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Eyes On The Prize - UCF's Senior Keeper Aline Reis Will Be Looking to Lead Her Team To Another League Title in 2011

What was once one of the nation’s most blessedly unpredictable leagues has now taken on an air of inevitable familiarity after a relative duopoly at the top in the past half decade. Central Florida has won three of the last four league titles, while Memphis has stormed to four consecutive Conference USA Tournament championships. While some of the natural restructuring of the league, with teams like Marquette, South Florida, and Charlotte among others leaving for greener pastures has drastically altered the landscape in the league, it’s also hard to ignore how concentrated the power has been at the top in the past few seasons.

Amanda Cromwell’s UCF team has been a threat from day one since moving into the league and has brought home four of six C-USA league titles since joining up for the 2005 season and has never finished below third place in their six seasons in the league. With some great talent from both abroad and domestically and further expansions to their stadium, it’s hard to not see this as something of a golden age in UCF soccer. The Golden Knights gave UCLA all they could handle on the road in the NCAA Tournament last season, and it’s conceivable that there’s more to come yet from Cromwell’s ever improving side.

Of course, UCF is still looking for the one piece of conference silverware that’s eluded them in their tenure in the league, the C-USA Tournament title. Maddeningly, the Golden Knights have lost to Memphis in the last four editions of the tournament, three times in the final, and having gone all four matches without scoring once on the Tigers. Memphis will be looking for their fifth straight conference tournament title and will also be looking for their own league title in 2011 as well. The Tigers did the double in both 2007 and 2008 but have fallen short in the league in the two seasons since. Memphis could also do with some of UCF’s proficiency in the NCAA Tournament. Despite those four straight C-USA Tournament titles, Memphis hasn’t won a game in the NCAA Tournament with the auto bid in any of those years and were shown up quite badly by Oregon State last season. Brooks Monaghan’s team will be desperate to change that in this year’s postseason journey.

Is there any hope for the rest of the league this year? Fallen giant SMU could be on the way back up thanks to some young and promising talent but still look at least another year away from challenging for honors in the league. There have also been positive strides from Rice and Houston, with the former perhaps most likely to cause a real shock in the league hierarchy if some of the Owls’ young talent comes of age quickly. There are also encouraging signs at Tulsa, where the Golden Hurricane may be ready to make a breakthrough with some nice young players of their own.

More than likely though, we’re looking at another two horse race, and the title should be decided on October 23 in Orlando when UCF and Memphis go to battle once more.

(Teams listed in order of final 2010 RPI ranking.)

Something approaching mid-major college soccer royalty at this point in their history, CENTRAL FLORIDA have been thriving in the equivalent of a new Golden Age under their longest tenured coach in their history, Amanda Cromwell. UCF was a contender from the very start in the NCAA era, actually a finalist in the first NCAA sanctioned finals in 1982. Under Jim Rudy, the Golden Knights also reached the Elite Eight in 1984 and got back to the College Cup once more in 1987, Rudy’s last season before leaving for UMass. After five years of future Georgia Head Coach Bill Barker brought two more NCAA Tournament appearances, Karen Hoppa, current Head Coach at Auburn took over as the program began life in the Atlantic Sun.

A long string of trophies followed, with the club bringing home three league titles and four A-Sun Tournament titles in Hoppa’s six year reign, though the club could only manage one appearance in the NCAA Tournament, in Hoppa’s final season in 1998. In stepped former U.S. international and University of Virginia playing legend Amanda Cromwell. Despite splitting time between WUSA playing duties and coaching the Golden Knights, Cromwell still found the time and energy to lead UCF to four A-Sun Tournament titles and continued Hoppa’s streak of league title triumphs to three in 1999.

Though the Golden Knights were dethroned in 2000, Cromwell brought three more league titles back to Orlando in the years following. Perhaps most importantly of all, Cromwell got UCF into a position of being consistent qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament, getting to the second round in 1999 before beginning a new four year streak of qualification from 2001-2004 that saw UCF get to the second round again during the final year of that four season stretch. After forever being the big fish in the small pond in the A-Sun, Central Florida finally moved to a bigger conference in 2005, as Conference USA came beckoning.

The Golden Knights would make it look easy in the league in their first season, winning the league title but seeing postseason success elude them for the first time in a long while as they failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000. 2006 was a trophyless season, and UCF ended up out of the Big Dance again, leading some to wonder if the conference move had cut into the Golden Knights ability to be perennial NCAA Tournament challengers. It was the last year critics asked those questions as Cromwell’s spurred her side on to become Conference USA’s flagship program.

The Golden Knights entered 2010 having won two league titles in three seasons and having advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three campaigns. In particular, 2009 had been a banner year for Cromwell and co., as they recorded wins over Duke and Florida State and a draw with LSU in the regular season en route to a league title and another second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. UCF had earned a national seed for the NCAA Tournament but was shipped north to Wisconsin in any event, possibly a factor in curtailing their season as they lost to the host Badgers in the second round of the Big Dance.

About the only thing UCF hadn’t done under the watchful hand of Cromwell as of late was lift C-USA Tournament silverware as the Golden Knights had not won a conference tournament since entering the league, something which they obviously wanted to rectify entering into 2010. UCF started the year out with a tough 2-0 defeat at home in Orlando to state rivals Florida before reeling off four straight wins, including triumphs over San Diego State, USF, and Harvard. A hot blooded rematch with Florida State followed, with UCF’s emotional 1-0 win over the Noles still resonating in everyone’s minds. A revenge minded FSU took this encounter, 3-1, and UCF may have been suffering a hangover from the loss as they drew with Arizona on the road in their next match.

It served as a big wake-up call for the Golden Knights though as they obliterated a previously highly fancied Arizona State team in Tucson, 5-0. Cromwell’s team went their first six in league play unbeaten, including a 1-1 draw at Memphis in the league’s fiercest rivalry. The Golden Knights were looking reasonably good for the title until a surprising 1-0 defeat at Colorado College brought them back to the field a bit. UCF wouldn’t slip up in the league again though, destroying it’s last four opponents by a combined scoreline of sixteen goals for and one goal against. The winning streak was enough to see them pip Memphis to the league title by two points, their third such triumph in four seasons.

In the C-USA Tournament, UCF would handle SMU for the second time in two weeks in the semi-finals, setting up another title showdown with the Tigers. But with a chance to break their long conference tournament duck, the Golden Knights would falter again, losing 1-0 to their conference arch-rivals and being forced to watch the Tigers celebrate their fourth straight conference tournament title on home turf. There was little time for the Golden Knights to get down on themselves though, as UCF found themselves with a national seed once again.

But they also found themselves being shipped out again, this time across the country to Los Angeles and an unenviable task of being in a regional with UCLA and BYU. After dispatching of Fresno State in reasonably easy fashion, UCF squared off against the homestanding Bruins and fought tooth and nail with the home side. Two goals on either side of halftime put UCF in a hole though, and despite a much better second half and a seventy-sixth minute goal, the Golden Knights couldn’t find an equalizer and saw their season end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.

As has often been the case in their history under Cromwell, Central Florida will again go into battle this season with an eclectic and interesting mix of internationals, transfers, and players rashly overlooked by bigger schools. It’s worked very well for UCF for the last decade and looks like putting the Golden Knights in with another chance at silverware this season. Cromwell’s side had an attack that lit up their C-USA rivals like a Christmas tree last season and left their closest pursuers in the attacking table in the dust. The Golden Knights put at least two goals past eight of their eleven league opponents and were only shutout by one, Colorado College, in the regular season.

Many of those attacking threats from last season return, but the team will have to without the services of the prolific Kim Newsome. Newsome was a super sub in 2009 after transferring from Polk CC after two NJCAA All-American seasons. More was expected from her after UCF had lost some key offensive contributors prior to 2010, and Newsome responded with ten goals and seven assists. Newsome’s six goals in league play were tied for tops in the conference, and the senior’s five game winning goals were best on the Golden Knights.

Newsome was only second in points both on the team and in the league to teammate Tishia Jewell, who does return as a junior for 2011. Jewell was a revelation last season after a fairly innocuous season coming off the bench as a freshman. The breakout striker hit double digits in both goals (ten) and assists (twelve), including six goals and eight assists in league play. Jewell’s finest hour might have been against Arizona State in UCF’s big win, scoring twice and assisting on a third for the Golden Knights in their comprehensive victory. Jewell took home a well deserved C-USA Offensive Player of the Year after the season, and there’s no reason to think she’ll stop scoring, even if Newsome isn’t there any more to take some of the pressure off her shoulders.

One contender to step right into Newsome’s shoes is streaky junior Nicolette Radovcic, who started the year ice cold, without a goal in fifteen matches but then went supernova in her final eight matches, scoring all six of her goals. She also added five assists and scored both goals against Fresno State in the NCAA Tournament. If she can grab onto some consistency, she could give UCF a nice one-two punch with Jewell. Also gone is super sub Amanda Martorana, gone after four goals and seven assists, mostly off the bench for the Golden Knights. Among those added to the mix this year is Jennifer Martin, a big forward with good one-on-one skills who can also double as a midfielder and who could work their way into the rotation early in the season for Cromwell’s side.

The forwards will be ably supported by a midfield that is led by Katie Jackson, who stepped up into a starting role as a junior and flourished as one of the region’s top midfielders. With six goals and seven assists, including three match winning strikes, Jackson helped establish another dimension to UCF’s dangerous attack. The midfield is balanced out by senior Stacie Hubbard a three year workhorse in the center of the park who does the dirty work for the Knights as a physical presence in the middle. Sophomore Kristina Trujic became more involved later in the season in a starting role after mostly functioning as a reserve early and responded with three goals and three assists in a solid freshman season.

Kent, England native Katy Ling could also see an increased role after two goals and three assists last year as a top reserve, while Andrea Rodrigues could do likewise another year removed from a major injury that shortened her 2009 season. New to the midfield mix are freshmen Madison Barney, sister of Florida’ scoring star McKenzie and a physical and powerful presence in the air, and Megan Fish, another big body to throw in the middle of the park.

Though the defense didn’t quite dominate the league like the offense did last season, they were good enough on most days and have plenty of options to throw out onto the field this season. The defense has a mix of hard nosed youth and continental class, a composition that worked very well for Cromwell’s side last season.

The top prospect on that backline this year looks to be German Bianca Joswiak, a flying full-back with experience on the U20 team, making her one of the highest rated Germans to come abroad in recent seasons. Joswiak was a marauding threat up the flank right from the time she stepped into Orlando as a freshman in 2009 and broke through with three goals and eight assists in a wonderful sophomore season that probably has her name popping up on professional scouts’ radars on two continents. Joswiak saved much of her best form for late, throwing in assists in UCF’s last four league games before scoring the Golden Knights’ goal against UCLA in the NCAA Tournament. She figures to be everpresent once again on the backline this year and could be one of the most exciting full-backs in the country to watch.

Another European import who’s made an impact in Orlando is sophomore Sokhara Goodall, an England U23 international and a former member of the Chelsea Ladies’ setup. Goodall started fifteen matches last season as a freshman and will undoubtedly get better with age and experience in UCF’s system. Two American products also played big roles on the Golden Knights’ backline last year as well. Marissa Diggs looked like one of UCF’s best recruits going into last season and didn’t disappoint, earning C-USA All-Freshman Team honors along with C-USA All-Second Team honors. Diggs, in addition to being a stalwart defender already, is a set-piece threat with her aerial ability. Ashley Nicol was also a starring figure in the backline despite her youth, starting all twenty-three matches for UCF last season, only one of three Golden Knights to do so.

The unit does lose utility player Lauren Halbert and Christina Petrucco, but the likely starting foursome is still amazingly young, with Joswiak the elder stateswoman as a junior. With two more seasons together in all likelihood, this rearguard has the potential to develop into something very special for Cromwell.

Speaking of special, that’s only one word that can be used to describe senior Aline Reis, quite possibly the greatest 5’3″ goalkeeper on Planet Earth. How good is Reis? She was a Second Team All-American as a redshirt freshman in 2008 and has hardly looked back since, beginning 2009 on the Hermann Trophy Watch List. Reis has usually saved her best form for the biggest matches, shutting out Florida with eight saves in 2008, shutting out Illinois in the same season, making nine saves to shut out Florida State in the famous victory over the Noles in 2009, and making seven saves to shutout Arizona State in 2010.

The Brazilian keeper is thought of highly enough by her country’s international setup to have trained with the full national team in recent years and figures to have a professional career somewhere if she so desires. Reis’ size is more than made up for by her blindingly quick reflexes and shot-stopping ability and her fearlessness in coming for crosses and high balls, something her taller contemporaries in college often struggle with. The fact is, if Reis was half a foot taller, she’d probably be an early round draft pick in the 2012 WPS Draft, but she might just make it there anyway as the very talented exception to the rule that all professional goalkeepers have to be towering behemoths. Reis’ one Achilles’ heel is that she has proven a bit injury prone in the past, missing time in the past two seasons for the Golden Knights, something Cromwell and UCF supporters will be desperate to see her avoid in her senior season.

Backup Jaclyn Meade has graduated, leaving a mad scramble for the spot in the depth chart behind Reis. Maryland transfer Lianne Maldonado, a former U.S. youth international looks a likely candidate for the job, with Florida Atlantic transfer Ashley Parrinello and freshmen Connie Organ, Jessica Varitek, and Diana Manis also in the mix.

Things are generally looking up for the Golden Knights program and their boss. UCF will be playing in a newly renovated stadium this season that may go some way in ensuring the odds of them being forced on the road in the event they claim a national seed are lessened, although with Florida and Florida State in the immediate vicinity, one gets the sense that the Golden Knights may always be fighting an uphill battle against their bigger state rivals. On the pitch, UCF looks like the class of the field once again in Conference USA, with only Memphis like to challenge their dominance at the top of the league.

The Golden Knights are well rounded with one of the best keepers in the country in goal and a dangerous attacking threat in Jewell up top. UCF is also blessed to have Cromwell at the controls, one of the most highly regarded college coaches in the game and one with a U20 World Cup winners’ medal in her back pocket as an assistant to Tony DiCicco in the U.S.’ 2008 triumph in Chile. Cromwell has become part of the furniture in Orlando with the Golden Knights, but given her past coaching work with the youth national team setup and diplomatic work with U.S. Soccer recently, you get the feeling that UCF may not be her career end destination.

A lot of that may have to do with when she feels she’s taken the Golden Knights as far as possible, and four straight second round eliminations in the Big Dance may indicate that UCF is coming dangerously close to hitting their ceiling. But with talents like Jewell, Reis, Jackson, and Joswiak on the books and Cromwell calling the shots, the best may be yet to come in Orlando.

MEMPHIS‘ postseason magic failed them in a big way come 2010′s NCAA Tournament. The Conference USA Tournament masters got a cruelly tough draw in the first round, coming up against an Oregon State team that was criminally unseeded. And unfortunately for Brooks Monaghan’s Tigers, the defense that had served them so well throughout 2010 deserted them as Oregon State’s powerful offense painted a masterpiece at Memphis’ expense, throttling the C-USA Tournament champs, 5-0.

It was one of the few setbacks Memphis has experienced in recent seasons under Monaghan’s leadership. The Tigers have transformed themselves from C-USA makeweights to perennial title contenders in fine style. Monaghan was an assistant during the early unsuccessful years under Les Szabo and took over in the head chair at the turn of the millennium. Monaghan’s early years in charge were no better than Szabo’s tenure, the program bottoming out in 2003 with a five win season and thirteenth place finish in a fourteen team league.

Since then, it’s been full steam ahead for the Tigers who haven’t had a non-winning season since. After three straight seasons of improvement in the league, Memphis finally hit pay dirt in 2007, winning the double for the program’s first two major trophies to go along with their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. A second double followed a season later in 2008, as it appeared that a new giant was emerging in Conference USA. The league title was wrested away from Memphis’ grasp in 2009, but they schooled UCF in the Conference USA Tournament final, winning decisively, 3-0.

A win in the NCAA Tournament eluded the Tigers once more though, and with a veteran team returning, Memphis certainly had that on their goal list coming into 2010, along with perhaps getting their league title back from the Golden Knights. The Tigers opened up very well, winning three in a row, including shutout victories over Samford and LSU at home. Monaghan’s side would travel out to Oklahoma State and be narrowly beaten by the Cowgirls before reeling off three more wins, including toppling SEC foes Alabama and Ole Miss, making them 3-0 against the conference for the season. But in their final test before league play, Memphis was stunned by TCU, getting smoked by the Horned Frogs, 3-0.

The effects of the loss seemed to linger for a little bit as the Tigers only won one of their first three league matches, dropping a road game to UTEP before coming home and fighting rivals UCF to a 1-1 draw. It was the catalyst to an eight match unbeaten streak to end the league season. Draws at Tulsa and at home against Houston saw Memphis drop just enough points to finish two points behind UCF in the final league table, but nobody doubted the Tigers’ ability to walk away with another postseason trophy in the Conference USA Tournament after the Tigers’ exploits in recent seasons.

Memphis successfully navigated the semi-finals, beating Houston to setup a rematch of what has become one of the great mid-major rivalries in all the land in recent years. Monaghan’s club would prove to have their rivals’ number in the postseason once again, edging their nemesis out for the 2010 crown, 1-0, lifting their fourth straight C-USA Tournament title in the process. It was a testament to the amazing turnaround Monaghan has conducted in Memphis, but the heavy defeat to Oregon State showed that the Tigers still have a little ways to go until they can claim they’ve reached another level in the world of college soccer.

Monaghan’s side might feel that last year was something of an opportunity spurned, even with the tough first round draw, because the Tigers returned a bulk of their talent, something they won’t have the luxury of this season. The biggest loss is that of midfield maestro Vendula Strnadova, a Czech Republic international who was a wizard with the ball at her feet. The heartbeat of the Memphis offense, Strandova’s scoring prowess took a bit of a backseat in 2010 as she turned into more of a distributor, dishing out seven assists to go with her four goals. Also gone from midfield is Laura Laufenberg, who had the grave misfortune of blowing out her knee in 2009 after a star making season a year before. Laufenberg was never really the same for the Tigers after coming back in 2010 but was still a valuable veteran presence who started fourteen matches for Memphis.

Coming back in midfield are a couple of players with real talent in Strnadova’s younger sister Alena, along with senior Lizzy Hildebrandt. Not quite the player her sister is yet, the younger Strnadova, a Czech Republic youth international, nonetheless showed impressive flashes of potential in her freshman season, chipping in with three goals despite missing five matches for the Tigers. Her continued development could be a key factor in how Memphis’ future is shaped. Hildebrandt, a Canadian U20 international, enters 2011 as a three-year starter and one of the team’s veteran leaders. She’s good for a few goals a year and is also versatile enough to play on the backline as well for the Tigers.

There are also some real promising newcomers checking into Memphis for Monaghan. One will be a player the staff is already familiar with, in Missouri native Kelley Gravlin, one of the team’s top recruits last season who redshirted last year. True freshman Sarah Daane is a midfield hammer who is not afraid of the rough stuff, giving Memphis a physical dimension to the midfield that Monaghan feels had been missing in recent seasons. Another signing in midfield looks like a real coup for the Tigers, as they were able to bring in Mexican U20 international Natalia Gomez-Junco late in the process. Fans of the international game may already remember the Mexican freshman from her goal in the quarterfinals of last years U20 World Cup, and she should bring another touch of continental class to a side that has been infused with Canadian talent as of late. Gomez-Junco could also be a factor up front, where Memphis would like to show a little improvement this season.

The Tigers went into 2010 believing they’d have a first-rate attack with Ashley Berra coming back as a senior after a stunning 2009 campaign that saw the Cordova, Tennessee product score fifteen goals with eight assists in an All-American campaign. But Berra couldn’t replicate that form last year, falling back towards her pace of her first two seasons with six goals and five assists. It wasn’t a complete disappointment, but it was still a little underwhelming given Berra’s success of a season prior.

The new hopes look to be junior Taylor Isenhower and sophomore Rasheeda Ansari. A perfect combination of big and strong with little and quick, the duo showed signs of coming into their own last season in the Tiger attack. Both were nearly identical with both tallying five goals and three assists with three match winning goals apiece, although Ansari was the better of the duo in league play. Though both are undeniably talented, it remains to be seen whether either can take the scoring burden upon their shoulders as a team’s #1 option after serving as sidekicks to Berra last season.

Fifth year senior Melissa Smith has battled some injuries to add depth and had only one goal last season but made it a big one, the winner against UCF in the C-USA Tournament final. Swift sophomore Christabel Oduro is another of Memphis’ Canadian Legion and saw time as both a midfielder and forward last year, and the Canadian U20 international could be another contender to star up front for the Tigers this year. Another Canadian newcomer, Kylie Davis, comes in highly regarded and could be a starter as a freshman for Memphis after breaking into the U20 team recently and was a part of Canada’s traveling party for last year’s U17 World Cup. The offense was still pretty good last year, really just behind UCF, but the Tigers would still love for one of their young cubs to step up and take the #1 scorer role by the scruff of the neck this year.

Even if it’s goalscorer by committee again this year, the defense, tops in C-USA last year, looks steely again. The only expected loss is Krista Turner, a converted forward who turned into one of the team’s most reliable defenders in her final few seasons with the Tigers. The crown jewel of the Memphis defense is senior center-back Lizzy Simonin, a former C-USA Freshman of the Year who added a C-USA Defensive Player of the Year award to her mantle last season after another great season following an injury hit 2009. Capable of contributing both offensively (she scored nine goals in her freshman season) and defensively, Simonin is certainly a prospect on WPS radars coming into 2011.

The veteran defender will certainly have some talented teammates to work with this season. Christie Kline broke into the starting lineup as the season evolved and looks like a starter at center-back going into preseason camp this season. Junior Averi Hallman went from attacking threat as a freshman, with seven assists, to defensive dynamo as a sophomore, starting all twenty-two matches for the Tigers, one of just three players to do so. Canadian utility player Tara Telford, who started eighteen matches as a sophomore in 2009, should also see her fair share of minutes this season. Added to the mix is another Canadian U20, Alex Craig, who could see time anywhere on the backline and is a powerful threat in the air and tough tackling Texan Sam Watson, who figures to be a depth player at center-back but has a lot of potential for the Tigers.

In goal, Memphis can be happy with the knowledge that they can rely on two seniors who’ve seen starting time in between the pipes in their career. Elise Kuhar-Pitters is back for a fifth season for the Tigers and will be looking to solidify herself as one of the league’s best keepers in front of one of the league’s best defenses in her final season of collegiate action. Fellow senior Jordan Boyle is a fine understudy who filled in capably last season in Kuhar-Pitters’ absence and went 3-0-1 in her four starts as a junior. Monaghan also added freshman Becca Brown in this year’s recruiting class, and the Texan looks like the program’s goalkeeper of the future, though this season will probably be spent learning from the bench.

The Tigers might not have quite hit the heights expected of them going into last season, but a fourth straight conference tournament title still isn’t bad. Memphis’ duopoly at the top of the league with UCF doesn’t look to be changing this year either, although the rest of the league is making steady strides towards the fierce rivals. Monaghan has established a great pipeline into Canada and has eagerly been stockpiling Canadian talent, facilitating the Tigers’ rise into a mid-major power in the last half-decade. The defense looks just as fearsome as ever going into 2011, but the losses of Berra and Vendula Strnadova from the attack could blunt some of Memphis’ bite going forward this year. Inevitably, Memphis still looks like challengers for C-USA silverware on both fronts again in 2011 and could be trouble for somebody in the NCAA Tournament given the right draw.

SMU Head Coach Brent Erwin was in an unenviable position as he took the reigns of the Mustangs program before the 2007 season. The program out of Dallas had monopolized the league title across two conferences over the past seven seasons, reeling in seven consecutive league titles beginning in 2000 in the WAC under George Van Linder and ending in 2006 in Conference USA at the tail of John Cossaboon’s reign. Not that the success had started with those two men. Current Florida assistant Alan Kirkup had built SMU into a mini-juggernaut in the mid-eighties and early nineties before conferences were in style. Kirkup’s reign culminated in a 23-1-1 season and the first and only trip to the College Cup in program history in 1995.

Success lasted through the reigns of Greg Ryan, Van Linder, and Cossaboon to the tune of ten league titles, seven conference tournament crowns, and twelve NCAA Tournament appearances. Although their status as top dogs in Texas was slowly usurped by Texas A&M;, the Mustangs were still a viable force and Top 25 calibre team by the time Cossaboon left the program after the 2006 season. Erwin was something of a gamble by SMU upon his hiring having had no head coaching experience in the women’s game, the first Mustang coach you could say that about since Kirkup more than a decade ago. Erwin had however been a head coach at the college level on the men’s side of the game with UCF and had SMU ties having been an assistant for the powerhouse men’s side in the past.

Whether that was all going to translate to his new role was the big question. To say the early results were alarming would be an understatement. The Mustangs fell to ninth in the league in his first year in charge, snapping the program’s league title streak in addition to the program’s six year NCAA Tournament streak. 2008 wasn’t much better as the program could only rise to eighth and finished with a 6-13-1 mark, the worst season in program history. 2009 was almost as bad at 7-11-1, the second worst season in program history. SMU had just crept into the postseason that year, but there was no doubting that Erwin was on the hot seat going into 2010.

Making matters worse was the fact that Erwin and SMU were being sued by one of their current players at the time, Emily Hairston, for fraud and breach of contract in a wrangle over unfulfilled scholarship promises. With the plaintiffs claiming NCAA violations in their suit after alleging Erwin asked Hairston to help recruit other players to the Mustangs, Erwin was likely on very tenuous ground entering into the new campaign.

The season started out decently enough with a 3-1-1 mark, including a draw against Oregon in Eugene. The result that really began to turn a few heads though was the program’s win over New Mexico, who were having a banner year. Expectations faded a little after the team dropped their first C-USA matches though to state rivals Houston and Rice. SMU got that momentum back though with five straight victories to reignite their postseason hopes. The stretch run would be unkind to Erwin’s team though as they went 1-2-1 over the final few weeks of the regular season. In this case, the draw was worse than the losses, as the team slipped to a 1-1 result at home to Tulsa which likely cost them more than defeat to Memphis and UCF.

SMU entered the Conference USA Tournament very much on the bubble for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, riding that New Mexico win and no bad losses for all they were worth. The Mustangs were played to a stalemate by Rice though, prevailing on penalties, which helped their cause in that they were still alive but also hampered their profile since it went down in the books as a draw. SMU faced a likely all-or-nothing semi-final against UCF with victory likely meaning a return to the NCAA Tournament and defeat probably ending their season. The Mustangs couldn’t rise to the task though, losing 2-0 to the C-USA champs. Indeed, on Selection Monday, SMU were quite likely in the pool of one of the last five teams out of the Big Dance. Fourth in the league and no NCAA Tournament probably wasn’t what SMU fans dreaming of the glory days had hoped for, but it was enough to save Erwin’s job. For another season at least.

Lost in all the speculation over Erwin’s job status and the turmoil in Dallas is the fact that there was and is some fine talent stepping onto the pitch for the Mustangs. The problem facing SMU is that the very best of that talent are the two starters that depart this season. Though the Mustangs’ defense was middle of the road on the whole, SMU was able to boast one of the league’s best defenders in Lauren Shepherd. A constant on the backline for four years for the Mustangs, Shepherd added some offense to her repertoire in 2010, tying for the team lead in assists with six.

The team can fall back on returning senior defender Kaitlyn Eidson who had a breakout season last year, starting every match and leading the team in goals with five, all in league play, with three of those going down as match winners. It might be a little much to expect such an offensive display from Eidson again in 2011, but she should still be a force to be reckoned with at both ends of the pitch this year. SMU also returns another senior defender, Katherine Cox, who isn’t quite the offensive threat Eidson is, but who still managed to start every match for SMU last year. Erwin will also be hoping for the continued growth of youngsters Katie Bass and Courtney Smith, talented youngsters from the 2010 class that featured prominently at times for the Mustangs last season. To that group, SMU also adds in Loyola (Ill.) transfer Amelia Ambrose, who started ten matches for the Ramblers last season as a freshman.

In goal, senior Courtney Webb looks set to monopolize the minutes between the pipes once again. Webb took control of the job as a freshman in 2008 and hasn’t looked back since, playing every minute in goal for the Mustangs over the past two seasons. The backups are untested redshirt freshmen Lauryn Bodden and Meg Stewart.

Offensively, SMU must overcome the loss of key midfielder Kristin Medeiros who fully bloomed into a quality player last season, leading the team in points with three goals and six assists last year. Medeiros did most of her damage in league play with eight points and her production could be hard for the Mustangs to replace. A key player in SMU’s offense could be sophomore forward Amanda Burgardt. Tipped to be a major contributor coming into Dallas, Burgardt, a U.S. youth international at U15 level, lived up to the advance billing with four goals and an assist and was second on the team in league goals with three. Her continued development will be a key factor in whether SMU’s offense can keep up with the league leaders in C-USA.

SMU will also be looking for more from big junior Shelby Hartweck who has teased with glimpses of greatness in two seasons as mostly a sub so far but who could take a step forward for the Mustangs this season. Others returnees in line for a fair amount of minutes include Kenzie Scovill, who endured a bit of a sophomore slump after six goals in 2009, junior Ryanne Lewis, and senior Logan May, who has scored three goals in each of the last three seasons for SMU. Added to the mix is touted prospect Briana Gaines from the powerhouse Mustang SC club out of California who won an ECNL National Title in 2010. Gaines is strong and quick and could be a contender for minutes up front right from the start of the season.

Midfield could be all about the youngsters for Erwin and co. Jessica Bartol came in highly vaunted as a member of the U.S. U17 team and was a fixture in the starting lineup for the Mustangs until suffering a serious knee injury after seven matches. Getting Bartol back to full health and form could be a major part of any success SMU has this season. Starters Taylor Robinson and Mallory Baum also return to the fore, as does junior reserve Allegra Nigh, though none of the above really proved to be an offensive force last year. Added to the mix this year is U.S. U20 midfielder Rikki Clarke, a major addition from big time Texas club Solar SC. An attacking midfielder with technical skill to spare and the ability to run the show from midfield, Clarke’s addition could go a long way in replacing Medeiros in the lineup this year.

SMU is rife with young players full of potential which makes for a promising future but an unsteady present. Erwin has to be under pressure to deliver results right now considering the history of the program and the scrutiny he’s been under in recent months. But unless the youngsters grow up in a hurry, it’s very difficult to envision SMU putting together any sort of title challenge against the more established contenders in the league and a run at an NCAA Tournament spot is equally dicey. The younger players on the roster have the capability of getting SMU back to the successes of the past in a few seasons. Whether Erwin will still be in Dallas leading that charge could be up for debate though.

It was a long time coming, but HOUSTON finally made a breakthrough in the fourth season of Head Coach Susan Bush’s reign. The Cougars had been the equivalent of a program in a catatonic state for the better part of a decade before 2010, stuck in the nether regions of Conference USA on a year-to-year basis. The Houston program had started out promisingly under Chris Huston but was rocked when Huston decided to make the shocking move to cross-town rivals Rice to start up their program after two seasons with the Cougars.

Her replacement, Bill Solberg, was never able to get Houston even close to getting over the hump, with just one winning season in seven years with the Cougars and no seasons with double digit wins. Ex-North Carolina player Susan Bush was drafted in before the 2007 season to try and get Houston back on the right track. But after three seasons, tough questions were being asked of Bush after a trio of dreadful campaigns in which the Cougars lost double digit matches and only won three matches in 2007 and four in 2009.

Entering into 2010, it was hard to not look at the campaign as a potentially make-or-break season for Bush after the Cougars had finished under the two hundred mark in the final RPI rankings in two of her three seasons in charge. Houston didn’t exactly need a title challenge, but they did need something to show that progress was being made under Bush. A non-conference schedule with more than a few gimmes certainly helped the Cougars pad their record and stats and didn’t exactly reveal much about Houston and where they stood in C-USA before league play started up. Houston’s best non-conference win was at UTSA, a solid side but still one the Cougars should beat more often than not. The Cougars also drew with TCU and lost to Baylor and Stephen F. Austin. The signs were mixed, but on that form, it wasn’t looking likely that Houston was going to challenge the leaders in the league.

But the league’s schedulers threw the Cougars a bone with four home matches to open up C-USA play, and Bush’s side took full advantage, winning all four and keeping four clean sheets in the process. The road would prove to be less kind though as Houston only took a point from its first road weekend in C-USA play, losing to UCF before somehow drawing with woeful Southern Miss. Back at home though, Houston was just fine, beating East Carolina and Marshall to all but wrap up a spot in the C-USA Tournament. There was even an outside bet at a title challenge if they could just hold their form on the road. It wasn’t to be though, as the Cougars lost to UAB but still managed to squeeze out a draw against league powerhouse Memphis before a scoreless draw at Rice in the city derby left them in a solid third place in the standings at the end of the regular season.

It was Houston’s first trip to the postseason since 2005, and they would break some more barriers down, beating Marshall in the first round of the C-USA Tournament for their first postseason win since 1999. A rematch with Memphis loomed in the semi-finals, and though the Cougars would fall, 1-0, it hardly wiped away the overwhelming success of 2010. Bush had led the program to their best season ever and had erased the doubts that had formed over her leadership of the program in the process.

The obvious mission now for the 2010 Conference USA Coach of the Year is to prove that last year’s renaissance wasn’t just a one off. That task will be quite a bit more difficult without the services of the Cougars’ star forward Lauri Byrne. Much like the rest of her teammates, Byrne had enjoyed three rather unremarkable seasons at Houston before breaking out in a big way in 2010. Byrne’s eight goals and two assists made her one of C-USA’s preeminent scoring threats, even if those numbers were inflated a tiny bit by Houston’s non-conference schedule.

The big question is to who is going to replace the lost offense for the Cougars. Sophomore Sami Sackos is one contender, having tallied five goals and three assists last season to finish second on the team in points and also led the team in match winning goals with four. Sackos did most of her work in non-conference play though, only tallying once in league play. Jessica Zavalza, who started in her first two seasons with the Cougars before turning into a super sub last year might slide back into a starting role and has shown scoring potential in the past with five goals as a freshman. The lack of depth up front means that Houston might thrust freshman Alexis Weaver into duty early, with the Chino, California native possessing great pace and acceleration while being able to play in multiple positions across the pitch.

With so much uncertainty up top, the Cougars might need to rely on their midfield to get the offense going in 2011. Midfielders Kylie Cook, with three goals and three assists as a freshman, and Kaci Bush, who started the finals seven matches for Houston last year, were the only players besides Byrne to score multiple goals in C-USA play and could be looked upon to do more of the same this year. The Cougars’ best returning midfielders may be the ones that aren’t likely to get as involved in the offense, with Katelyn Rhodes already stamping her authority on the league as one of C-USA’s best midfield generals, while Jasmine Martinez was also impressive as a freshman in seventeen starts. Other returnees fighting for time include junior Morgan Vela, who had three assists last season and can also play up front, and Fabi Cirino, who came off the bench in every Cougar game last year.

The team might have to count on some newcomers to carry part of the load though, because the Cougars do lose a pair of starting midfielders in Melanie Adelman and Nichole Duarte. Duarte, a U.S. youth international, came into the program as a freshman last season with high expectations and met many of them after three goals and three assists in her debut season but has apparently left the program in the offseason. The team does add talented midfielder Sharis Lachappelle who can play in the center of midfield or possibly up top for the Cougars. Also joining up is Florida transfer Natalie Juncos, another ex-Gator trying to revitalize their college career at a new home.

With the offense looking like an unsure proposition, the Cougars may have to once again let the defense speak for them. Bush’s side was a well drilled unit last year that ranked among the league’s best at the end of the campaign. The good news for the Cougars is that unit returns mostly intact and is set for another strong season. Typically, it was a couple of freshmen that helped boost the D last year for Houston. Speedy and intelligent Danielle Munoz came in last season and started twenty of twenty-one matches for the Cougars in her freshman season and was highly impressive in the process. The sophomore is already well on her way to becoming one of the league’s top defenders and is already rounding into a leader of this defense despite having just a season of collegiate experience.

Houston should also benefit from a couple of returns from injury, as seniors Stephanie Derieg and Ryan Broz, both mainstays in the defense, should be back after missing a third of the season last year through injury. Also in contention for minutes is junior Stephanie Brown, another who had her season curtailed by injury, and Iona transfer Lisa Murer. The team does have to make up for the loss of junior to be Rochelle Fields from the team though.

In goal, Houston were the beneficiaries of a pleasant surprise in the play of Cami Koski. Having redshirted as a freshman, Koski came in and won the starting job early in the season and never let go. The Cougars’ keeper was in fine form last season and should continue to grow into one of the league’s top netminders this season. Backing her up should be New Mexico transfer Sydney George.

Koski and the rest of the defense can’t afford to take a step back this season, because the Cougars offense looks a little threadbare, as does the overall depth of the team after a long, long line of early defections in the offseason. The litany of questions facing the attack probably means that a step into title contention for Bush’s team will have to wait for another season. Consolidation wouldn’t be such a bad thing in a volatile league, and another trip to the Conference USA Tournament should be seen as slow, steady, and acceptable progress.

Drama, drama, drama. RICE certainly endured its fair share of it in a 2010 season that was marked by the stunning mid-season sacking of the program’s matriarch, Chris Huston. After a short stint at city rivals Houston to begin her coaching career, Huston crossed the divide to start the program at Rice at the turn of the millennium. The Owls took their knocks early but turned into a creditable power in the WAC in a few seasons, culminating with the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance as they claimed an at-large berth in 2004. It was the equivalent of a conference send off as Rice joined Conference USA in 2005 and made a fantastic start, winning the Conference USA Tournament on home turf in their debut.

Life got harder for the Owls in CUSA after that though, with Huston’s team missing out on the postseason in two of the next four years and the club suffering through double digit losses in 2009 for the first time since 2002. There were certainly hopes for improvement in 2010 but little evidence in public that there was turmoil brewing behind the scenes. The Owls got off to a tepid start in 2010, losing three of their first four, although those three losses were to major conference opponents, to be fair. The lone win was a triumph over state rival Stephen F. Austin, a win which would look much better as the season evolved. After a couple of wins over easier opposition, the team dropped a close decision at Oklahoma.

Then came the shocking mid-week news that Huston had been given an unceremonious boot from the program for devilishly cryptic reasons that were never really elaborated on. In stepped in assistant coach Nicky Adams, given an impromptu promotion to interim head coach. After an expected loss to BYU, the team set their sights on C-USA play with the odds very much against them after the mid-season upheaval. Surprisingly enough, Rice responded in style to the challenge winning their first five league matches to emerge as shock C-USA title contenders. A draw at UCF only seemed to underline their championship credentials but instead was the catalyst for a six match winless streak to end the season that saw the Owls fail to score in four of their last five.

Despite Rice’s late season tailspin, the fast start to conference play was still enough to ensure a fifth place finish and a return to the postseason after having missed out the season before. Rice’s offensive anemia would linger on though, and despite holding SMU scoreless in the first round of the C-USA Tournament, the Owls would be eliminated after penalties.

Though the Owls finished the year lethargically under her command, Adams did enough in her time at the head of the program to have the interim tag wiped from beside her name at the end of the year. It’s up to her now to prove she was a wise choice for the post. Rice built their success last season through a tenacious defense that took its place as one of the league’s top units. The good news for Adams and Owls fans alike is that that successful rearguard should return virtually intact for the upcoming season.

The leader of the bunch is junior Amy Beger, a quick, versatile player who put her flexibility to the test by marshaling Rice’s backline after playing up front previously in her college career. More impressively, Beger’s breakout season as one of the league’s top defenders came after missing all of 2009 through injury. Beger’s joined in defense by mammoth six footer Hayley Williams who proved to be a dominant force on the backline in her freshman season in Houston. The presence of the talented duo in addition to the overall continuity of an already strong group should ensure that Rice remains near the top of the defensive charts in C-USA this season.

Junior Lauren LaGro is also another big presence in the back and has the size to dominate in the air and scored a pair of goals for the Owls last year after missing most of 2009. Other young talent with starting experience in the back for Rice include Alexandra Trenary and Rachel Petmecky, who both saw significant time as rookies.

The one potential fly in the ointment for the Owls defensively is in goal. Last season, the job was split between Catherine Fitzsimmons and Meghan Erkel, the former ending up with much of the minutes come league play. The problem for Adams is that both were seniors, leaving a big hole in between the posts to fill. Returnees Gaby Garton and Andie Obermeyer have a bare minimum of experience, the former having not seen action with the Owls since transferring from South Florida, the latter having not seen the field at all. In all likelihood though, the favorite for the job is freshman Amy Czyz, who played a starring role at her club side, Mustang SC, in ECNL action in 2010.

The defense will have to shine, because the offense the Owls bring to the table was mostly ineffectual last season and faces some losses of their own. Gone are the team’s leading goalscorer, midfielder Kate Edwards, who tallied four goals despite missing half of the league campaign and forward Korey Taylor, one of only three Owls to score multiple goals in league play. The team also loses starting midfielder Jordan Holloway from the lineup, leaving Adams with some worries going into the new campaign.

The best hope for Rice from the returnees may literally be from a Hope, senior forward Hope Ward. Ward was the Owls leading scorer last season with three goals and seven assists, with her eight points in C-USA also leading the squad. Ward’s playmaking skills cannot be denied, especially for a player listed as a forward, but last season was the first time she hit for multiple goals, meaning the senior may not be the goalscoring threat Rice so desperately needs. Other options up top look sparse in all honesty. Senior Nikki Storness started ten matches last year but has only scored a single goal in three years with Rice. Fellow senior Annie Kadota scored two goals last year, but that was a career high, and she may not be the team’s answer up front either. Big junior Alex Burton is another contender for minutes and could also see time all around the field thanks to her versatility.

Another to watch is attack minded midfielder Jessica Howard, who flashed impressive potential last season with three goals, including two match winners which tied her for the team lead. Howard likely would have added to that total last year had injury not set back her progress in midseason. Also returning in midfield is steady junior Julia Barrow, who started every match for the Owls last year and will look to keep the team ticking over again this year.

Ultimately though, the fate of the Owls’ offense may rest on the shoulders of two wildly intriguing newcomers to Adams’ squad. Quinney Truong comes into the Rice program with a chance to leave as one of the best ever players to have laced a pair of boots up for the Owls. Truong is a versatile, smart midfielder capable of pulling the strings for a collegiate offense and has been a member of numerous youth international camps, including the July U20 camp, a feat nearly unheard of for a program like Rice’s. She has the potential to step into the lineup immediately and make the entire squad around her better.

Equally intriguing for Adams and her Owls is the addition of a little continental flair with midfielder Gabriela Iribarne. An Argentinean youth international (by way of Mission Viejo, California) with every chance to graduate to full international status in the future, Iribarne is an all-action midfield player who can both run the show and score some goals herself. The duo of Iribarne and Truong should undoubtedly inject some enthusiasm into the Rice program with their talents but will they be the answer for an offense badly in need of goals?

The Owls look to be assembling a great midfield, but their teeth in attack looks a bit questionable at this point. What shouldn’t be in question is the strength of the backline which, again, looks like one of the league’s best and may have to carry an offense that may take some time to find its footing. Adams will just have to hope that breaking in a new keeper doesn’t end up scuppering the form of her defense in the process. There’s potential for Rice’s first NCAA Tournament team in quite some time on this year’s roster, but the Owls may have to wait a year or two for all that talent to fully gel and bloom. As for this year, Adams and her side will probably be shooting for the Top Six again and another trip to the postseason in a fiercely competitive league.

For much of their recent history, COLORADO COLLEGE has been a program weighed down by their lofty past. With Division I soccer in the college ranks still really just finding its feet in the eighties, the Tigers were among the game’s most dominant forces. From the mid-eighties into the early nineties, CC strung together eight successive seasons in which they reached the NCAA Tournament, highlighted by four College Cup appearances and two runner-up finishes in 1986 and 1989. The architect of almost all of that great success, Dang Pibulvech, left after the 1990 season to take the helm at Washington, and it’s mostly been an uphill struggle for brilliance ever since.

Carl Beal was able to lead the Tigers to the College Cup in the first season after Pibulvech’s departure, but it’s been a painful backwards slide since. The hot seat in Colorado Springs has been a revolving door that has seen four coaches come and go since Pibulvech left, from the relatively anonymous like one-year coach Erik Oman, to the more recognizable like former USWNT and current Michigan boss Greg Ryan.

None were able to get CC back to the promised land of the NCAA Tournament as the program’s Big Dance drought extended over a decade from their last appearance in 1991. It was becoming more and more apparent as time went by that the program’s convoluted status with the NCAA (they are classified as Division III in all sports except women’s soccer and hockey) was doing more harm than good and that life as an independent when most other schools had joined a conference was an anchor around the program’s neck.

All of which made the Tigers’ decision to join Conference USA as an affiliate program in soccer in 2006 a smart decision. The geography might have been a little wonky at times, but having a conference home to play in and an easier path to the postseason was crucial for the Tigers in the current soccer landscape. The move came in the third season of current Head Coach Geoffrey Bennett’s reign. Bennett, who had done little of note in two seasons in charge, was able to get his Tigers to take CUSA by storm, his program finishing fourth in their debut season in the league and reaching the CUSA Tournament final while posting the program’s best record since 1991.

The Tigers were rewarded with their first NCAA Tournament bid in fifteen seasons at the end of the year, and it looked like Colorado College soccer was back on its way towards relevance. But instead of keeping the momentum going, the Tigers fizzled in the two seasons afterward, finishing sixth and fourth in the league and were well off the pace for an at-large bid in the Big Dance. With pressure to improve heading into 2009, the Tigers delivered an excellent campaign which featured a win over an excellent Washington State team and a runner-up finish in Conference USA. Heading into the postseason, CC likely needed a win over Memphis in the CUSA Tournament semi-finals to feel good about their at-large chances. But they dropped their second match of the season to the other Tigers of the league and were ultimately left disappointed on Selection Monday as they were certainly one of the last teams out of the field.

With that snub surely still stinging deep inside, the Tigers set off in 2010 to try and put those demons to rest and get back to the NCAA Tournament. The season started out strongly enough with a win over A10 powerhouse Dayton in the season opener that seemed to show that these Tigers could hold their own with anyone on their day. Of course, a loss to Boise State at home two days later was less encouraging. But the Tigers then promptly went unbeaten in the rest of their non-conference schedule, featuring draws against Big XII sides Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Heading into league play, Bennett’s side, while not assured of anything really, had certainly given themselves some hope for a potential at-large bid if they had a strong conference season. But the Tigers would falter badly through the first half of the league campaign, winning just one of their first six league games. The team went 1-4-1, and the draw, against UAB, was as bad as a loss for RPI purposes. By the time the Tigers managed to beat league power UCF in Colorado Springs, the damage had been done for the most part. The final nail in the coffin came with a 2-1 loss at Marshall that made the Tigers’ finale against UTEP a moot point. In any event, CC were flat out embarrassed in their season finale, losing 4-0 at home to a UTEP team that also had nothing to play for but pride. It was hardly the vote of confidence that Bennett needed going into yet another season without a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

With the pressure likely rising in Colorado Springs again after last season’s flameout, Bennett has to hope that he’s found the cure to the Tigers’ postseason ills coming into 2011. The good news for him is that he’s likely to have a quite experienced squad going into the new campaign. One player Bennett won’t have is talismanic forward Tiffany Brown. Brown had come into Colorado Springs like a house afire and scored nine goals in each of her first two seasons before tailing off in 2009 with five goals and six assists. 2010 was almost as disappointing for Brown as the senior tallied six goals, but half of her total was from the penalty spot. Some solace could be taken in the fact that the three goals Brown scored from open play were winners, but on the whole, her First Team All-Conference USA honors smacked of a lifetime achievement award more than anything else.

The question now is who will step up and fill the void for an offense that was off the pace of the leaders by a fair distance last season. Junior Brittney Lyman made waves in her debut season after scoring nine goals on the year, including five in one half against UTEP. But like many Tigers, she struggled in front of goal in 2010, dropping to just five goals for CC. The Tigers need her to rebound in a big way, but they also need more sources of scoring. Forward Lauren DiGregorio played most of 2010 with a broken hand, but the rookie still managed four goals in twelve starts. Also back are sophomore Lynn Froetscher, who had three assists last year, and Brennan O’Connell, who missed last season through injury. The Tigers may have to lean a little on some unproven freshmen. Oregon forward Jaclyn Silsby looks like she has some potential as a physical presence up front and has a fair amount of upside for the Tigers.

Midfielder Madison Whitehead showed a smattering of goalscoring skill as a freshman last year with three goals and two assists as a freshman and could be the team’s offensive spark in the middle of the park. Also back are veterans Hannah Peterson and Kelsey Wise, upperclassmen with no small degree of starting experience for the Tigers. German Catherine Zamuseil, a veteran of Duisberg and 1.FC Koln, should also be in line for big minutes after serving as a super sub last season. Freshman Kaeli Vandersluis also has the capability of having an immediate impact for the Tigers in attack as a winger or in defense as an attacking full-back.

With the uncertainty over the potency of the Colorado College attack, the Tigers may have to bank on their defense to lead them to victory. Bennett’s squad looks a little more settled on that side of the ball, losing only one starter in the form of Sydney Fetter. The Tigers will also be able to boast one of the league’s best young defenders in the form of sophomore Sierra Keeler. Keeler was nothing short of a revelation in her freshman season in Colorado Springs, starting every match for the Tigers and excelling on the backline.

Fellow 2010 rookie Sarah Haizlip also impressed as a freshman, making sixteen starts and could be a defensive fixture again, while senior Beth Wright has been a three year starter for the Tigers and is usually good for a few assists a season. In frame for a shot at starting duty should be New Zealand U20 international Yumi Nguyen, Louisiana-Monroe transfer Kelly Browne, and Clemson transfer Katie Uyenishi, sister of former CC captain Molly Uyenishi.

Keeler and her backline partners will be tasked with playing in front of one of the best keepers in the conference in Caitlin Hulyo. The former U.S. youth international has grown into a real pillar of strength for the Tigers in goal and could very well be crucial for Colorado College’s hopes of getting back to the postseason in 2011. Backups Hanna Berglund and Cody Kornack are both very inexperienced and will likely be doing a lot of watching from the bench in 2011.

After a strong 2009, the heat is again descending on Bennett at the head of the Tigers. Last year was a big step backwards for the program, and another in that vein will surely have many asking tough questions about his continued leadership of the program. While the Tigers are unlikely to ever get back to being College Cup contenders in the modern era of college soccer, there’s no reason they can’t be an upper tier team in Conference USA. They don’t seem likely to hit those heights this year though. The defense looks capable of holding their own against CUSA’s best, but the offense looks a little short of punch. It looks like a scrap in mid-table for the Tigers this year.

For a good half of the 2010 season, things appeared to be going so well for the UTEP Miners. Head Coach Kevin Cross’ team raced out to a quick start with nine wins in their first ten matches. And then the bottom fell out. Miners fans might think it allegorical to the track of the UTEP soccer program over the past half decade or so in El Paso. Having finally appeared to have emerged as a contender in the WAC, a move over to Conference USA before the 2005 season looked to be ill-timed. Instead, the move turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to the Miners in the short-term as they put together a brilliant season that culminated in twenty wins, the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament berth, and a shock victory over regional hosts Texas in the first round of the Big Dance.

That success has proven surprisingly fleeting though as the Miners had been painfully rooted in the upper half of mid-table ever since and unable to engineer a return to the NCAA Tournament. That was obviously the goal at the beginning of 2010, and things looked to be going quite well for the previously mentioned first half of the season. Despite a loss at home to Fresno State, the Miners cruised through the non-conference portion of the season, never mind the fact that it was loaded with more than a few overmatched clubs for UTEP to get fat on. Even so, the Miners did record solid wins over Northern Arizona and Stephen F. Austin, mid-majors that would affirm their quality as the season went on.

The question of whether UTEP’s sizzling form would hold through league play looked to be confirmed after the first weekend of C-USA play when Cross’ side topped UAB and Memphis to rocket to the top of the embryonic league table. But then, UTEP went on the road for a two week stretch, and all that built up capital and confidence eroded. The Miners lost all four of those road matches, failing to score in the process. They came back home and expectedly beat up on Southern Miss but then lost three more in a row to all but end their postseason hopes. They may have solved their league road woes with a blistering win over Colorado College on the final day, but it only highlighted how good the Miners could be when on their game. A shame then that their Tale of Two Halves in the 2010 season saw them shine in the half that mattered much less in the grand scheme of things.

2010 also marked the first time the Miners missed out on the postseason since 2001′s dismal three win campaign, meaning the heat will be on Cross in 2011 to get UTEP back into the Top Six and into the Conference USA Tournament once again. If the Miners are to reach that goal, it’ll probably be on the back of an offense with some degree of punch. UTEP will be led by their all-action midfielder, senior Katie Dorman. A wonderful success story who walked onto the Miners as a freshman in 2008, Dorman went from dependable reserve to offensive star in 2010 with eleven goals and seven assists. While Dorman no doubt benefitted from the Miners’ cushy non-conference slate like the rest of her teammates, she also kept scoring in C-USA play with four goals and two assists to lead the team. The senior will be eager to prove that she’s no one year wonder in 2011 as she looks set to lead UTEP’s offense.

There’s also a fair amount of experience and production returning beside her in midfield as well. Tess Hall’s stats were a bit inflated in non-conference play, but she still contributed four assists in C-USA action, a fine haul for the Miners. Sophomores Tori Martyn and Gina Soto both had three goals and two assists and will again be in contention for major minutes in the middle of the park.

Canadian junior forward Brittany Kindzierski looks next likely to make an offensive impact after an eleven goal outburst last season. All but two of those goals were in non-conference play though, and it remains to be seen if she can step up against more difficult opposition. Junior Skye Schultz is another to watch in the UTEP attack. The 2009 Conference USA Freshman of the Year tailed off badly in her second season with the Miners with just four goals and two assists a season after eight goals and nine assists in her rookie campaign. A rebound season might be needed if UTEP is to fulfill its potential.

Most of last season’s attack returns to El Paso intact, with Canadian midfielder Anoop Josan the sole departee after a largely disappointing end to her collegiate career. With little in the way of proven reinforcements coming in, Cross will be looking for a lot more consistency in front of goal from his attackers when it counts most this year.

Defensively, while UTEP weren’t awful, there’s still certainly room for improvement if the Miners want to crack the Top Six of the league. The only loss is another one of UTEP’s fleet of Canadians, Melissa Desilets, a four year starter for the club. UTEP does boast one of the league’s best young defenders though in sophomore Azia Nicholson who was everpresent for the backline in her first season in El Paso. Also returning are senior leader Jessie Pettit and sophomore Kenah Linger who both were constants in the UTEP rearguard last season. Key reserves Jade Babcock, who had five goals last season, and senior Brittany Thornton will battle for major minutes as well.

Canadian Chandra Morden has been goal for most of her first three seasons with the Miners and will likely be the one between the pipes for UTEP again in her senior season. Freshman Sarah Dilling could provide a challenge though, as the Canadian is a U20 international and should be the team’s keeper of the future at any rate.

With a fair amount of experience returning and what looks like a decent amount of offensive punch in the lineup for 2011, UTEP looks like a team that should be in contention for one of the spots in the Conference USA Tournament come November. They probably won’t be challenging the upper crust of the league this season, but there’s no reason to shoot for anything less than a postseason return for Cross’ side.

Life in college soccer at the mid-major level is all about striking when the moment is right and taking full advantage of those oh-so-elusive chances to ascend into the NCAA Tournament. So you might understand why EAST CAROLINA, a program who’ve been steady in mid-table in Conference USA for most of their tenure in the league, was a little miffed at seeing that golden opportunity go wanting in 2008.

In that season, East Carolina stormed to their first major trophy by claiming a share of the Conference USA league title and going undefeated in their eleven league matches. The Pirates would ride their way to the C-USA Tournament final to face Memphis but would pick a bad time for their worst performance of the season, falling to the Tigers, 4-1. A nervous wait turned to heartbreak for the Pirates on Selection Monday as the bubble bound East Carolina side failed to see their name called when the brackets were revealed. The pure numbers show that Carolina was likely one of the last sides out, and one has to wonder if their dismal showing against Memphis turned the tide against them.

It’s been tough for the Pirates to recover from that hammer blow as they’ve sunk back down the C-USA table since then. ECU missed out on the postseason entirely in 2009 with a dismal eighth place finish in the league as they slid back towards the tail end of the RPI Top 100. The Pirates hoped to arrest that slide in 2010 and get back into the postseason at the bare minimum.

The beginning of non-conference play was promising for Head Coach Rob Donnenwirth’s side with ECU beating who they should realistically beat and even racking up key wins against North Carolina State and William & Mary as well. The only dark cloud heading into C-USA play was a disappointing loss to CAA side UNC Wilmington on the road. Once in league action, ECU’s form would get notable more erratic, alternating wins and losses until a three match winless streak in the middle of the campaign which threatened their postseason hopes.

With their backs to the wall, the Pirates tallied wins over Rice and UTEP to keep their hopes alive, but a tough 3-2 loss to Colorado College meant that Donnenwirth’s team needed a win against Marshall on the last day in a winner take all showdown for the final spot in the C-USA Tournament. But with their season on the line, the Pirates faltered and lost, 1-0, consigning them to a second straight season without postseason play.

While the league title East Carolina won in 2008 probably ensures that any talk about Donnenwirth being on the hot seat is quite presumptuous, a third straight season out of the postseason wouldn’t look very good for the Pirates. Fortunately for Donnenwirth, he returns a relatively experienced side with most of the Pirates’ key players back for another go. ECU’s offense was good enough to keep up with just about everyone in the league and will benefit once again from having one of C-USA’s best midfielders running the show in senior Jessica Abshire (nee Woodward).

After something of a flat sophomore season, Abshire came good with three goals and five assists last season, with all of those assists coming C-USA play. Abshire will have a talented fleet of attackers to work with in 2011, with fellow senior Amanda Malkiewicz a big threat up front for the Pirates. Malkiewicz built on two strong seasons to begin her collegiate career with another great year in 2010 with seven goals and six assists with eleven points in league play to lead the team. The team will have to do without the services of Bailey Wilcox though after the senior graduated after tying for second on the team in C-USA goals with three.

Also returning to the frontline for ECU is Kimmy Cummings, who started every match and had three goals and four assists for a career high ten points despite not starting a match before last year, and Leah Bagonis, who had fourteen starts last season. The team should also have the services of junior Chrissy Gratz, a super sub last season who has six goals and six assists through two seasons with the Pirates.

Abshire should get a little help in midfield this season as the team’s top two recruits, Lexi Herring and Mackenzie Semerad should both fight for minutes immediately in the middle of the park. Herring’s a Wilmington product who should play in the center of midfield and could get in amongst the goals as a rookie. Semerad’s a creative playmaker from Phoenix who could be just the player to deliver the killer ball to ECU’s forwards. Of the returning players, Caty Butler was a nice surprise with three goals in league play despite only starting one match in C-USA play and could feature either in midfield or up front. Other returnees include seniors Stephanie Shaw and Kendall Booth, who both logged plenty of minutes but neither of whom has scored in their Pirates career.

While the offense should continue to purr, the Pirates still have to worry about a defense that was second worst in the league last year. ECU kept only two clean sheets in nineteen matches last season, including just one in league play, a mark that must get substantially better if the Pirates are to be contending up the table in Conference USA. Complicating matters is the loss of the team’s best defender, Amanda Broz, a 5’10″ mauler at the back who started every match for the Pirates last season while also serving an important leadership role for the young ECU squad.

Losing your best defender from an already shaky unit is hardly the recipe for success, and East Carolina don’t look to be bringing in any immediate impact defenders from this year’s recruiting haul. The hope has to be that junior Hali Oughton can pick up the slack after starting every match last season for ECU. Also back is fellow junior Maddie Maurer, who logged ten starts last season, and Candace Mowery, who started thirteen matches in 2009 but was limited to just one match off the bench last year before redshirting. Any gaps will have to be filled by one of the club’s numerous freshmen or redshirt freshmen.

In goal, Christiane Cordero played every minute for the Pirates between the pipes in her sophomore season and should be the team’s #1 going into the new season. The backup looks like sophomore Berit Hansen, who started eight matches in 2009 before missing all of last season with injury.

Donnenwirth has to be hoping that the defense will get better with age and experience, though it loses a big piece in Broz and doesn’t bring in much top level talent. If that is indeed the case, then East Carolina has the offense to lift them into the Top Six and back into the postseason. If the defense is still porous, then it could be disappointment once again come the beginning of November.

When head coaches announce their retirement a year ahead of time, usually one of two things happen: the team, with newfound motivation, rallies around their departing coach and tries to send them off a winner, playing out of their skins, or, the team flatlines emotionally with the program in a lame-duck phase while anticipating the new regime the following year. Unfortunately for UAB and now retired Head Coach Paul Harbin, it was a case of the latter in 2010. In truth, the glory days of Harbin’s reign had likely passed by a few years earlier, the Blazers’ still celebrating their 2004 C-USA Tournament title and subsequent upset of Wake Forest in the NCAA Tournament but now taking root in mid-table in recent seasons.

2009 looked like it could have been the start of something though with the Blazers ending up on the outer edge of the NCAA Tournament bubble despite a pedestrian fifth place finish in the league. It gave hope that UAB would be able to come through in Harbin’s final season at the helm and send the only head coach the program had known up to that point out lifting silverware. A 5-1 loss to Vanderbilt at home in the opener was not the statement that the Blazers wanted to make, although a three match win streak followed in the weeks after which featured dominant wins over Mississippi State and Ole Miss of the SEC.

But the team was then mired in a stretch of one win in five that dragged into the beginning of Conference USA play. Two wins in three at home kept UAB’s head above water for the postseason, but a three match winless streak, including a 4-1 loss at strugglers Tulsa had them fighting for their postseason lives again. A phenomenal penultimate weekend of the regular season saw UAB win two at home against Houston and Rice, giving them life once more.

The Blazers went into the final day knowing that a win would seal a spot in the C-USA Tournament while a loss would put their fate out of their hands, UAB being eliminated if Marshall beat East Carolina. It was not a good time to draw one of the league’s toughest assignments, facing Memphis on the road. Despite battling hard, the Blazers fell to the Tigers, 2-1 and were left devastated by Marshall’s win over East Carolina, meaning UAB finished seventh and out of the postseason, ending Harbin’s run in Birmingham with a whimper.

Into the breach steps Harold Warren, long thought of as one of the top assistants in America while serving as Ali Khosroshahin’s right hand man at USC. As one of the architects of the Trojans’ snarling defense over the past few years, it’s pretty much a given that Warren will try to instill that same mentality with the Blazers. That may take a little time to take with UAB having made its name with a vibrant attack rather than swarming defense in recent years.

While Warren likely thought he’d still have most of the pieces of the Blazers’ sometimes electric attack at his disposal for his debut in 2011, he and the UAB faithful got a nasty shock when their offensive leader, Laura McCalla, decided to head north and transfer to Purdue for her senior season. McCalla was a major force for the Blazers in 2010, enjoying a breakout season with twelve goals and six assists. Fifteen points in league play was good enough for third in the conference, and her departure leaves Warren with the task of replacing a major chunk of UAB’s scoring output from 2010.

Also gone from the attack are Allison Belsterling and Morgan Haney, although neither had the impact of McCalla. With the losses, it’s perhaps a very good thing that Warren will be able to call upon the talents of senior Carolyn Polcari for one more season. While McCalla was top dog last year, Polcari was a more than able sidekick, functioning as a very effective second scoring option with eight goals and four assists. Polcari’s five goals and one assist in C-USA action was good enough for a tie for fifth in the league last year. Polcari’s more of a natural midfielder though, and it remains to be seen if she can carry the scoring load by herself.

Tiffini Turpin was more of a creator last season with four league assists despite being listed as a forward. Turpin has shown a goalscoring touch in the past though, having scored seven goals as a freshman and showing well for the W-League champion Atlanta Silverbacks this season. The pair will have to be firing, because there’s very little if any depth behind them.

The situation is just as pressing in midfield. Kirsten Ebert and Abby Phillips both started six matches as freshman but were bit players from an offensive standpoint. They’ll likely be joined by junior reserve Emma Jane Smith and the freshmen in the battle for a starting spot. Polcari’s needed up front, but she also might be used in midfield given how little starting experience there is returning for the Blazers.

The defense also takes a few hits through graduation as well with the team losing solid backline performer Marie Yempuku as well as four year starting goalkeeper Kate Blankenship. Blankenship may have been erratic at times but still provided experience in goal which is now altogether absent. The team also sees would be junior Alexis Braziel depart as well, leaving no experience for the Blazers. Redshirt freshman C.J. Winship and newcomer Katie Getzinger will duke it out for the starting job, though it’s possible both could see major minutes this year.

On the backline, sophomore Sam Bradford could be an interesting player for Warren, the second-year player having scored three goals in league play, including two against UCF, despite only seeing spot start duty as a freshman. Canadian senior Pascale Pinard is about as close to a sure thing as UAB has in defense and will likely finish out her career in Birmingham as a starter for the fourth straight season. Junior Allison Young also has extensive starting experience and should be a dependable entity for Warren this year. Given the concerns elsewhere, the starting defense could be a strong suit for UAB this year though depth, like elsewhere, is very shaky.

Warren has great potential as a head coach and has a nice talent to work with in Polcari, albeit for just one year. With McCalla in the fold, UAB could have been a sneaky pick to make some noise in the postseason, but without her and any depth whatsoever, they might do well to avoid finishing near the bottom of the league. Blazer fans are probably in for a long rebuilding year in 2011.

MARSHALL hasn’t really had an easy time of it in their history as a DI program. Kevin Long took the reigns of the Thundering Herd in 2008 after his predecessor, Chris Kane, had overseen five seasons of double digit losses, including 2005′s program worst 2-16-0 campaign. Long hardly reinvented the wheel with Marshall in his first season, going 5-10-4, although to be fair, he only took the job on an interim basis in late July of that year after Kane’s late departure. Then, against all odds (or logic seemingly, given the history of the program), the Thundering Herd started winning in 2009…and kept winning.

The season’s twelve wins was a program best and only the second time in their history that Marshall had won double digit games in a season. Marshall came painfully close to qualifying for the postseason in Conference USA with a seventh place finish that saw them just finish out of the postseason places. The big question going into 2010 was if 2009 had been a fluke or rather the first step towards Marshall becoming relevant in the big picture in Conference USA. The season started ominously, with Marshall losing to Cleveland State before less than ideal draws against Winthrop and Liberty. A couple of wins at home got Marshall on the right track before a rivalry loss to Ohio derailed them once more.

Things looked to be on the up once Conference USA play started though as Marshall won two of their first three to put them in a good position going into the middle of league play. But then, the Thundering Herd went winless in their next five, meaning they’d need a small miracle to qualify for the postseason with three fixtures left. Fortunately for Marshall, those last three matches were at home and against potential postseason rivals, and the Herd made the most of home advantage, winning all three matches and just squeaking into the postseason for the first time ever. There, they’d lose to Houston decisively in the Conference USA Tournament, but despite the less than ideal final W-L-T record, you could easily argue that progress was made by Coach Long and his team.

It’s not hard to figure last year’s Marshall team out. 6-1-0 at home, 1-8-3 away from it. That’s a jarring split and one that has to be corrected if the Thundering Herd are to progress upwards in the table in 2011. One way to overcome those traveling blues is having a more experienced team, but Coach Long and his staff instead have to deal with the loss of six starters, including just about every player that saw major minutes in defense for the Thundering Herd. Marshall loses the services of seniors Meghan Wetzel, Emma Harrison, and Kristen Berquist from the backline, leaving last year’s above average unit in tatters.

Making matters worse is the early defection of Lexa Hughes, who emerged as the team’s starting keeper in Conference USA play but who has now mysteriously vanished from the roster. Her replacement is totally up in the air at this point. Returnees Lindsey Kerns and Caroline Harwell both started matches in non-conference play, but their losing the starting spot to Hughes is an ominous sign. The team also adds freshmen Betsy Haugh and Lizzie Kish, who may be thrown into the deep end right from the start.

In front of the new starting keeper, Welsh senior Freya Holdaway will be counted upon to lead what will likely be a patched together defense that will be learning on the fly in an unforgiving league. Senior Erin Blakely played in midfield and defense last season but is likely to be thrown into defense this year given the complete and utter lack of experience among the team’s defensive players this year. The rest of the group besides Holdaway and Blakely have only a few appearances if at all, and this group could really struggle this year with the inexperience.

The losses further forward are less dramatic but no less important to Marshall. Scottish international forward Erika Duncan departs after a bit of a down season, but she was still the side’s leading scorer with five goals and four assists. Duncan’s twelve points in league play were good enough to tie her for fourth in C-USA points. Her loss is not a good sign for an offense which was pretty anemic by league standards, with the team only scoring more goals in league play than bottom club Southern Mississippi.

Aiming to fill the void could be senior Megan Tabler who scored five goals in 2009 but dipped back to three goals last season. Tabler might be a good complement to a prime scoring threat but may not be strong enough as a team’s first option up front. Fellow senior Katie Ball has been in the starting lineup a lot over the past two years but has found it rough going in front of goal and only scored once last year. Obviously, this area is a big worry for Long this season.

Marshall boasts some talented midfielders in Sarah Vinson and Angela DeSumma, but neither are true predators in front of goal, meaning where the goals are going to come from is a big question coming into 2011. Vinson has started every match in her two seasons in Huntington thus far and scored a couple of goals last season. DeSumma had four goals and four assists last season and seven assists in 2009 but may be a better provider than finisher. Regardless, DeSumma might see some time up front given the team’s problems up front. Blakely could also see starting duties in midfield if she isn’t deployed into defense. Others looking to make the move into the starting lineup for the Herd in midfield include New Zealand youth international Annabelle Bramwell, sophomore Casey Walsh, and junior Robin Waskowski.

Long has done quite a good job in his first three years at a long-suffering program, delivering twelve wins in 2009 and getting to the C-USA Tournament last year. But there are holes galore on this year’s team, and just getting back to the postseason for the second year in a row would be quite an accomplishment for the Thundering Herd.

Once upon a time, TULSA had current Notre Dame Head Coach Randy Waldrum on their books and it was pretty good for a while. Then, current Gonzaga Head Coach and Golden Hurricane alum Amy Edwards took the reigns as the program transitioned to life in the WAC and that was good, although never great, as silverware eluded Tulsa. Despite the lack of trophies, Tulsa still netted three third place league finishes in Edwards’ final three seasons. And then Damon Gore took over as coach in 1999 and led Tulsa to their best league finish in their history a year later as they were runners-up in the WAC…and that’s pretty much where Tulsa’s significant history stops.

Gore’s reign ended limply after a seventh place finish in 2003. Rena Richardson’s four years were a disaster, all of them losing seasons and the last year in 2007 a 3-14-2 nightmare. It was then that Tulsa swallowed their pride and somewhat controversially hired the Head Coach of their city rivals, Oral Roberts. Despite a lengthy pedigree with the Golden Eagles, Kyle Cussen has found life with Tulsa no easier than his predecessors at the Conference USA makeweights. In fact, it’s been a backwards slide in each of Cussen’s three seasons thus far. After finishes of ninth and tenth in Cussen’s first two seasons, the expectation was likely for a Top Eight finish at the very least.

Instead, Tulsa endured another forgettable season as they slipped to eleventh in a twelve team league. Creative scheduling saw the Golden Hurricane open up with six straight home matches, with almost all of them against well overmatched teams. However, Tulsa did end up beating a reasonably talented team in Missouri State and fought Oklahoma hard in a 1-0 loss. But when forced on the road for the first time, Tulsa’s collapse began.

A punishing six match road trip crushed Cussen’s squad, the Golden Hurricane losing all six and going five matches without a goal. Especially painful were consecutive losses to Arkansas State and Central Arkansas, two below par teams in 2010. Tulsa did manage to go 3-1-2 in their last six, showing improvement, including a win over UTEP and draws with Memphis and SMU, but losing their first five league matches consigned the Golden Hurricane to another season near the bottom of the league.

Cussen will likely be focusing on the improved form of his charges in their last six matches rather than the protracted losing streak that came before that winning run. And there’s no reason or excuse for the Golden Hurricane to not improve dramatically in Cussen’s fourth year with the program. That’s because the team returns nine starters and almost everyone from last year’s team. The Golden Hurricane also boast the reigning Conference USA Freshman of the Year in midfielder Jordan O’Brien.

Somewhat lightly regarded coming out of high school, O’Brien emerged as a pivotal cog in the Tulsa lineup in her first season on campus. The native from Garden Grove, California saved her best play for conference action, with three of her four goals coming in C-USA matches. O’Brien is clearly one of the keys to the immediate future for the Golden Hurricane, and Cussen will be hoping she can avoid a sophomore slump.

Another freshman, Brandi Hinch, was key in midfield last season and delivered the match winner against SMU in league play. Many other of Tulsa’s midfielders rotated in and out of the starting lineup, and Cussen might go with the hot hand again if nobody can lock down a starting role, especially with the early loss of junior starter Maddie Jones. Then again, the team could get another injection of rookie talent from newcomer Allison Gochenour, an impressive looking freshman from the KCFC Alliance club.

Much of Tulsa’s hopes for 2011 will rely on O’Brien and fellow freshman phenom Claire Nicholson avoiding a sophomore slump. Nicholson was a goal scoring revelation as a freshman in Tulsa, with eleven goals in her rookie season. Nicholson’s scoring capabilities didn’t stop with non-conference play, as she did come through with five scores in league play, good enough for a tie for third in the conference. Additionally, Nicholson had half of her team’s match winning goals for the season, with four.

Junior forward Stephanie Aitken also could be a contributor on offense after racking up five goals last season in just eight starts, although most of those were in non-conference play. Kelsey Killion was also a strong performer as a freshman last season with seven assists on the year, while Rebecca Handley was a solid contributor with thirteen starts after transferring from Missouri State. While the talent seems to be here for a productive offense, you have to remember that this team did go five straight without a goal in the middle of the year, so more consistency will be needed.

The defense could also use some tightening up after only keeping a single clean sheet in Conference USA play. Obviously, that has to change if the Golden Hurricane are to get back to the postseason. Junior Rachel Garcia is the leader of the unit after starting every match last season and also adding a couple of goals to the Tulsa cause. The two year starter will be leading a unit that looks a little short on depth and experience. Upperclassmen Claire Hulcer and Jasmine Mendiola should also be in line for a chance at big minutes, though the unit still remains short on proven quality.

Some stability in the goalkeeping ranks would help. Katie Bykowski began the year as the starter but gave way to Chelsea Smith later in the year. Smith departs, but Bykowski’s hold on the job is far from iron clad with Oklahoma State transfer Hayley Harryman and redshirt freshman Helen Snelgrove also in contention.

Cussen has some dynamic young players at the core of his squad and returns experience to boot this year. With that in mind, anything less than a finish in the Top Six and a trip to the postseason will likely be seen as a disappointment.

The answer is September 28, 2008. The question? When is the last time SOUTHERN MISS won a match in Conference USA play (1-0 over UAB). It’s been a long, LONG time since the Golden Eagles have had much to cheer about. If you want to go as far back as 1999, you can remember a legendary day when the eighth seeded Golden Eagles pulled one of the biggest upsets in C-USA history, beating league champs Saint Louis, 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the conference tourney (they’d lose 6-0 in the semi-finals to Marquette).

It’s essentially been downhill ever since, with Southern Miss only qualifying for one of the past ten Conference USA Tournaments, in 2007. Coincidentally, that was also Gail Macklin’s last year in charge before heading back across the Atlantic to Northern Ireland. Scott Ebke stepped into the void and has, quite frankly, had a miserable time of it in Hattiesburg. 1-31-1 in conference matches in his three years in charge pretty much tells the story.

The team were rock bottom in goals scored in CUSA play with four (in eleven matches) and were astonishingly bad in defense in conference matches, giving up thirty-three goals. To put that into some perspective, the next worse team in the league defensively was East Carolina, who conceded eighteen goals in league play. 2010 was essentially a nightmare from the start for the Golden Eagles. Two wins over SWAC teams bracketed three losses and a draw. Southern Miss would close non-conference play with a win over Northwestern State before facing the daunting task of trying to finally win a CUSA game.

It didn’t work out too well. The opening 1-0 loss to Marshall was as close as they got before upsetting the odds to pick up their first point in conference play since that win over UAB over two years earlier with a draw against title contenders Houston. Instead of a catalyst to a strong finish, the result was the last embers of hope in another lost season. Five more losses followed, including a 6-0 shellacking at the hands of Central Florida on a night the Golden Knights lifted another league crown. Ebke’s team finished rock bottom again, ten points adrift from the nearest team and fifteen points away from a postseason slot.

So it gets better, right? I mean, can it get any worse? The team loses two midfield starters in Samantha Polley and Jana Mason and another key reserve in the middle of the park. Mason looks the biggest loss, as the senior midfielder had two goals and four assists last season, including on two of the team’s four goals in league play.

The midfield will likely be led by senior Elisha Tarbell, who led the team with three goals, though just one was in C-USA action. Tarbell can play either in the middle or on the wing, and her experience will be crucial for a team still trying to find its feet in many ways. Junior Jordan Wagner could also have a big role to play after turning into a starter for the club following her transfer from Iowa State. Wagner had some decent numbers but racked them up against SWAC opposition, taking some of the shine off those stats. Danielle Beatty, Kimberly Belmont, and Natasha Lombardo all saw significant time last season as freshmen and will be asked to keep improving to ensure the midfield isn’t overrun by opponents this year.

A premature loss is a costly one, with forward Chanel Elgin, the team’s only player to score multiple goals in league play last season transferring out to Spring Hill College, robbing a team short on firepower of one of their only sources of goals. Tarbell and Chelsea Cruthirds both scored three goals last season but both went cold in league play, Cruthirds not scoring at all and Tarbell only netting once. Cruthirds might be one of the team’s scoring options if she can up her game against bigger opponents, while sophomore Mischa Tice, who started sixteen matches might also factor in despite a threadbare scoring option last season.

Tricia Tillman nabbed a couple of goals as a freshman in league action but still hasn’t really developed into the goal poacher this team desperately needs. Someone has to take a major step forward, or the Golden Eagles have to get a big season from one of the newcomers to help take pressure off the defense.

The offensive woes are bad enough, but the team was just as bad in defense also. For better or for worse, it looks like all the old hands are back for more in 2011. The de facto leader looks like junior Caitlin Leumas, who started every match last season for the club and has been a starter in both seasons for the Golden Eagles. Another young mainstay looks to be sophomore Shelbi Moeller who also started every match for the club as a rookie last year. Senior Amy Davis had started most matches in her first two seasons at USM but saw her minutes cut last year and only started seven matches. With little depth apparent though, she might be called upon to reprise her role on the backline.

Lindsey Schwarner and Hannah Vanderboegh split time in goal last season but neither was likely to include much of their 2010 action in any possible future highlight reels. The job could be goalkeeper by committee once again in 2011, though both are likely to be in for a rough ride if the defense doesn’t improve.

The roster breakdown doesn’t look very good for Ebke’s bottom line. Elgin, one of the team’s few promising youngsters, choosing to bail after just one year should be setting off alarms in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles’ roster was roughly a third upperclassmen, indicating a whole lot of turnover in recent years. The next spot of turnover could be in the coach’s office. Nobody claimed that Southern Miss was an easy job, but there’s only so much embarrassment an administration can take.

Projected Order of Finish

* = Projected NCAA Tournament Automatic Bid Winner

*1. UCF
2. Memphis
3. Rice
4. SMU
5. Houston
6. Colorado College
-
7. UTEP
8. East Carolina
9. Tulsa
10. UAB
11. Marshall
12. Southern Miss

Non-Conference Strength of Schedule Ranking (From Most to Least Difficult)

1. UCF
2. UAB
3. Colorado College
4. SMU
5. Houston
T6. East Carolina
T6. Memphis
8. Rice
9. Marshall
10. Tulsa
11. UTEP
12. Southern Miss

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