Alabama Soccer: Season Preview
8/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Aug. 10, 2009
Entering the second year under head coach Todd Bramble the University of Alabama soccer team looks to improve on its 2008 effort, which saw the squad earn a trip to Orange Beach for the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the first time since 2004 and just the second time since 1998. The Crimson Tide finished the season with a 9-9-2 overall mark and a 4-6-1 league ledger. Returning only two seniors in 2009, Alabama welcomes 11 newcomers to the team and will rely on the crop of freshmen to fill the void left by the outgoing class.
"There's certainly going to be a lot of excitement around this season, because even though I was new last season, the team was the exact same as previous year's," Bramble said. "We have 13 returning players and we are bringing in 10 freshmen, and we are really excited about this freshman class and expect to see a lot of new faces out on the field contributing, so that always generates a lot of excitement."
With the influx of fresh faces to the squad, Bramble and his staff took extra steps in the spring to ensure that the upperclassmen understand the value of making the freshmen feel welcome and the difficulties of breaking in a large group at the collegiate ranks.
"We took one of our practice sessions and devoted an hour and a half per week to development, team chemistry and team building," Bramble said of the rebuilding effort. "We have put a lot preparation and a lot of advanced thinking into training our upperclassmen to understand how important it is that they bring these freshmen into the fold as quickly as they possibly can, make them feel a part of our family and give them a chance to do what they do as freshmen."
Although the group of rookies is expected to contribute quickly, Bramble knows that the hardships associated with making the transition from high school to college must be dealt with early in order to get the most out of his young players. The quicker they can adjust to the physical aspect of preseason, being away from home and competing with the upperclassmen who are three and four years older than them, the sooner the Tide will see the benefits.
"There is a learning curve and what that really means is that they'll have to go through some adversity," Bramble said. "The quicker they can get through that learning curve and deal with the adversity of preseason, they can be the players on the field in the college game that we know they can be."
Forwards
Brooke Rogers and Victoria Frederick lead the Tide's group of strikers as the leading returning scorers with three goals apiece in 2008. Rogers paced the squad in SEC play with three goals and also led the team with eight points in conference games. After a successful sophomore campaign, Rogers looks to factor heavily into Alabama's offensive attack in 2009. Rogers became the first member of the Crimson Tide to earn all conference accolades since Libby Probst was tabbed to the second team in 2004
"She scored a lot of timely goals for us last year that helped score enough points to get us to Orange Beach," Bramble said of Rogers' 2008 performance. "Brooke is our leading scorer returning in that position and we are looking for her to have another big year."
Frederick totaled 10 points in 2008 and was one of four players to lead the team with four assists. She also paced the squad with 21 shots on goal. The Huntsville native has been participating in W-League action over the summer for the Toronto Lady Lynx and was named to the Team of the Week by the United Soccer League for the sixth week of competition.
"Victoria is someone who has a ton of potential and had a great summer up in Canada playing in the W-League," Bramble said. "We are certainly hopeful that has contributed to her development."
Also returning to the offensive front from last year's team is senior Kelsey King who netted two goals and added four assists in 2008. King's leadership and experience will be a necessity for the Crimson Tide in 2009.
"Kelsey is a senior who has a great attacking personality and we are looking at her to have a great senior year," Bramble said.
Alabama will be adding four freshmen to the offensive front in 2009 and they all will be pushing for playing time.
"Amanda Ortegon is an exciting player out of Texas," Bramble said. "Lindsey Sillers is a local product from Birmingham and Ashley Willis and Kylee Brown also have a lot of tools that can help us in the attack."
With a nice mixture of veterans and newcomers up front Bramble looks to shake things up a bit and shift the offensive philosophy to more of an attacking game and less conservative play.
"We approached most of our games last year by putting a lot of people behind the ball - kind of a defense-first approach that brought the success we needed to have last year, but certainly that's not the long-term plan here," Bramble explained. "We want to be able to dictate the tempo of the game by out possessing teams."
Midfield
After graduating the bulk of the midfield after the 2008 season, there are spots up for grabs in the middle of the field for this year's team. Rosaly Petriello played in 19 games and made 18 starts for the Tide in 2008 as a sophomore and will be relied on again this season. Petriello accumulated seven points on the year and scored two goals, both of which came in SEC play.
"We are excited that we are returning Rosy, who had a great spring," Bramble said. "Rosy brings a lot of personality in there, as well as creativity and flair. She's not just a robotic, possession-type player, but she is unpredictable and good on free kicks too, so we need her on the field."
Bramble also has high aspirations for junior Kelly King, who figures to play a role in the middle of the field and become a player that can be relied on to log long minuets.
"Another player that had a great spring and we're looking for her to step up in her junior year is Kelly King," Bramble said. "She's a really good player, technically, that can help us keep possession of the ball and control the tempo of the game. We saw her get closer to being a 90 minuet player, which is what we need from her."
Shannon Lathrop will also add some valuable experience to the midfield in 2009. Lathrop played in 16 games and made three starts as a true freshman in 2008 where she scored a goal and assisted on another.
"Shannon has had a great summer with her club team (who is competing for a national championship next month)," Bramble said of her progress. "She's also a very technical player."
The Tide welcomes King's younger sister, Tia, who, according to Bramble, is a center-midfield-type personality that can help with ball possession. Bramble also has high hopes for newcomer Josie Rix from Chattanooga, Tenn.
"The freshman that I'm most excited about coming in there is Josie," Bramble said. "She is a player that is a candidate to win the defensive midfielder spot, which is a really important position. She brings an athletic presence where she is a fierce tackler, she's good in the air and she is good enough with the ball so that she can help us keep possession."
Defense
With a core group of veterans returning on defense, Bramble looks for senior Alex Butera and junior Carly Mygrants to hold down starting jobs and lead the Tide's defense that had eight shutouts in 2008. After starting their careers at Alabama as a member of the offense, Mygrants and Butera have emerged as a steady force on defense.
"We have veterans in the back that certainly we're going to be relying on," Bramble said. "Carly has really done a great job from transitioning from being an attacking player to solidifying a spot as left back for us."
"Alex is really, really key in that she's a senior, she's a good athlete, she understands the game, she's good on the ball, but more importantly she's a leader on the field for us and she has really embraced that role," Bramble said of one of his only two seniors. "Her communication skills are really important for the players that play in front of her to hear her voice and for her to do a good job of organizing our team."
The remaining positions on defense are up for grabs and as many as six players will be competing for those spots. Bramble sees junior Hailey Hull and sophomore Veronika Wolfkeil as potential candidates along with four freshmen to add to the competition.
"I see that being a fierce competition in preseason," said Bramble of the empty spots. "The right-center back and right back spots, the competition there will be really interesting to see how that unfolds during preseason."
Goalkeepers
After a taking a year off from action with the Crimson Tide to play for Team Canada at the U-20 World Cup in Chile, Justine Bernier returns for her sophomore year of collegiate action. In her freshman year at the Capstone, Bernier rewrote the Alabama record books with 145 saves which ranks first all-time in the UA single-season annals and fourth all-time in the SEC.
"It's great to have her back with three years left to play," Bramble said. "She got tremendous experience last year being able to represent her country in the fall in a world championship event. She had a very good summer and went to the same W-League team as Victoria Frederick, so we're looking for her to come back and be sharp right from the start of preseason."
Bramble also welcomed newcomer Laura Nicholls to the depth chart at goalkeeper over the spring. Nicholls will be in her sophomore year and looks to add quality depth.
"Laura is someone that we added this spring and she's really done a great job of coming in, working hard, and getting up to the speed at the Division I level. We feel good about our core of goalkeepers coming back."
Schedule
With exhibition matches with Bramble's alma mater, Mercer, and the team he formerly coached, Clemson, to begin the season, the Tide will be tested early in the year in order to prepare for its regular season schedule.
"Knowing that we're going to be a young team, we wanted to get them quality competition so they would have an understanding of what it's going to be like as we get into the rigors of SEC play," Bramble said.
After games against in-state opponents UAB, Samford, Jacksonville State and the University of South Alabama, the Crimson Tide will welcome Memphis to Tuscaloosa for what will be tough stretch of non-conference matchups.
"We're fortunate to be in a state that has a ton of quality Division I soccer teams," Bramble said. "We would love to see the rivalries with UAB and Samford continue to grow, and then obviously we get to play Jacksonville State and South Alabama. Memphis is a very, very good team and we look for them to be back in the NCAA tournament again this year"
Alabama will travel to Lubbock, Texas for games against Texas Tech and TCU for the first long road trip of the season. After that, the Tide will begin its SEC schedule with trips to Mississippi and Mississippi State.
"Our trip to Texas will be our first really big road trip, where we take a team over distance and stay in hotels," Bramble said. "We will see how we can perform under the adversity of a road trip against two quality teams. Once we get through that, we should be well-prepared for SEC play. I think the two things that we want to see happen in SEC play is that we want to make progress."
Having accomplished the goal last season of qualifying for postseason play with a trip to the SEC Tournament, Alabama looks to one-up itself in 2009 by not only making it to Orange Beach, but taking a higher seed with them.
"That's the first thing," Bramble said. "I think the second thing is that we have to handle our Sunday games through conference play better than we did last year. That will probably be the focus of our conference schedule this year."
