Women’s Soccer Set To Defend NECC Regular Season and Tournament Titles
Women’s Soccer Set To Defend NECC Regular Season
and Tournament Titles
CHICOPEE, MA – Experience. Wisdom.
Championship pedigree. These are the attributes that will enable
the 2009 Elms College women’s soccer program to defend its
place at the top of the New England Collegiate Conference
(NECC).
Coming off a season in which it won both the regular season and
conference tournament titles, the Blazers return 13 players to the
field, including seven seniors. Among those seniors is reigning
NECC Player of the Year Krystyna Gagne (Methuen,
MA), a forward whose 14 goals and six assists also earned
her a First Team All-NECC selection.
Elms finished the regular season with a 10-7-1 overall record, and
a perfect 8-0 mark in league play, outscoring its conference rivals
43-0 in regular season action.
To say that this Blazer team has experience is an understatement.
Five of the squad’s seven seniors were members of the 2006
team that finished with a program-record 14 wins.
With a new head coach in Kevin Meek, Elms has the
necessary pieces in place to make another run at the regular season
and tournament championships as well as the NCAA tournament.
FORWARDS/MIDFIELDERS
Joining Gagne on the attack this season will be junior
Alison Couture (Chicopee, MA), sophomores
Amanda Alvarado (Springfield, MA) and
Jennifer Killion (Cambridge, MA) and sophomore
newcomer Erica Griffo (Solvay, NY). Couture netted
a second-best 11 goals for the Blazers in 2008 en route to earning
First Team All-NECC honors, while Killion struck for seven scores
and aided on three goals, giving Elms a wealth of fire-power up
front.
The midfield is anchored by four seniors, including 2008 Second
Team All-NECC honoree Kelsey Battige (Monson, MA).
Maggie Rivers (Dalton, MA), Shannon
Schickler (Adams, MA) and Vanessa Pare
(Belchertown, MA) will provide a solid foundation in the
middle of the field, while junior Sarah Donais (Granby,
MA) will look to provide an additional spark to an already
stellar group.
DEFENDERS
The Blazer defense, which allowed just 19 goals and held conference
foes scoreless for the entire 2008 regular season, returns four
players to the pitch including senior Serina Percoski
(Westfield, MA), who found the back of the net on eight
occasions as a midfielder last season.
Junior Stephanie Magalhaes (Granby, MA), sophomore
Laura Boone (Chicopee, MA), and excellent premier
freshmen Cassandra Tetrault (Springfield, MA) and
Nicole Wynne (Hanson, MA), round out Elms’
defensive set.
GOALKEEPER
One of the highly recruited goalkeepers coming out of Massachusetts
is freshman Molly Corse (Bernardston, MA). Corse
will defend between the pipes for the Blazers in 2009 and has
already proven to be a leader both on and off the field.
SCHEDULE
Elms begins its 2009 slate with four games on the road including
the season-opener at Vassar (Sept. 5) and a non-conference showdown
with Westfield State (Sept. 15).
“One of our toughest competitors will probably be Westfield
State,” noted Coach Meek. “They made the NCAA
tournament last year and are returning most of their
starters.”
The Blazers will take on Mount Holyoke in their home-opener (Sept.
19), one of two games that will be played at Leary Field during the
month of September. However, six of Elms’ 10 matches in
October will be played at home.
Elms will close out its regular season with its first-ever meeting
with Union (NY) (Oct. 31), a road contest that should prepare the
Blazers well for postseason play.
Elms is joined by NECC members Lesley, Southern Vermont, Daniel
Webster, Bay Path, Newbury, Wheelock, Becker and Mitchell, all of
whom will be played once during the regular season.
WRAP-UP
The Blazers will rely on senior leadership and experience to take
the next step forward in 2009. With 12 returning players on a
roster of 16, the future of the Elms College women’s soccer
program is now.
