Oct. 26, 2009

The future is now for the Florida Atlantic University women’s soccer team as it relies on the play of several freshmen to possibly qualify for the Sun Belt Conference Championships, which the Owls will be hosting on November 4-7.

Sixteen freshmen dominate FAU’s roster and there have been occasions this fall season when seven first-year players have been among the 11 position players on the pitch – playing key roles in helping the Owls to a 5-11-3 record for the season and 3-6-1 mark in conference action heading into the last regular-season match on Friday, October 30, at Florida International University.

FAU Head Women’s Soccer Coach Brian Dooley challenged his young team in the non-conference portion of its schedule, and gave the freshmen the opportunity for playing time against Georgia, Arkansas and Mississippi of the Southeastern Conference and Clemson and South Florida of the Big East Conference.

“Going into the season, we were hoping to get five to six players some significant playing time in a contributory role,” noted Dooley. “We struggled early because we had freshmen playing a lot of minutes against quality competition. We were asking them to make an impact without the proper adjustment period to the college game.”

Freshman goalkeeper Ashley Lantes, freshman forwards Meghan Brown and Jamie Greany, and freshman defender Tamara Kesser readily adapted – under fire of NCAA Division I action -- and have taken the early-season lessons into the final weeks of the season.

Lantes has been among the Sun Belt Conference’s leading goalkeepers, posting four shutouts, a .836 save percentage, has allowed an impressive 1.48 goals per game, and posting three straight performances with double-digit save totals in a match.

Brown is the team’s leading scorer with three goals and six points this season, including a game winner in the Owls’ 1-0 victory at Troy on October 16. Greany ranks second on the team with 24 shots on goal and had a goal and three assists (for a season-high five points) in helping lead FAU to a 4-1 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on October 9. Kesser had an overtime goal that gave the team a key 2-1 victory at South Alabama on October 18.

Those freshman contributions have helped FAU to a 3-2-1 record since October 9. This record in the final month of the season has helped the team to contend for one of the eight teams to qualify for the Sun Belt Conference the championship tournament. The team heads into its rivalry game at FIU in ninth place.

“The transition has been a big difference -- like night and day -- from high school because of the pace of play is much faster,” said Lantes, from Clermont, Fla. “The practices and preseason really helped me get prepared for this season.

“I had shoulder surgery in the summer and really expected to be redshirted (sitting out the season while healing or making the transition to college),” mentioned Lantes during a recent interview. “I was just hoping to make the travel squad and did not expect to be the starting keeper. It was a total shock.”

Lantes did not have much time to make that transition since she found herself guarding the Owls’ net in the season-opener against Stetson University.

“I was so nervous during warm ups, but some of the seniors gave me great advice,” noted Lantes, who has started 17 games in her freshman season. “It was a good experience as I got all the nerves out of the way early on. I was literally shaking in my boots in that opening match.”

Lantes’ performance this season hasn’t surprised Coach Dooley, who recruited the freshman to compete for the starting job this fall.

“She came in ready and showed that she deserved to be the number one goalkeeper,” said Dooley. “As a freshman you can sometimes just be in the game. However, Ashley has been out there physically and mentally in every game. Her positioning has been excellent and she has made some big saves for us.”

Brown and Greany had to wait a little longer to make their impact on the program as injuries setback their development.

“I came in last year expecting to play, but an injury set everything back (leading to her being held out of the entire season),” said Brown, a redshirt freshman forward from Davie, Fla., who has scored three goals in the last six matches. “I was a little nervous at the beginning of this season, after being away from the game for a year. It feels good to do something positive when I wasn’t expecting to have as much of an impact on the team.

“Getting playing time on the field has helped me get into a rhythm and I am trying to do what the coaching staff is asking me to do,” said Brown.

Greany missed the first six games of the season after sustaining an injury in the preseason portion of the Owls’ season.

“I was in shape and ready to play but had to shut it down after the injury,” she stated following a recent practice. “I had to work hard to get back out on the field and help the team anyway I could.”

The forward from Bozeman, Mont., has had to make the adjustment to experiencing college and intercollegiate athletics nearly 2,500 miles away from home.

“My hometown is big for Montana, but is small for South Florida,” said Greany. “I am not used to seeing multi-million dollar houses one after another like in Boca Raton or all of the fancy cars. The heat and humidity was also a change for me, but I’m getting adjusted to it.”

Dooley was happy to put Greany on the field, stating: “Jamie is kind of an open book with amazing talent. She’s a competitive kid but has had a tough transition with health concerns . . . Right now, she is reaching midseason form when it is the end of the season. We’re hoping she will be at the top of her game as we finish the season.”

Other freshmen players that have made contributions on the soccer field this fall have included defenders Breanna Lewis of Leesberg, Va., Emily Kelly of Pittsford, N.Y., and Tamara Kesser of Poway, Calif.; and forwards Jessica Vickrey of Gulf Breeze, Fla.; and Brianna Kelts of King of Prussia, Pa..

Coach Dooley expects the freshmen to continue to grow as players and build from this season’s experiences.

“We knew that this freshmen class was going to be special and have a big role in this season,” said Dooley. “Though they’re still learning to make the transition to the physical nature of the college game, we’re starting to see better results from these freshmen.”

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 In their own words

On advice given from the team’s seniors:

“They said that mistakes happen and that nobody is perfect,” said Lantes. “It is how you learn from those mistakes that will help you improve.”

“All the girls on the team are really nice and bring you into the atmosphere of a team,” said Brown.

On getting over giving up a goal as a goalkeeper:

“It is a lot harder than it sounds,” said Lantes. “It takes a lot of mental practice to just move on from it. It is still hard to do, but I’m learning.”

On scoring a goal:

“It is an amazing feeling to score a goal, especially at the collegiate level,” said Brown.

On the difference between high school and college soccer:

“The speed of the game is faster and the girls are bigger. You can’t rest at all when out on the field,” said Brown.

On what the freshmen think about each other:

“Meghan (Brown) has one of the wicked shots on the team. It is hard to stop,” said Lantes. “She works very hard and she keeps the team in positive spirits all the time.”

“Meghan is a very strong player with a strong and accurate shot,” stated Greany. “She plays in the middle, battles the opposition, and wins a lot of 50-50 balls. She is a talented player.”

“Ashley (Lantes) has really stepped up for us lately when we needed her,” said Brown.

“Ashley has grown from day one and is a tough kid,” said Greany. “She has become more vocal and tells us where to be if we’re out of position. If you don’t know where to be, Ashley will tell you. She has definitely saved us more than once this year.”

“Jamie (Greany) is a trooper because she can be in so much pain but can make a 120-yard sprint to get to the ball,” stated Lantes. “I have never seen anyone play that hard before. It is an awesome experience to be playing with people like that. You want to play that much harder to help them out.”

“Jamie is very fast,” noted Brown. “She has the potential to be really good. When healthy, she has the capability to being a major factor for our team.”