Oct. 31, 2000
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.
Coming into the 2000 season, the Baylor soccer team had plenty of question marks, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Gone were the top three goal-scorers from last year's team that finished fourth in the Big XII with a 6-3-1 conference record. Gone were six four-year letter winners who arrived in Waco the same year Baylor started its soccer program.
And even before the first ball was kicked in regular-season play, injuries began to take their toll on an already inexperienced team. By the time the regular season ended, injuries had shelved five players for the year and cost two more significant playing time. Oh, by the way, a heralded transfer counted on to provide instant offense missed the entire year because of an NCAA rules quirk.
So with all that going against them, all the Bears did was go out and improve on their conference record by a half game and defy the odds with another fourth-place Big XII finish.
"GIVEN THE INJURY situation, our record was better than last year," head coach Nick Cowell said. "We finished in the same position, but we had a slightly better record this year, so in that sense, it's a slight improvement. But given our injuries, I thought it was a great achievement for the players who came in to do that."
If the 2000 season had a theme, it would have to be injuries. Before the season started, incoming freshmen Katie Peterson and Janae Potter, both skilled on the offensive end, were lost for the season. Along the way, junior forwards Danielle Gurney and Rachel Kacsmaryk went down with hurt knees, as did senior defender Jennifer Cavalle. And for much of the season, fifth-year senior forward Molly Cameron, the team's leading scorer with 10 goals, played on at least one and at times two bad ankles.
As recently as the team's disappointing season-ending tie with Kansas, the injury bug bit again. Freshman midfielder Cookie Day suffered a concussion with 17 seconds left in the second overtime. She was playing long minutes in place of fellow freshman Candace Reilly, who sprained her ankle the prior weekend and missed the last two games.
And Barbara Torres, a transfer from Georgetown who was All-Big East last year, found out just before the start of the season that she'd have to sit out the season because between Georgetown and Baylor, she took a couple of summer classes at Pan American University in Edinburgh, near her hometown of McAllen, and that's an NCAA no-no.
BUT DESPITE all the injuries and Torres' transfer problem, a schedule that pitted them against six ranked teams and a roster that included 16 freshmen, the Bears went unbeaten in their last seven games and enter this week's Big XII tournament with an air of confidence.
"We're going there to win it," said senior goalkeeper Dawn Greathouse, the glue who held the young team together, especially on the defensive end. "We have good depth, anyone who comes in the game, we know can get the job done."
Indeed, if there was a silver lining to all the injuries, it was that several young players got their baptisms afire, giving this squad a much deeper bench that last year's.
"I thought there were a lot of positive things that came from the season," Cowell said. "I think we had better chemistry and a better understanding of people's roles within the team. I think one thing we have this year is much better depth, so we were able to overcome those injuries. I'd hate to think that last year, if we'd had injuries to, say, Courtney (Saunders) or Nikki Hales, then that would have been tough for us to overcome. I think it augurs well for the future."
It could bode well for the present. With a 9-5-3 season record, Baylor is on the proverbial bubble for a third straight NCAA tournament appearance. A good showing this week in San Antonio could cement a bid.
With their fourth-place finish (Nebraska, Texas A&M and Texas wound up 1-2-3), the Bears will play their first-round match at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at San Antonio's Blossom Stadium against the conference's fifth-place finisher, probably Oklahoma. The Bears and Sooners battled to a scoreless tie Oct. 6 at Norman. OU is another bubble team, so a Baylor victory would do double duty -- give the Bears a 10th victory and in all probability eliminate a primary rival.
The winner of that game will, in all likelihood, face powerhouse Nebraska, conference champion for the second year in a row and the tournament's top seed, in the semifinals.
"The (NCAA tournament) committee doesn't meet until Tuesday, so we'll know a little more then," Cowell said. "Certainly, we'll have to win one and at least fare well in the other. But there are a lot of other teams that think they have a shot, too, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed. The good thing about it is that we finished the season well, which is something they do look at."
ANOTHER POSSIBLE ally is Baylor's schedule strength: of the five losses, four were to ranked teams (SMU, USC, UCLA and Nebraska) and the other was to Texas, third in the Big XII. In addition, the Bears beat No. 9 Texas A&M.
Other than Cameron, BU didn't have much experienced scoring coming into the season. Last year's top three goal scorers, Saunders (18), Hales (9) and Juli Goin (5) accounted for 32 of the Bears' 47 goals in 1999. With Cameron missing last year with a knee injury, the top returners were senior Gina Castellano and junior Alyson Miles, who scored three apiece last year. This year, that pair totaled two goals, both by Castellano.
But as the season progressed, younger players stepped up and began putting the ball into the net. Chief among them was freshman forward Emily Fukuchi, a walk-on from Cerritos, Calif., who wound up the season with six goals, second behind Cameron. And she got them all in the last nine games. Sophomore Whitney Barrett also went on a late scoring binge, netting three in the last five games. The only other Bear to score more than one goal was Day, who had two.
WITH GOALS at a premium, Baylor relied heavily on its defense, and it proved to be outstanding. Playing all but 14 minutes in goal, Greathouse had a goals-against average of 1.43 and recorded four shutouts. But she had plenty of help from fellow senior Jenni Eden, sophomore Tamura Crawley and freshman Melissa Humke along the back line. Humke, a center defender, played every minute of every game.
"Her position is a difficult one to come into as a freshman," Cowell said, "because you're kind of the general of the defense. She was recruited to play that position, so I wouldn't say she was a surprise, but I think the level to which she has played speaks well for her. She's got a great future with the program."
Cowell thinks both Humke and Fukuchi will contend for Freshman of the Year honors in the Big XII, and he expects Cameron, Castellano, Eden and Greathouse to get serious All- Conference consideration.
If the Bears are to take their show onto the NCAA road yet again, it will take stellar play from young and old alike. But they've over-achieved all season. There's no reason to bet against them now.
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.
