Women's Soccer Team Gears up for 2005 Campaign

SYRACUSE, N.Y-- The SU women’s soccer team enters the 2005 season looking to improve on last season after missing the eighth and final play-off berth finishing in ninth. The Orange will look to a group of experienced veterans and a talented group of newcomers to lead it into post-season play. To do so, the team will have to meet the challenge of facing some unfamiliar opponents.

The BIG EAST conference got a facelift this off-season adding five new members to the conference (Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida) and waved good-bye to another (Boston College).

SU head coach Patrick Farmer, who last season went 8-9-2, 2-7-1 in his first season at SU, expects the conference to be far stronger this season than in years past and feels that the new look will be very beneficial for both the conference and the SU program.

“A number of those teams added in the Midwest are on the rise,” he said. “The expansion of the conference gives us a new market for showing the conference and for broadening our recruiting.”

With the added depth in the conference, Farmer has adjusted his goals for this season in that the team will be aiming specifically at qualifying for the BIG EAST Tournament in late October.

“We have to be a little better at deciding our own fate,” said Farmer who enters his 16th season as a collegiate head coach. “We were in a lot of games last year and didn’t do a good job closing out the close ones. If we can play with a little different tone we will get in the BIG EAST Tournament.”

The Orange will also face the challenge of replacing 13 players lost to graduation last season. The departed senior class accounted for 17 of the team’s 24 goals including three of the top four goal scorers.

The experience of those players will be missed but Farmer feels very confident in the talent he has returning in addition to the 12 newcomers. Expect the Orange to experiment with trying some players in new positions to spread experience around the field.

Though the team’s overall goals have been simplified, the expectations within the program are no different. With the talent of the returnees and the talented group of freshman coming in, anything short of a BIG EAST Tournament appearance will come as disappointment to Farmer.

“I’d be really disappointed if we don’t make the conference tournament,” he said. “I didn’t like the feeling of not having a game last year where everything was on the line. We have to keep our expectations very high. The biggest factor to our success will be how the team meshes together.”

Forwards

Offensively, the Orange has lost some speed from last season but goal scoring isn’t a concern. Junior Molly McManus is the team’s top returning goal scorer after scoring three goals last season to go along with two assists. McManus’ underlining moment of 2004 was a game-tying goal against eventual National Champion Notre Dame. Joining McManus up front could be Senior Brooke DeRosa who has played as a midfielder in her three previous seasons with the Orange. DeRosa scored one goal last season, while assisting on two others.

“Molly is a great striker of the ball and is very feisty,” said Farmer. “Brooke is a very dynamic player and had great off-season workouts. She has enough variety in her technique and is hard enough where she can score some goals up the middle for us.”

Joining the two veterans up front will be freshman Amanda Arcuri. Arcuri scored 108 goals in her high school career including 48 in her senior season at Clarkstown High School. Senior Nikki Spartano is also a potential option to play up front. Spartano brings experience to the line-up after playing in 13 games last season.

“Amanda is probably coming in a little further ahead than most freshman do and I expect her to be very effective,” Farmer said. “It would be great to see Nikki come out and play well because if she plays at a high level then we may be able to keep DeRosa in the midfield.”

Midfield

The SU midfield may be the biggest question mark heading into the 2005 season as many of the returning midfielders could convert to other positions. DeRosa would be the most experienced player in the midfield but might be needed for her offensive fire power up front. Sophomore Jen Taormina is a likely option in the midfield after playing in 11 games for the Orange last season. Senior Sheila Menz, who made one start in 12 games played last season, is also a possible starter in the midfield.

“Jen had very good spring workouts and is becoming a very good distributing midfielder,” Farmer said. “Sheila has been playing as an attacking midfielder but I would rather use her in the back.”

Looking to share time with the upper classman will be a pair of incoming freshmen, Sara Grimsgaard and Samantha Hawn, each of whom has great midfield potential. Grimsgaard was a two-time All Shore selection at Red Bank Catholic High School in Eatontown, N.Y, while Hawn was named Monroe County Player of the Year playing at Spencerport High School in Spencerport, N.Y.

“Sara has a great shot at starting in the midfield as a defensive or holding midfielder,” said Farmer. “Samantha has been playing well every time I’ve seen her. Our midfield will be very young and we’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.”

Defense

Defensively, the Orange will be young but very solid. Many spots remain up for grabs in the backfield with senior Jenna Richter being the backbone of the defense after scoring two goals, while leading the team in minutes a year ago. Menz could also see playing time in the backfield.

A group of freshmen will be challenging for starting positions on defense including Sara VanSickle and Karrah Benson who already have quality experience playing together as they spent the summer playing on the same club team. Lauren Cappelli has also displayed talent in the backfield and will see a good deal of playing time.

“Our backfield players are all trained very well,” said Farmer. “We have a lot of depth back there. Whoever is the toughest minded will help shape the backfield.”

Goalkeeper

The Orange lost standout goalkeeper Shannon Myers to graduation, however, senior Emily Kowalczyk is a very experienced and talented tender who has slated over 2,000 minutes in goal for her career. The native of Dayton, Ohio has 117 career saves and a career goals against average of 1.79. Backing up Kowalczyk will be Candice Hofmann who didn’t see any time last fall but did have an impressive spring and continues to show solid development.

Schedule

The Orange will face a highly competitive schedule this season, most notably in BIG EAST play. SU opens the season Aug. 26 when it travels to play Fairleigh Dickenson. The team’s home opener is slated for Aug. 28 as the Orange play host to Hartford.

The team will open BIG EAST play on Sept. 17 against a highly competitive St. John’s squad. Other key conference games include West Virginia on Sept. 23 and Connecticut on Oct. 7.

“The St. John’s game is a very interesting one because its our first conference game but it’s a game where I look ahead to the end of the season and I could see both of us vying for one of the final play-off berths,” said Farmer. “The UConn and West Virginia games jump out at me as key games as well. They are both very good teams that we played very tight with last season and we get to play them at home which is a great opportunity.”

Other games headlining the Orange schedule include a trip to New Mexico September 9-11 where the team will take on Arizona State and New Mexico. The team closes out its conference schedule with road games at Marquette and South Florida Oct. 21 and 23.

Syracuse University Athletics

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