Aug. 15, 2007
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. –Vanderbilt’s women’s soccer team opened it’s preseason training routine today with two practices featuring a squad bearing a solid mixture of youth and experience.
Head coach Ronnie Coveleskie was pleased with the first day of training and the dynamic the mixture of talent has brought to the team.
“I was really pleased with our first training session. I thought our mentality was really good considering we have 11 newcomers and 13 returnees. Our energy was great, the personality on the field was there as was the competitive spirit.”
The Commodores practiced in the morning and had another session in the middle of the afternoon heat.
“We had some players that had very good sessions, but as a collective group I was really happy to see how advanced we are after the first day,” said Coveleskie. “I think if we can maintain this personality and build upon our tactical side, I think we will be a very good team this year.”
With an abundance of newcomers a logical concern would be the lack of experience, but Coach Coveleskie and her staff look at it in a different way.
“Our belief is that the youth will not be an inexperienced core but will bring an added level of excitement to the field.”
The Commodores had the No. 1 recruiting class in the Central Region and the Southeastern Conference and are expected to meld with a solid returning core led by seniors Amy Baumann (All-SEC), Sarah Dennis, Meredith Kohn and Audrey Nonemaker as well as junior Katie Schulz (All-SEC, All-Region).
Vanderbilt will spend the rest of the week working on the mentality and competitive spirit aspects of the game, before focusing on the tactical side of things in the coming weeks.
The Commodores will have an exhibition match against Virginia Tech on Friday, Aug. 24 at the VU Soccer Complex before kicking things off for real against Wisconsin on Aug. 31 at the Nike Invitational hosted by Georgia in Athens.
Check back on vucommodores.com for an extended season preview later this week.
