as memebers of our freshman class.  For those who have been paying attention to the IWU Sports homepage you have already seen the list of newcomers.  For those of you who have only been checking the soccer site, here is a list of the Class of 2008:

Name                        Hometown                    High School                        Position
Amanda Cordes     Naperville, Ill.                 Neuqua Valley HS             Goalkeeper
Taryn Hegi            Wheaton, Ill.                   Wheaton North HS            Defender
Jackie Kofod         Glenview, Ill.                  Glenbrook South HS          Defender
Megan Lucke        Libertyville, Ill.                Libertyville HS                   Midfielder
Jessica Pryor         Bettendorf, Iowa            Pleasant Valley HS             Forward
Megan Rynne       Oak Forest, Ill.               Marian Catholic HS            Defender
Carrie Walz            Bloomington, Ill.            Browning Academy (UT)    Forward

Our squad will number 27 players in the fall, making it the largest group we have had on the team since my arrival.  I am sure that the new players will add a dimension of depth and competitiveness to an experienced team that returns 20 upperclassmen. It should make for an exciting season!

We are already working on the Class of 2009, believe it or not.  I have been recruiting so far to tournaments in Indianapolis, Rockford, and Naperville.  Additionally, we are starting a girls' residential camp this summer in conjunction with the coach at Illinois State.  We are expecting about 75 high school girls to be on campus this summer, many of whom have expressed interest in IWU.  We have also had several girls make unofficial visits to campus this month.  With seven members of the team graduating next fall I am going to work hard to have another top class of players join the team in the fall of 2005.

Our schedule is up to date on our web site so please plan ahead to make as many games as possible this fall.  We have a great deal of unfinished business to attend to so hopefully the team will be up for it come August.  Once we get rolling again I will keep this site updated with information about the team and game reports.
 
 
 
 
 
 

                    Ann Bernard named  All-American Third Team
     First IWU Titan ever to earn All-American status

Senior midfielder Ann Bernard was named to the Division III NSCAA All-American third team for 2003, becoming the first Titan soccer player ever to earn such a distinction.  After being named All-Central Region for the second consecutive year, the four-time Titan Most Valuable Player was recognized as one of the top women's players in the nation.  All of the All-Americans, including all NCAA divisions, NAIA, and NCCAA, were recognized at a banquet at the national soccer coaches convention in Charlotte, NC this past weekend.  (If you would like to view all of the All-American teams, go to www.nscaa.com, click on the awards link and navigate your way to the Senior College Women section.)

Ann and her parents were able to attend the luncheon with me last Saturday and, I must say, it was wonderful to see her walk across the stage representing the IWU soccer program.  I think it is a great accomplishment for the women's program to have helped produce one of the best players in the country.  Obviously, Ann did a great deal of the work herself.  Her work ethic and commitment have been unparalleled over the past four years and I only hope it was not lost on the players who are still in the program.  While our team accomplishments will always precedent over individual honors, having players recognized for their accomplishments hopefully speaks to the type of environment we have created here at IWU.  From the time players are being recruited until the time they graduate, we talk with them about the importance of individual and collective improvement.  They hear quite often how it is an expectation for Titan soccer players to hold themselves accountable and to the high standards associated with Titan soccer.  Our philosophy is partially based on the idea that if everyone does their job in terms of preparing themselves to perform to their abilities, our team will benefit.  That has certainly been the case since 2001, few typify this better than Ann.
 

        Titans Place Seven Players on All-CCIW First and Second Teams
                        Senior Ann Bernard leads way with fourth First Team Selection

After a disappointing end to the the playing season, the Titans' post-season honors began to roll in with the announcement of the conference awards.  After a 6-1 record in the regualr season and a share of the title, the team was pleased to learn that seven of its players received recognition from the coaches in the league.

Three members of the team were named 1st Team All-CCIW.  Senior Ann Bernard was on the team for the fourth consecutive season; senior Lauren Boegen closed out her career as a first-team defender (she was second team in 2002); and striker Katie Kelly was named to the first team for the second consecutive season.

Four members of the team were selected to the second team.  Defender Jenny Labrenz was honored for the first time, as was midfielder Lyndsay O'Brien; Mary Karson and Marisa Johnson both made repeat appearances on the all-league teams (second and third times for each).

It was really nice to have our players recognized for their efforts.  I am often reminded that the girls are not going to remember the awards but instead the experience.  I guess I always want the best for them and since I know how hard they work everyday, I get more disappointed or excited about their awards.

While thrilled for the seven who received their honors, I was disappointed on two accounts.  First, I thought that our goalkeeper Emily Castner was well-deserving to be recognized.  She only conceded 1 goal in CCIW play all season and had 7 shutouts, including one over Wheaton.  I guess I don't know what more a player has to do!  She is certainly deserving and I would not trade her for any other keeper.  She will always be first team in our book!

Secondly, I was disappointed that the Player of the Year wasn't a Titan.  I thought we had two legitimate candidates in Ann and Katie, both of whom I consider to be better than the person who won the honor (not that I think she is a bad player, just not as good as either of ours).  To me, a Player of the Year honor should go to the most outstanding player in the conference and I don't believe this year's winner was the best player in the CCIW.  But, as was the case with Emily, I would not give up Ann or Katie for any five players in the league.

I am hopeful that our players have more recognition on the way with the regional and national honors forthcoming.  As those are announced, the comments' page will be updated with the results.