Saving Her Best For Last
October 02, 2007 05:11 PM | General
By Chris Marshall for MSNsportsNET.com
September 28, 2007
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| Ashley Banks |
The Annandale, Va. native played predominately as a midfielder in her first three years in Mountaineer program, but a switch to forward before her final season in Morgantown has been beneficial to both Banks individually and her No. 22-ranked West Virginia team.
“On my club team I played mainly forward so I am just kind of getting back into it. Obviously I played outside midfield for three years and now I kind of had to relearn the position a little,” Banks said. “It’s working well. My teammates and coaches have made it pretty easy. They are working well with me.”
Banks started the first 11 games of last season before being sidelined with an MCL sprain. Now fully recovered, and confident in her new position, she has seen her production increase tremendously. Last year Banks contributed 15 points all season. This season, through eight matches Banks leads the team with 15 points, is first in goals scored with six and is tied with Kim Bonilla for second on the team in assists with three.
That increase in productivity has come as no surprise to Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown.
“It is really no surprise to me how successful Ashley is this season. I think we would have seen that last year from her if she had not been injured,” Izzo-Brown said. “Injuries are part of athletics and it comes down to how an athlete deals with it and she handled it well.”
Banks is happy to be playing the best soccer of her career but she insists that individual statistics and achievements are the furthest thing from her mind.
“It doesn’t really matter how many points I have, it matters how the team ends up and if we get that win,” Banks said. “It’s not about individual statistics at all. That’s pretty much the last thing I think about.”
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“We want to win the BIG EAST Championship. We’re hosting it so we want to be there playing in our own stadium at the end,” Banks said. “Obviously the NCAA Tournament is always a huge goal for us. As an individual goal, I just want to do whatever I can to contribute to those team goals.”
To accomplish those goals, West Virginia (5-3, 1-0) will have to maneuver through a mine field of BIG EAST opponents in the regular season. The Mountaineers have played a brutal early schedule, facing Penn State, Texas A&M, and Virginia in attempt to prepare for the conference schedule.
“Every team we’ve faced has been really well prepared and a very good team. BIG EAST play is very tough,” Banks said. “We have played some really good teams and we have learned from the losses. Hopefully we can take what we have learned into the next games and keep building on the successes we have.”
Izzo-Brown is proud of her senior captain’s production and doesn’t expect her play to slow down any time soon. Banks will continue to be a key cog in the West Virginia attack.
“She is having a great year so far and just keeps getting better and better,” Izzo-Brown said. “Her leadership and production has been and will be a key to our success this season.”
Banks is cherishing every moment on the field in her final season, savoring every kick of the ball, every challenging tackle and every one of her monstrous throw-ins that she puts in play.
“It’s important that I go out there for every game and give it my all. I really want big things for this team,” Banks said. “I think we can go far and being a senior there is extra motivation knowing there is no tomorrow. It’s just a different kind of feeling being a senior.”
