North Carolina State University Athletics
Women's Soccer Prepares for 2006 Season
8/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
NC State women's soccer travels to West Virginia for its first and only exhibition match of the season this Saturday, Aug. 19, at 1 p.m. The Wolfpack, which headed to the mountains this weekend for the match, along with additional training, will do some team-building activities before heading back to Raleigh. NC State kicks off its regular season on Friday, Aug. 25, with a 5 p.m. match against Western Carolina, the defending Southern Conference Champions.
QUICK NOTES OF INTEREST
NC State will field an experienced roster with its nine seniors, while balancing a youthful eight-member freshmen class when it hits the pitch in 2006.
The Wolfpack’s back line will hold a core of experience coming from three seniors. Michelle Massey and Megan Buescher have started in every match played the last three years. Buescher missed just two games when she suffered a dislocated shooulder as a freshmen. While Nicole Mayo has started her last 36 matches as well.
The Wolfpack’s top goal scorers, senior Carol Tognetti and sophomore Lindsay Vera, return to lead the attack. Tognetti has tallied a team career best 14 goals, nine assists and five game-winning goals in her three previous seasons. Vera and Tognetti each led NC State with five goals last season, while Vera had a team-best 13 points as a freshman.
Senior Megan Connors is the Pack’s veteran goalkeeper with her 31 matches played. She has allowed 46 goals, made 120 saves and posted nine career shutouts. The New Jersey native owns a personal record of 10 saves in a match, which she set as a sophomore.
HALF AND HALF
When the season kicks off on Aug. 25, NC State will showcase a roster of nine seniors, one junior, three sophomores and eight freshmen. Which means that the nine seniors will have a year to help develop a replacement class of nine freshmen. The senior class includes Megan Buescher, Megan Connors, Amy Graul, Karla Hutton, Christina Mann, Michelle Massey, Nicole Mayo, Megan Sadler and Carol Tognetti. The lone junior in the group is Jessica O’Rourke. Sophomores include Tami Krzeszewski, Mallory Schmidt and Lindsay Vera. The rookie class welcomes Briana Cunningham, Gia Cipollini, Chantalle Dugas, Kelly Estes, Kendall Irby, Sydney Little, Meredith Parilla and Katie Ruiz.
“This is the most seniors we’ve had in five years,” said Kerrigan. “We expect this senior class to take a leadership role for us this season. To have the experience of knowing what is expected at this level and to share that with the underclassmen will play a big role in our success as a team. This group of freshmen will bring a new energy and excitement that will challenge our upperclassmen. It will be interesting to see who earns starting jobs for us from game to game. There will be much competition for playing time.”
GOALKEEPER - 4 v 1
Senior Megan Connors enters her fourth season as a goalkeeper for the Wolfpack, while NC State welcomes first-year player Sydney Little, a 5-foot-7 netminder from Garner, N.C. Connors has made 29 starts in 31 games played. She returns with a career-record 10 saves set back when she was a sophomore. The New Jersey native has averaged just under four saves per 31 matches (120 total), while allowing 46 goals. She has nine shutouts to her credit as well. Little posted a school record 19 shutouts while at Southeast Raleigh High School and was a three-time all-state honoree.
“Megan has developed tremendously since her freshman year,” said Kerrigan. “Not only has her physical condition improved, but her explosiveness and range have also strengthened considerably. I am looking forward to seeing our team reap the benefits of her hard work and for her to teach and mentor Sydney (Little) this year.”
EXPERIENCED BACK LINE
Of the 10 upperclassmen returning to the pitch this season, seven of them have substantial experience on the back line. Three seniors, led by Michelle Massey at center back, along with Megan Buescher and Nicole Mayo have not missed a game in two seasons. Massey has started all of her 55 matches since 2003 and Buescher has missed just two, both in her freshmen season (due to injury), amounting to 53 starts, while Mayo hasn’t missed a start in her last 36 games played. Seniors Megan Sadler, Christina Mann and Karla Hutton have all seen minutes as a defender, while also spending some time in the midfield and/or up front for us during their careers, as is the case with junior Jessica O’Rourke, whose main position is at midfield.
“When you play in the back you have to know where each other is going to be,” said Kerrigan. “You have to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. You have to know that when you step forward your back line will step with you. This group has that experience over the last three years and that provides a benefit for us, as a team and individually. The incoming freshmen will have a terrific opportunity to learn from a group of players who have been in the system and played against top competition the last three years.”
LOOKING FOR MORE GOALS
NC State was outscored by just five goals last season with a margin of 17 to 22 in 18 matches. With such a small goal differential the Wolfpack was within one goal of walking away a winner in seven of its losses. NC State fell 1-0 at No. 3 North Carolina, versus No. 8 Duke, at No. 8 Wake Forest and against No. 10 Boston College. NC State does return its top two leading scorers in sophomore Lindsay Vera and senior Carol Tognetti, both of whom netted five goals last season and combined for four game-winning goals in the process. Some help in scoring goals may arrive from junior midfielder Jessica O’Rourke led the Pack with four assists from her outside spot. She has five total heading into her third season. Incoming freshmen Dugas, Cunningham, Cippolini and Ruiz all have considerable experience up front and will no doubt add some offensive spark to the Wolfpack in their first seasons.
“Every game was close last year for us and to me that means every game was winnable,” said Kerrigan. “Last year our goal scoring wasn’t’ where it needed to be. So this year one of our main focuses is goal scoring. We created some great chances and it just came down to putting the ball in the back of the net.”
TWO TO TALK ABOUT
Senior defender Michelle Massey will captain the 2006 squad and her experience on the field back that responsibility up. She has started every match in her three seasons, which accounts to 55 appearances. Her leadership on and off the field has led to three team-voted Most Valuable Player honors. The Raleigh, N.C. native is equally successful in the classroom having been named to the inaugural Academic All-ACC team and All-ACC Honor Roll each of her three years. Sophomore Lindsay Vera returns as the Wolfpack’s leading scorer from a year ago. At the forward position, she posted 13 points from her five goals and three assists. The Houston native was named to the first ever ACC All-Freshmen team in 2005. Vera started all of her 16 matches played last season and missed two games due to injury.
| 2006 Career Leaders |
| MP-S: Michelle Massey, 55-55 |
