2007 Outlook
2007 Rider University Women's Soccer Outlook
With the return of 15 letterwinners, including 10 upperclassmen and eight starters, the Rider University women’s soccer team is ready to return to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference playoffs and compete for an NCAA berth.
“Since I have been here there was only one year that we didn’t go to the playoffs,” said head coach Kevin Long, who enters his fifth season at Rider with the team-record 32 victories. “We’ve been youth laden the last few years but this year the upper class is finally as heavy as our underclass.”
The Broncs are led by seniors Stephanie Madden, Shana Herman, Amy Vinarsky and Michele Ripoll. “We’re trying to instill a sense of urgency to all of the seniors, that they only have one year left., to make it a great one,” Long said.
Madden begins her senior year already in the top 10 in Rider career scoring. A member of the 2006 MAAC All-Academic team, Madden led the Broncs in goals and points in both 2005 and in 2006.
“We think as a senior Steph knows what is required of her and now it is a mater of putting away the opportunities she creates for herself during the game,” Long said. “She remains fearless, remains a player who will do anything to win a ball for us. We’re hoping she will put more away this year.”
Herman has started all 58 games for the Broncs the last three seasons as a key member of the Bronc defense and was a member of the MAAC All-Rookie team in 2004. “Shana has been a great defender for us the last three years and we’ll decide whether she’s a mid-fielder or a defender this year,” Long said. “She’s a good leader for us, a good student in the classroom. She has a nose for attacking. Each year she has tried to show us that she can attack, and she might get that chance this year because our defense is a little more solidified.” Last year Herman was presented the Unsung Hero Award at the team banquet.
Vinarsky started three games for the Broncs last season after playing in 18 games in 2005. “Amy has been a great player for us,” Long said, “and has always been tremendous off the field.” Last year Vinarsky was presented with the Sportsmanship and Inspiration Award at the team banquet. “She’s the glue that keeps us together when we are not on the field,” Long said, “and on the field there is no one more positive. Through the years she has found her game, possession oriented soccer, and at times she helps change the pace of the game for us. As a senior she wants to end on a positive note. She recognizes the urgency that this is her last chance to return Rider to the seasons of glory, where we’ve been in the top four. Her goal is to take the team to the conference tournament. She will be a driving force. If we get there, the reason will not be very far from Amy.”
Ripoll was a member of the 2006 and 2005 MAAC All-Academic teams. She started the first game of 2006 and injured her knee, missing the rest of the year, after starting the first game of the 2005 season before tearing her ACL, causing her to miss the rest of that season. Ripoll played in 17 games as a rookie, starting one. “Michele has kept it together for two years after two ACL injuries,” Long said. “She’s still motivated and she’s going to make a run for it. We have a place for her; it’s a matter of her health. She’s worked extremely hard to get back on the field. If healthy she is a player who can help us.”
Other returning starters include sophomore Alison Brody, junior Michelle Matricardi, junior Kayla Devlin, sophomore Stacy Belgiovene and the Mahar twins, juniors Erin and Lauren.
Brody started 13 games as a rookie last season and finished third on the team in goals and points, while sharing the team lead with two game-winning goals. “Alison is coming off a pretty remarkable year,” Long said. “She’s a very deceptive player. She’s faster than she comes off as. She can beat players, not just take them on but beat them with the dribble. Now as a sophomore we expect her to play a larger role in our offense, whether it is in the center or on the flank. The training wheels are off.”
Matricardi was fourth on the team in goals and fifth in points last season and shared the team lead with two game-winning goals. “Michelle is out to prove that she can play with anyone in the MAAC,” Long said. “She was recruited to be that player, and she’s determined to show it in her final two years. She has the ability to beat players with perhaps a faster first step than many players in the league. She can be very dangerous for us.”
Devlin started 14 games last season, including seven MAAC games, giving her 25 starts in her first two years. As a rookie she was tied for second on the team in goals and was fourth in total points. “Kayla has crossed the line from underclassmen to upper classmen,” Long said. “She is a player who clearly has the abilities, clearly has the speed. She played most of last season injured so we rarely got to see her at 100 percent. We will rely on her to carry her load, which consists of being a goal scorer. She has outstanding vision and can take players on, she probably has one of the cleanest touches, and she is a very technical player. I look forward to seeing her mature a little bit over these next two years.”
Belgiovene started 15 games on the Rider defense as a rookie last year. “Stacey was thrown into the fire right away when Rip was injured in the first game,” Long said. “In the games you could see that we have a ball winner in the air and on the ground. She’s a tenacious defender, very solid physically. She makes good distributions. As a freshman I thought she adjusted very quickly to the speed of the collegiate game. If you told me she was going to start as many games as she had last year I would have said ‘I don’t think so’. I didn’t think she would be the positive impact that she was. Stacy is probably a player that the conference will take note of over her next three years.”
Erin Mahar started all 16 games she played in last year, giving her 30 starts in two seasons. “Erin has been a really strong player for us in the back,” Long said. “She has tremendous pace and can direct traffic for us in the back. We’d like to see more attacking out of her and we saw that in the spring. She can cause a lot of problems as an attacking back. Like her sister Lauren she brings something to the table that is very unique, offensive threats at both of our outside positions in the back.”
Lauren Mahar started eight games last season and played in all 20 games as a Rider rookie, starting five. “Lauren has played up top and at mid-field over the last couple of years and we’ll look at her in the back this next year,” Long said. “She brings a great deal of pace and with that a tenacity that is shared by her sister Erin. Lauren will get stuck in, it is very hard to beat her even once, and impossible to beat her twice. We may look at her as an attacking back. With her pace it would be interesting to see how she can carry the ball for a 60-70 yard run.”
Other key returnees include Amanda Scully, Leslie Amster, Kate Murphy, Natalie Sica and Maggie Molfetas.
Scully started seven games last season, all against MAAC teams, and now has 13 starts in a Rider uniform. She finished second on the 2005 team in scoring as a rookie despite starting just six games. “Scully remains one of the craftier players on the field,” Long said. “We think she’s closer to finding her position on the field. She has skills, she can defend and has good distribution. We think the way the team is right now positions have availed themselves to match her style of play. I think she’s becoming more comfortable in the play, so it will be fun watching her.”
Amster started two games last season and was fifth on the team in points, second in assists. “Leslie got her Division I feet under her last year as a transfer,” Long said. “I thought she saw good playing time, and was a real catalyst in a couple of games. Depending on how we look in the back we may want a play her up top because of her pace. It will be interesting to see how she affects us in terms of scoring goals and causing problems. She played quite a bit and we should see even more of her on the field this year.”
Murphy started two games and played in 12 others as a Rider rookie. “Kate gave us a lot of energy last year,” Long said. “She played mostly on the flank and we’ll look for her in the mid-field and as a back this year. She is probably the strongest player on our team. Her energy level really sparked us during a stretch in the season when the overall team play needed a spark.”
Sica played in 14 games at midfield last season as a Rider rookie, including eight MAAC games. “Natalie is one of our more skilled players, she’s one of our faster players, and we expect her to come out of her shell in her sophomore year,” Long said. “She’s eager to make more of an impact this year. She’s versatile, she can play anywhere for us as long as she’s a bit more assertive. She is very much a secret among the league.”
Molfetas played in five games as a rookie midfielder last season. “Maggie showed us that she is extremely skilled, likes to attack, she’s crafty on the ball, has good vision, and we’re hoping we can find a spot in the midfield for her this year,” Long said. “She should experience more playing time than last year.”
The newcomers are led by a pair fighting for the starting goal keeping position, Alex Post and Jamie Fetzer. “Both of our freshmen will be evaluated at the end of preseason and we’re looking for that starting keeper to carry us to the level that we want to be at,” Long said. “I’m excited about what enthusiasm that position has over the next couple of years. It looks like constant competition for the starting spot at goalkeeper, and that’s what you want. Alex Post brings the tools to start. She’s very technical, she’s eager to learn and eager to give it everything she has. She has done very well for her club team and I think she’ll fit in very well with this team. She’s athletic, quick and a strong competitor for that starting spot. Fetzer came to my camp a few years ago and I’ve known since then that she has a great heart and a great love for the game. She has worked her way up to competing directly for the starting spot. She leads a lot with her courage and her fearlessness.”
The Broncs will be playing without four-year starters Kelli Burke and Lauren Terzyk, who graduated and Tara Morris, who led the MAAC in shots last season as a rookie but will miss this season due to a knee injury. “We lost a couple of powerful players in KB and LT,” Long said. “Solving their absence will be a challenge, however, one that I think we’re up for.”
The schedule begins with tournaments at Hartford (with George Mason) and at Navy (with Longwood) before hosting Drexel, Towson, St. Joseph’s and Penn in September. “We have a very competitive season ahead of us,” Long said. “We have a very long list of teams who finished with winning records against competitive schedules. It is going to be a challenge. If we can sustain ourselves in September and find ourselves, then bring on the MAAC. The teams we play early, the Navys, the Hartfords, George Mason, Towson, show that we haven’t backed off our schedule. We want them to prepare us to be playing with the top teams in our conference, the Fairfields, the Loyolas, Niagara. That is who we want to be grouped with.”
Last season Rider went 3-1-1 over the last five games, 4-2-1 over the final seven, all against MAAC teams. “The way we finished last year tells us that the conference is in our own hands,” Long said. “It tells that our month of September prepared us very well. We stumbled into the MAAC season but the team got it going.”
Rider hopes to get it going a bit earlier this year, and get back to the MAAC tournament. “We can win the tournament,” Long said. “In November, any four teams can be there. That’s the exciting part. I fully expect the Broncs to be competing among the conference elite for a MAAC title shot.”
