Whatever it Takes
September 22, 2004 04:09 PM | General
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| Kane |
Senior women’s soccer player Laura Kane enjoys life. She does so by embracing a laid back nature and rolling with whatever comes her way. So this past May when the first leg of her flight to Brazil, one with a connection in Chicago, was lazily circling O’Hare Airport, unable to land due to inclement weather, she wasn’t too bothered by the fact that she was going to miss her flight. Nor was she overly agitated by the fact that she had to pay for her own hotel room because the airline doesn’t put up customers who miss their flights due to uncontrollable weather conditions.
It wasn’t until she arrived in Brazil - a day late, with no luggage and had to borrow a teammate’s cleats and buy socks and shin guards in order to suit up for a match against the United States U-19 national team utterly exhausted - that she first began to be upset.
Invited to the tournament to play on a team of Brazilian all-stars, it was the chance to compete against her fellow countrywomen that pushed the Pottstown, Pa., native to accept the offer. In a foreign country, wearing foreign shoes, West Virginia’s all-BIG EAST forward laced up and faced the challenge. In doing so, she forgot all about her fatigue and her lack of personal belongings. She was playing soccer, the game she loves, and none of the travel nightmares mattered.
When it comes to soccer, it is Kane’s uncanny ability to forget everything else and focus solely on the game and the task at hand that makes her one of the leaders on this year’s Mountaineer squad. On a team that graduated a pair of two-time All-Americans last year, she knows the vitality of her role; that it will take leading by example and instilling her sense of focus in all her teammates to ensure success.
“I’m really excited for the season,” says Kane. “I think it’s going to take all of us coming together as a team to be successful. There’s no one person, no superstar that we have to look up to. It’s going to be neat because everyone’s going to contribute this year.”
A major contributor throughout her entire career, Kane was the team’s second leading scorer as a sophomore, and last season she paced the Mountaineers in goals during conference play. She has started all but one match during her career and has the experience that comes with three years of play in the NCAA tournament, most recently in the coveted Sweet 16. The physical education major is the most battle-tested Mountaineer on this season’s team, but she hasn’t always been as prepared.
As an incoming freshman, Kane was a highly touted recruit. She had the skills and the talent to become a Division I star. She thought she had the fitness, but she was wrong. Having spent the summer between the end of high school and the beginning of college training for her first year of collegiate competition, Kane felt prepared for her first day of preseason. She set out for her two-mile test in good spirits. She finished 45 seconds over the passing time and fell to the ground weak-legged and nauseous.
It was the first time she was unprepared. It was also the last. Since then, Kane has developed into one of the BIG EAST’s most dangerous forwards. With great field vision, she has a knack for finding the extra pass that leads to the easy goal.
For the past three seasons, her sightlines often led to a Chrissie Abbott goal. While Kane certainly acknowledges that playing alongside the former Hermann Trophy nominee for two years helped her develop, she’s ready for the challenge of building a new chemistry on the forward line.
“Playing next to Abbott definitely helped me,” adds WVU’s starting forward. “I learned how important the relationship between two forwards is. I could play off her strengths and she could play off mine. That kind of chemistry is really important for a team, and I’m going to make sure I do the same for whoever plays alongside me this year.”
Playing with someone new will be an adjustment, but it is a change Kane eagerly awaits. There will be times when she’ll take a shot she would have passed up in her previous three seasons. Despite her love for the assist, she’s a deadly goal scorer. Her statistics show one goal scored for every six shots taken. Providing offense, in all of its aspects, will be her primary mission.
“When I play, all I think about that is that I am part of a team,” explains Kane. “Whatever is going to get our team to win, whether it be to score a goal myself or set up one of my teammates, that’s what I am going to do.”
Lainie Guiddy is the assistant sports publications director in the WVU Sports Communications Office
