Aug. 24, 2000
WACO, Texas - When the Baylor soccer team opens its season at SMU Friday night, fans will notice one thing immediately: the 2000 squad looks more than a little different from the 1999 team.
Last year's team finished fourth in the Big 12 after winning the conference title in 1998. The 2000 team returns only 10 of 18 letterwinners and six of 11 starters, and the team includes 15 true freshmen on the roster.
"Our freshman class is very talented and very competitive," head coach Nick Cowell said. "I think that [the number of freshmen] will be a positive," he said. "It will feel more like 'our team.' Certainly that ownership of the program is something that the younger players will have more of as they gain experience in our system."
The influx of new blood means that returning starters like senior co-captains Dawn Greathouse and Molly Cameron will be depended on all the more for leadership and guidance.
"We handed the captainship to Dawn and Molly in January, and they've had some refreshing new ideas about how to lead the team," Cowell said. "They've created a real positive atmosphere in the program."
Greathouse and Cameron enter the year coming off vastly different seasons. Greathouse enters her senior season coming off back-to-back all-Big 12 seasons as goalkeeper, while Cameron missed the entire 1999 season after injuring her knee in preseason practice.
"We're expecting great things from Molly," Cowell said. "She is an exceptional target player, very talented and very skillful. With all the injuries she's suffered over the past four years, I think she's become a much smarter player."
Two other seniors, Gina Castellano and Jennifer Eden, will help share the load that Cameron and Greathouse carry.
"Gina and Jenny, while not captains, lead by their tremendous work ethic and commitment to fitness," Cowell said.
Other returnees who will be depended on include juniors Alyson Miles and Rachel Kacsmaryk and sophomores Whitney Barrett and Tamura Crawley.
"Those four were each given an opportunity to get more playing time in the spring, and they showed determination and desire to take hold of that opportunity and not waste it," Cowell said.
Nevertheless, the season may well hinge on the performance of several key freshmen.
"We're excited about the newcomers," Cowell said. "Five of them [Candace Reilly, Cookie Day, Stephanie Dempsey, Ryan Lee and Erica Lewis] played on the same club team and have experienced a lot of success together in a very tough league.
"It's interesting to have freshmen on the team who have a knowledge of each other and experience together even before they set foot on campus. Even though they're freshmen, they have a lot of experience competing at a national level together."
Other top newcomers include Day, the Dallas-Fort Worth area player of the year, Erin Freeman, the San Antonio Express News Player of the Year, and Barbara Torres, a transfer from Georgetown who Cowell says is "an excellent forward." Katie Peterson and Melissa Humke also bring strong experience at midfield and defense, respectively.
"Over the course of the spring, we've been able to work with the members of the team without the graduating seniors," Cowell said. "I feel like a lot of the younger players stepped forward and took more responsibility for themselves.
"The depth of our squad will definitely be improved. What remains to be seen is how we replace such talented individuals as Courtney Saunders and Nikki Hales. I think we'll offset their individual brilliance with more team-oriented play."
The team will have to play together, freshmen and seniors alike, if they are to survive in the Big 12 Conference, one of the toughest soccer conferences in the country.
"The conference is definitely improved since last year," Cowell said. "New coaches will make things different, and the recruiting classes of some of the schools that finished below us were excellent.
"I feel the Big 12 is going to make a push this year to become the premier soccer conference in the country. There will be no easy games."
