2009 Soccer Preview
8/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 20, 2009
Second year Southern Miss soccer coach Scott Ebke is surrounded by optimism entering the 2009 season, which begins Friday afternoon at the Southern Miss Soccer and Track Complex against South Alabama.
Ebke and his squad have worked hard to improve from the 2008 season which saw the Golden Eagles amass a 5-13-1 record.
To accomplish the improvements this team wants they will depend on their veteran leadership, mainly 10 returning starters and seven seniors to lead the charge.
"This team has really put fourth the work this spring and summer to come back fit, numerous players went back to play in their summer leagues over the break and reported back to campus game ready," Ebke said.
To take the necessary steps that the team would like to take, they will have to replace All-Conference forward Sarah McFadden, who is one of the top two or three players to ever don the black and gold. But McFadden has not left the program she is serving this season as a student assistant coach while she finished her degree.
The Southern Miss coaching staff came in last season just a month before the team was supposed to start preseason camp. As they head into 2009 there is much more of a comfort level between the players and coaches, as each knows what to expect out of each other at this point.
"Last year was a complete unknown heading into fall camp, we really had to learn each player and what they could do to help our team and each one of them had to adjust to a different coaching style. This year there is much more of a comfort level with everyone on the same page."
As the 2009 season approaches the experience of the 19 returning players will be one of the main keys for 2009, led by the seven seniors who know what it takes to compete at the division one level.
"This senior class has really stepped up and shown incredible leadership. All seven of them came back very fit and determined to make a positive change for this program. All of them will play different roles with this team and they all have the respect from their teammates as they lead by example both on the field and in the classroom. They are a truly special group of players."
The front line will feature Jana Mason, who moves up top from the midfield, and true freshman Tricia Tillman, both of which have shown the ability to attack the goal this preseason.
The midfield will be led by Renee Hrapmann and Sam Polley both of which played a lot of minutes last season. Southern Miss should be a lot more organized and athletic in the middle this season with the players able to get up and down the field much better.
The backline was very solid in the spring season surrendering only two goals in five matches. Organization will again be the key and Ebke feels the players have a lot more understanding of each other. The biggest advantage will be the connection with the keeper.
In the nets Southern Miss returns a three year starter in Holly Cox and she is being pushed very hard by sophomore Hanna Vanderboegh, throw in true freshman Lindsey Schwaner and the Golden Eagles appear to have three solid players between the pipes.
Ebke thinks that in addition to the experienced players returning from last season the four true freshman could help the team out this season.
If the team hopes to improve from last season the schedule proves to be a challenging one.
"Our non-conference schedule is very challenging this season," Ebke said. "We have matches scheduled against numerous regional teams that are very good and very well coached. It should be a good challenge before the C-USA season starts."
Southern Miss will host South Alabama and Nichols State before traveling to LSU. The Golden Eagles return home to play Southeastern Louisiana and Ole Miss before traveling to play in the Tennessee Martin Tournament.
The regular season closes out with in-state foe's Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State.
The black and gold open the C-USA regular season by hosting defending champion Memphis and UAB before traveling to East Carolina and Marshall. The home portion of the schedule closes with Colorado College and UTEP.
The quirk in the schedule is that the Golden Eagles will play their final three weeks on the road at Houston, Rice, Tulsa, SMU and UCF.
"Last fall we did not win our games at home like we should have, this year we really have to defend our home field much better," Ebke added.
As the regular season ends Southern Miss hopes to be one of the teams that has qualified for the C-USA tournament, which will be a little more difficult this season since only the top six teams in C-USA will advance instead of the eight that participated in previous seasons.
"This is one of the most cohesive teams I have been a part of in 14 years of coaching. I am very excited to start this season," Ebke said. "We made it out of camp injury free and I think a lot of that is because of how fit everyone came in. We are excited to kick it around with someone else now."