Winthrop University Athletics

Women’s Soccer Set To Kick-Off 2010 Campaign

8/19/2010 4:48:35 PM

Lady Eagles Open Regular Season At Georgia Southern

ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop women's soccer team will begin its eighth season of competition on Friday afternoon in a road contest against the Georgia Southern Eagles. Game time is set for 4 p.m. and will be played at Eagle Field in Statesboro, GA.

Spencer Smith is entering his first season as head coach of the program after earning two Big South Coach of the Year honors in 15 years as the head men's coach at Radford University.

The Lady Eagles have already started preparation for the 2010 regular season with two exhibition games. They traveled to Spartanburg, SC on Aug. 14 to take on Wofford and then hosted The Citadel on Aug. 18.

Winthrop was predicted to finish seventh in the Big South Conference Women's Soccer Preseason Poll by the conference coaches last week after completing last season with a 5-10-6 overall record and 2-5-2 mark in Big South play. The Lady Eagles fell to High Point on penalty kicks in the conference tournament title game, which was the first time in school history the program appeared in the championship contest.

The squad will return 10 starters from last year, and lose only two in forward Jessica Hausfeld and defender Stevie Lucas.

Redshirt junior Kelsy Weavil returns for her second full season as starting goalkeeper for the Lady Eagles after allowing only 18 goals in 2009 and grabbed 98 saves, which puts her tied for third in school history for saves in a season.

The forward position will consist of three starters up front in order for Winthrop to create more scoring opportunities. The three forwards set to start the season as forwards will be senior Tricia Vensel, and juniors Tiana Tallant and Nichole Smith. Vensel led Winthrop last year in three different offensive categories: goals, points and shots. She also earned Second Team All-Big South Conference honors in 2009 while splitting time as a midfielder and forward. Tallant recorded one assist last season and played primarily in the midfield. Smith appeared in 12 games as a sophomore last season and has recorded five career starts, all of which came during her freshman campaign. She has tallied one assist in her two-year career that happened in 2008 as a freshman.

The midfielders, which will be three central players, are sophomore Kylie Long, junior Rachel Webster and sophomore Allie VandeWater. Long made an immediate impact as a freshman last season as she was selected both to the Big South All-Freshman Team and the Big South All-Tournament Team. She recorded two goals and four points in 2009, which tied her for second the squad in both categories. Webster has been a fixture in the midfield for the past two seasons as she has started in 40 of the 41 games that she has played. VandeWater makes the move to the midfield in 2010 after spending all of last season as one of the two starting forwards. Her 18 starts last year tied her with Kathryn Leach for most starts on the squad by a freshman and finished the season tied for second with two goals and four points.

The defensive backline will be one of the more experienced positions on the field in 2010 for Winthrop. The defenders will be made up of four defenders, two outside and two central players. The two starting central defenders will be senior Katie Perkinson and junior Courtney Durbin. Perkinson is the most experienced player at the defender position, while also being the only senior in the group. She led the team in 2009 with two assists and was selected to the Big South All-Tournament Team. Durbin is entering her first full season as a defender after spending the last two seasons at the forward position; she made the move to the defense during the middle of last season. She also recorded one goal as a sophomore in 2009. The two outside defender positions will be a four-way player battle between redshirt junior Lindsay Taylor, sophomores Kathryn Leach and Daria Borowski, and redshirt freshman Becca Hamm. Taylor, who dished out one assist in 2009, is also making a move to the defense as she was a midfielder for a majority of the past two seasons. Leach appeared in 20 games last season as a defender and finished third for Winthrop in minutes played. Borowski battled injuries last season and played in 12 games with five starts, while Hamm redshirted.

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