Ball State University Athletics
2005 Soccer: The Secret to Their Success
August 11, 2005 | Soccer
The formula for success for the 2005 Ball State women's soccer team entails a series of objectives, according to seventh-year head coach Ron Rainey. The final goal is an appearance in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
Rainey's recipe to achieving this goal includes three steps.
"Our program has gotten to the point where our main goal should be to go to the NCAA Tournament," said Rainey. "Within that, there are several steps. One is to have everyone come in fit and ready to play. Two is to have a good preseason and preconference start to the Mid-American Conference schedule. Three is to have a successful conference tournament and bring a MAC Championship to Ball State."
In order for those steps to be accomplished, Rainey believes his greatest strengths will be how well the team plays defensively as a team of 11.
"We will strive to be competitive all over the field. Our job as coaches is to explain to each player her role and position.
"There will be a great battle for minutes this year and our practices are going to be very competitive. We may very well have four or five different lineups to start out the season."
"Our greatest challenge will be to fill the roles of players who departed, while also giving the team a chance to develop its own personality. We graduated a senior class whose players were in pretty set roles. We are going to rely on people to step in and fill those minutes. Every year, one of the challenges a team faces is how well you can replace what you lost in your senior class."
Two of those who will be counted on will be Alison Becker and Rachael Murphy, who will vie for time in the goalkeeper position.
"Both Rachael and Ali are back again this year. We want to make it an open competition for the two. If someone steps up and earns all the minutes, they'll play 90 minutes. If it is equal, they'll split time. In the spring, it was good to see Ali and Rachael competing."
Becker returns to the squad after an impressive 2004 season. Her 0.74 goals against average, nine shutouts and 0.862 save percentage ranked first in the MAC.
The defender position will be relied on heavily this year. Returning for the Cardinals are 2004 starters Sarah Maxwell, Krista Mitts and Betsy Wilcek. The trio helped the BSU defense allow a league-low 16 goals and a 0.80 goals per game average, while helping the team tie for most shutouts (9).
"With Sarah, Krista and Betsy as returning starters, they will be people we rely on a lot this year. Lindsay Martin and Rachel Reed will be vying for time, as well as freshmen Jen Vilkoski, Sarah Schumaker and Leah Johnson. The biggest strength of our defense is how coordinated they get with each other in a short amount of time."
Several players are also returning in the midfield position. Laura Bandy, Gretchen Echelbarger, Amy Holst, Vandi Ogden, Brenda Skoczelas and Beth Meyer will bring some experience to the playing field.
"It will be interesting. We are sliding Angie Heyer into a midfield position to start preseason. There have been times in the spring where we looked at playing with just three people instead of four in the midfield and three people up top instead of two. You have starters like Vandi and Amy, and returners such as Laura and Gretchen, who will make that position competitive. Freshmen like Annie Aiello will come in and vie for time. If we do play with three in the midfield, it will be important to coordinate their movements to give us more chances in the attacking third, while also defending like we do."
All four returnees in the midfield position played in all 20 games last season. Holst amassed four goals to tie for second on the team and chipped in two game-winning goals, which ranked second on the squad.
With the loss of 2004 All-MAC First Team selection Dee Nocero and the 2004 Cardinals' leader in assists, Kate Nadalin, the forward position will be the most interesting battle.
"This will be the most competitive area for us in the preseason. The two people who have come back with some playing time are Sarah Leibel and Lindsay Wiltshire. Those are the players who have experience in there. They will be leaned on even more for scoring goals this season. Lindsay will also be asked to take on a leadership role as a captain. Bailey Decker, Emily Rein and Katelyn Alexander will also vie for time in this position. If our forwards can play at a high level and push each other in practice we will be as productive as we were last year."
When looking back at last year's highlights, the wins and staying competitive in the conference were items that stick out in Rainey's mind.
"Beating DePaul and Detroit were awesome feats. The win against Indiana down in Bloomington was also a great accomplishment. I like how we stepped up in scoring goals and allowed fewer goals than the previous season. However, one area that I remember a great deal was losing in the shootout at Western Michigan in the conference tournament. One way for us to learn from the outcome is to defend our lead better. If we can work on improving in that area, our chances of returning to a shootout situation will diminish.
"One of the main goals in playing the opponents in our schedule is to prepare ourselves to be competitive in the conference. Dayton will really show us our strengths and weaknesses and Loyola University Chicago will give us a chance to play somebody new. In MAC play, the 12 teams will all be battling to get in the top eight in order to compete in the conference tournament. There will be four teams left out that will be very solid teams. Our main goal will be to step out and compete well against all 11 league opponents."
With the foundation in place and the personnel capable to take each step forward, the goal of the NCAA Tournament is within reach for the 2005 Ball State women's soccer squad.
