NU women's soccer tries new strategy for season

By Tom Holmes
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The Norwich Women's Soccer team started out this season strong, with good leadership and many new players from different soccer backgrounds.

With only a few months of practice and experience together, the team has begun to perfect its game and has all the ingredients needed for a conference championship.

This is the first season the team has used a new technique, "zone" defense, which is harder to master than "man-to-man," which was used in previous years.

Many players were new to this style of playing, and it took some time for the team to get the momentum needed to beat some of their toughest rivals.

"At first it was difficult for the whole team to come together and play 'zone', because some girls had no experience with it," said Katie Grant, 18, a freshman criminal justice major from Macungie, Penn. "You don't know which person to pick up, sometimes."

While "zone" can preserve energy, because players guard a specific area, rather than racing around the entire field, "man-to-man" is less complex. For man-to-man, each player is assigned to one player from the opposite team and therefore doesn't need to decide which one to cover. When playing "zone," players can make mistakes when choosing which opponents to cover.

"When you play 'man-to-man' you always know where everyone is and where everyone is supposed to be," said Megan Fleshman, 18, a freshman sports medicine major from Troy, N.Y. "When you play 'zone' it gets a lot of people confused. It's definitely a lot harder."

The task of mastering this new defensive style was difficult in part because the players had never played with each other before.

"It takes a lot of communication and so that was one thing that we didn't necessarily have," said Elizabeth Burge, 20, a physical education and biology major and assistant coach for the team from Hartford, Vt. "Everyone had been from different backgrounds, completely different ways of playing, and they were recruited and expected to play together and be successful."

Although it is a young team that has been thrown together, there is a lot of talent and experience among the players.

Fleshman, for example, has played for four different club teams, for an all-star American soccer team in Europe, and throughout high school. Grant played for soccer leagues from the time she was in kindergarten through her sophomore year in high school. Many of the other recruits have similar records.

The team, with a winning record so far has met the challenge it was given in August, and progress, according to the players, has been steady.

"We've had our ups and downs like any other team," said Laura Mangual, 22, team captain and physical education major from Springfield, V.A. "The team in August was very narrow and very fresh. It's easier to play together, now, because we know each other; we know the style of play."

"Now the difference is that we are actually a team," Burge said. "It's not 18 or 20 players; it's one team."

"We've improved a lot," Fleshman said. "We're a lot faster than we were at the beginning of the season. We're definitely a lot more aggressive."

The hard work has paid off so far. The team is once again in the play-offs. They haven't won the conference in some time, but Burge, who is coaching instead of playing due to foot injuries, says this year could be different.

"Last year, we had the potential, and it was possible," Burge said. "But I think this year it's more realistic. We actually are the number one team. We just have to play like the number one team."

"We lost a lot of people. Some haven't been able to make a lot of games because of classes," Mangual said of mid-season. "But now we're going back up to full strength in the play-offs."

Burge said this season will be a winner with or without a championship, because the youth of the team this year means a stronger team next fall.

"It's an awesome foundation for seasons following," Burge said. "It can only get better."

Both Mangual and Burge share the same confidence in the team going into the play-offs.

The team plays Emerson College today. They will play their first play-off game on Saturday, Nov. 2.

"Norwich Women's Soccer is ready to take the next step," Burge said. "We're ready to be the number one team in the conference and to hold that position for a number of years."

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