Women's Soccer Preview
July 24, 2006 03:12 PM | General
July 23, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- After six comes seven, and that’s just what West Virginia University head women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown hopes the 2006 season brings– a spot in the NCAA tournament for the seventh consecutive season.
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| Ashley Banks is one of eight returning starters for the Mountaineers in 2006.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Eight starters and 12 letterwinners from 2005 return to help the Mountaineers on their continued quest for excellence. However, only two of that group are seniors and only four more have junior status leaving Izzo-Brown with a nucleus of experienced youth leading West Virginia into its 11th varsity season.
Cathy Abel, who can play either forward or midfielder, and goalkeeper Lana Bannerman are the Mountaineers’ only seniors. The final on-field links to the 2003 Sweet 16 season, veteran coach Izzo-Brown feels they are going to play a pivotal role in the success of the upcoming year.
“Both are going to be invaluable for leadership,” the 11th-year head coach says. “They have experienced so many different things and have had so much success here at WVU. Their freshman year they played a role in our run to the Sweet 16 and they are going to have to step up and continue to lead this program in their final season.”
Abel, a native of Flemington, N.J., played in 21 matches as a freshman and has been a regular starter in the midfield the past two seasons. Look for her to get into the attack more as a senior and become a threat to opposing defenders.
Bannerman has started every match of her career in goal and is the West Virginia career record holder for shutouts with 25. She is, without question, the most experienced Mountaineer on this year’s squad. The Naperville, Ill., native and daughter of retired hockey star Murray Bannerman, is also on pace to claim the WVU career goals against average record. Izzo-Brown is looking for her to continue to make the saves expected of her, but to also make the save that’s going to keep her team in the match.
“There’s no pressure on Lana heading into the season,” Izzo-Brown explains. “We only expect her to continue to do what she’s always done here – play hard and be a leader from the back.”
On the forward line, the Mountaineers return six individuals capable of competing for a starting spot. Last season, Kim Bonilla, Deana Everrett and Kiley Harris each earned starts alongside graduated goal scorers Rachael Minnich and Marisa Kanela. This year, expect each of them, along with junior Ashley Banks, to vie for the starting nod. Kanela led the Mountaineers in scoring in each of the last two seasons, so her role as an offensive threat is up for grabs.
“Our forward line has a lot of versatility and depth,” explains the two-time BIG EAST coach of the year. “We’ve never really had that before and I’m looking forward to seeing from whom and how our offense is going to come. Any one of those six or seven can score goals for us and I fully expect that they all will.”
Alongside Abel, Banks and sophomore Amanda Cicchini are returners in the midfield. Both were second team all-conference honorees in 2005 and Izzo-Brown expects that they will continue to develop as solid play makers. Banks, the 2004 BIG EAST rookie of the year, was the Mountaineers’ second leading scorer as a sophomore and whether as a midfielder or a forward, will be expected to continue her role as a scoring threat.
“Banks has a mentality to go hard every moment of every game and that has to continue for us,” adds Izzo-Brown. “She must continue to score goals and become an on-field leader.”
Cicchini started every match in her rookie season and effortlessly made the transition to collegiate soccer. She’s a fluid midfielder with outstanding field vision; the central cog in the wheel that spins between offense and defense.
“Amanda Cicchini has proven herself at the collegiate level,” says Izzo-Brown. “She is an impact player and at times a dominant player. I just want to see her work hard and be confident in her game.”
One spot remains open on the midfield line and Izzo-Brown says sophomores Lisa DuCote and Greer Barnes, along with highly touted newcomer Carolyn Blank, are each in the running for the job. DuCote earned a starting spot in the midfield as a freshman in 2004, but tore her ACL minutes into her first match as a Mountaineer and last spring, suffered the same injury to the opposite knee. She’s healthy for 2006 and is looking to impact her team’s play. Barnes saw time in 13 matches for the Mountaineers last year, but was also hampered by a preseason injury. She, too, is healthy and eager to see more time.
Defensively, three starters return in junior Natalie Cocchi and sophomores Krystle Kallman and Robin Rushton. Together, the three were thrown into the fire last year and each survived and matured nicely, leading the Mountaineers to nine shutouts on the season. Izzo-Brown anticipates that their game experience from 2005 will pay dividends this fall.
“Having three players come in with no game experience at the collegiate level in the backline is very difficult,” says Izzo-Brown. “All three suffered some growing pains last year, but I think the experiences that resulted from those will be invaluable this season.”
The Mountaineers must find a replacement for four-year starter Kambria Riggins whom they lost to graduation. Sophomore Michelle Molinari and incoming freshman Nicole Mailloux, a club teammate of fellow Canadians Cicchini and Everrett, will compete during the preseason for that final slot. Redshirt freshman and Morgantown native Stephanie Burgess was slated to be in the mix but suffered an ACL injury earlier this summer and her status for this season is uncertain.
Five newcomers join the Mountaineers in 2006, each looking for a spot on the field. The class is headlined by Blank, a Toms River, N.J., native, SoccerBuzz tabbed one of the Top 50 recruits in the country. She boasts loads of national team experience and can play the center midfield or center back positions. Joining Blank are West Virginia natives Miko Alley and Jamie Kocher, Mailloux and Rachel Dahlstrand, a speedster from Erie, Pa.
The mix of returning Mountaineers and newcomers will encounter a schedule that boasts 10 matches at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium as well as some of the toughest competition in the country. West Virginia opens the season at the James Madison Invitational with matches against Richmond and JMU. Conference foes Pitt, Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, Connecticut and Providence visit Morgantown as well as regional foe and 2005 Elite Eight participant Virginia. WVU’s road slate isn’t any easier either, as the Mountaineers travel to 2004 national champion Notre Dame and 2005 Final Four participant Penn State.
“With this schedule, and any schedule for that matter, our goal is first and foremost to be playing our best soccer at the end of the year,” Izzo-Brown says. “We seek to get better every day and with every game in order to be peaking at the end of the season.
“If we are playing our best soccer at the end of October and beginning of November, we will have put ourselves in a great position to compete for a BIG EAST championship and to make a run in the NCAA tournament.”
