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Youth was served for 2010 Lady Hawk soccer squad
ROME, Ga. – There were plenty of excuses
available.
They were a young team with 11 new faces dotting the roster, 10 of those freshmen.
Players were forced to play out of position and just as many played with pain.
And they had a new head coach who was in her first year at the helm of a program.
All told, the Shorter University women’s soccer team could easily have given in considering what it faced.
Instead, the Lady Hawks made the 2010 season one that set the foundation for a promising future and established Shorter as a team to look out for in the Southern States Athletic Conference.
“We had the kind of season that fit the usual mold,” rookie head coach Jennifer Colley said about the Lady Hawks’ 10-8-1 record – the most wins for the program in eight years – in a season that included a record for consecutive wins while having to go up against a rugged SSAC that sent three teams to the NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship.
“We beat the teams we were supposed to beat and lost to the team we weren’t supposed to beat,” she said. “Getting 10 wins was a goal of mine and I’m very happy we did that, but we need to win some big games against Top 25 teams and challenge teams like Lee or AUM or Mobile.
“But it was a great season and the team really feels like ‘we’re there.’”
The Lady Hawks’ arrival this year came by way of a maturation process.
With youth dominating the roster, Shorter got off to a slow start as the Lady Hawks dropped six of their first eight games. But the team eventually found its niche, going 8-1-1 in its last 10 regular season matches with the lone loss – Shorter had a school record six straight wins heading into the match – coming to defending national champion and SSAC title winner Lee.
Heading into the SSAC Tournament, the Lady Hawks held the East Division’s No. 2 seed and were in prime position for a long run, but were stopped short in the quarterfinals when they were dealt a heartbreaking 1-0 overtime defeat by conference rival Auburn-Montgomery despite dominating every statistical category.
“We had our chances including one right before they scored the off the corner kick,” Colley said about the match in which Shorter senior standout Rachel Wood suffered a broken leg in the final minutes of regulation. “Soccer is the only game in the world where you can dominate the game and dominate a team in every statistic, and still lose. It’s just what happens and it’s why we play it.
“It was a hard loss, but when they saw how AUM did against Lee, they knew we could beat them,” she said, noting that the Lady Senators nearly pulled off the upset of the year before Lee prevailed on penalty kicks in the semifinals.
“But that game was kind of like the season we had. We lacked a true goal scorer. We knew that going into the season and Rachel stepped into that role. Rachel’s a great player, but her natural position as a forward is outside and we had to convert her to center forward.”
Although she played out of position, Wood gladly assumed her role as she led Shorter with nine goals and 21 points. She finished her career as Shorter's third all-time leading goal scorer with 13 and ranked third all-time in assists with 12.
Wood was also named to the SSAC All-East Division team with two of her teammates who turned in stellar seasons – junior Brandi Greenwald and sophomore Taylor Hays.
Greenwald, who before coming to Shorter was an All-SSAC pick in 2008 at Brewton Parker, had five goals and six assists this year for the Lady Hawks, while Hays was a mainstay in goal where she set a record with six shutouts (and now has a program best eight career clean sheets), had a 1.17 goals against average and recorded a single-season record of 84 saves.
Postseason recognition was also given to Kelli Davis, who was named to the SSAC All-Freshman team.
Eight Lady Hawks earned SSAC All-Academic recognition: Hays, Kayla Bell, Emily Hanson, Adrian Hicks, Mary Kate Lollar, Lynde Pas, Samantha Stephens and Alex Yancy; and Lollar was selected as Shorter’s representative on the SSAC Champion of Character Team.
“Mary Kate is another player who we had to move [from left back to left midfield],” Colley said of the junior. “She did the job. She didn’t have the statistics but was a huge leader for us.”
The coach acknowledged that the leadership of the team’s four seniors – Wood, Pas, Megan White and Brittany Kossow – was the key for the Lady Hawks this season.
“Pas and White really, really fought through injuries and were always upbeat,” Colley said, “and Brittany always continued getting better and always asked what she could do to get better.
“We were a very young team so it was important to have senior leaders like them.”
While the youthful squad made strides in getting the experience to go with their talent, Colley also became more comfortable in her first outing as a head coach.
“I feel like my game management got better, like knowing when and who to substitute or keeping track of the game clock,” she said. “It’s different when you are an assistant. You make suggestions. As a head coach, you alone make the final decisions and I became comfortable with that.”
And the confidence has grown as well for the coach and the entire team as they have already turned their attention to the future and are committed to playing on a level equal to the likes of SSAC powers Lee, William Carey and Mobile, all that earned berth in the national tournament and have already won their respective first round matches.
“We had a good run through our conference, but the conference has become so competitive,” Colley said. “Everyone is so much closer to each other now but that’s exciting, and with the crossover games next year that count – it’ll really be exciting.”
