Aug. 23, 2001
WACO, Texas - In his third season at the helm of the Baylor soccer program, head coach Nick Cowell has his players ready to capitalize on the energy a young team brings and catapult themselves to the top of the Big 12 Conference in 2001.
On first glance, the team is definitely a youthful one, but it is a young team with experience. Although the roster includes only two seniors and three juniors, the Bears return seven of 11 starters from 2000, when the team finished fourth in the conference and barely missed a third-straight NCAA appearance. The projected starting line-up breaks down relatively evenly among the classes, with two seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen.
"We're returning seven starters," Cowell said. "Those people that we do have, although they don't have a lot of experience, do have the positive of having started last year. They know what's it like to play against top-20 teams and in the Big 12 Conference." The 2001 edition of the Bears will feature more speed than any of Cowell's previous teams, and with that comes a more aggressive offense.
"One of our strengths is that we will have the ability to play fast, and to play fast all the time, because of our depth," Cowell said. "We will be much more of an offensive threat because we will have a more balanced attack than last season, when opposing teams were able to key in on one or two players. Last year, if you could shut down Molly [Cameron] and Emily [Fukuchi], then you pretty much shut down our whole team. This year, that won't be the case.
"Our speed this year excites me, because we had very little speed up front last year, and that dictated our style of play. This year, with more speed, we can do a lot more attacking."
That offense may take some time to gel, as only one forward returns from last season's front line. Sophomore Emily Fukuchi, the Bears' second leading scorer in 2000, will anchor the forwards. Baylor will likely feature three starting forwards in 2001 (compared to two last season), as the team looks to be more offensive-minded.
Sophomore Barbara Torres, who sat out last season after transferring from Georgetown, will be joined by true freshmen Sarah Dearing, April Robertson, Ginny Rosario-Tull and Kristin Ruef and by redshirt freshman Katie Peterson. As a whole, the group presents a deep but inexperienced attack.
"Look at North Carolina," Cowell said. "Part of the reason they are so successful is the depth of their bench, they can substitute and have no noticable disparity. With soccer being such an aerobic sport, performance drops if you wear out a player. This depth will help us in that area, especially since we are looking to run more this year."
A strong core group returns to the midfield. Senior co-captain Alyson Miles will play on the left, with junior Whitney Barrett on the right and a combination of sophomores Candace Reilly and Ryan Lee in the center. Redshirt freshman Janae Potter and true freshmen Hilary Aylesworth, Megan Briscoe and Lori Viggiano will look to get significant playing time, as well.
On defense, Baylor returns a pair of all-Big 12 honorees in junior Tamura Crawley and sophomore Melissa Humke, along with senior co-captain Rachel Kacsmaryk. Crawley earned a first-team all-conference selection as a freshman, then was named to the second team in 2000. Humke was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team last season.
After playing primarily at forward as a junior, Kacsmaryk returns to defense, where she began her career at Baylor. The three returnees will have competition from sophomores Casey Cleveland, Stephanie Dempsey and Erin Freeman, plus a nunber of freshmen.
"Our defense should be stronger this season, thanks to the experience," Cowell said. "If we play three defensive players at the back, we have to be better coordinated and more communicative than last season. With Kacsmaryk, Tamura and Melissa, we should have that."
In goal, the Bears will have a new look in 2001 for the first time in five years. Sophomore Emily Koch and freshman Mel Pannell will try to fill the shoes left by former all-America goalkeeper Dawn Greathouse, who started 80 of Baylor's 83 games during her four years.
"Emily and Mel are expected to compete for the starting position," Cowell said. "I'm excited to have two accomplished goalies here to be able to train with each other and compete. In the past, we really only had Dawn.
"I know Emily can play goal for us. The only question is how much Mel will compete for the position as a freshman."
The team will have to play up to expectations, because it will be competing in one of the most difficult conferences in the nation -- the Big 12 Conference.
"Eight of the 11 teams have a legitimate shot at making the NCAA Tournament," Cowell said of his competition. "Baylor, Nebraska, Texas and Texas A&M will all be up there again. A number of teams have improved their squads -- Kansas, Oklahoma. Colorado has a new coach who was with successful teams at Duke, so they should be improved as well.
"Our goals are to win the Big 12 Conference, to win the Big 12 Tournament, to make the NCAA Tournament and to go further than we have before," Cowell said. "Except for Nebraska, we have beaten every team in the Big 12 at least once in the past two seasons. We know we can succeed." Before hitting their conference schedule, though, Baylor will face a tougher non-conference schedule than last season. Four of the Bears' first six opponents made the NCAA field of 48 in 2000: Arizona State, Furman, San Diego and Southwest Missouri State.
"That makes for a very healthy non-conference schedule, but all games we can win," Cowell said. After finishing fourth in the Big 12 last season with a team that included 16 freshmen, Baylor will have an even younger team in 2001. Yet Cowell looks at that youth as an advantage.
"We are even younger this year than last, but that is a big positive for us, because we have the excitement and energy of the freshmen and sophomores rubbing off on the rest of us -- even the coaches," he said.
"Each year, you have different people step into new roles, that's the nature of college athletics, that every year you have essentially a new team. New players come in, old players leave. That's an exciting aspect of college sports -- you're not quite sure who will step into those leadership roles."
Only time will tell. Baylor begins the 2001 season with a scrimmage against SMU on Friday, Aug. 25, the regular season kicks off the following weekend as the Bears host the Baylor Labor Day Classic.
