GREAT MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Women’s Soccer Season Preview


G-MAC Women’s Soccer Championships: The 2012 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championships will take place on November 2, 2012 through November 3, 2012.

Location of the season ending tournament will be determined by seeding from the final regular-season conference standings. The regular-season champion will be the top seed and host the weekend action.
 
Women’s Soccer Preview – Top Returners & Newcomers

Cedarville will rely upon its core returning group of defender Emily Niedermayer, who was a NCCAA Midwest Region Team, an All-OIC First Team, an All-Ohio First Team, and an Academic All-Ohio First Team as a sophomore, midfielder Deanne Bradshaw, who was an All-OIC First Team, All-Ohio Second Team, Academic All-Ohio First Team, and was tied for the team lead in scoring with four goals and two assists for ten points as a sophomore, and midfielder Morgan Ziegler, who was a NCCAA Scholar-Athlete, Academic All-Ohio Second Team, and started 17 of 18 games, scoring twice with an assist. They will be joined by nine newcomers, including defender Carly Gregory, who was a two-time All-Central Buckeye Conference selection and spent two seasons as the Kicker on the Shawnee Football Team; midfielder Sara Rogers, who was a two-time MVP at Heritage High School and an All-City Performer as a senior; forward Chloe West, who was the 2009 Central Buckeye Conference and Clark County Player of the Year, earning All-State Second Team honors – scoring 22 goals as a freshman, 19 as a sophomore, and even score two goals to finish her career as a member of the Emmanuel’s Christian Academy boys varsity team; and forward Jacoby Ziegler, who earned All-Ohio Division III First Team honors as a senior after scoring 33 goals and 17 assists and was named Patriot Athletic Conference and Lorain County Player of the Year, capping a career in which she scored 80 goals and totaled 36 assists.

Trevecca Nazarene brings back three key position players from last year’s squad, including senior captain Lindsey Robinson, the team’s second leading scorer with six goals and three assists, Brooke Gann, the team’s leading scorer with eight goals and an assist, and Jordan Ponto, the team’s top defender, who earned multiple honors including an All-Tournament Team selection at the Cougar Classic. They will be joined by a group of newcomers, led by junior college transfer Becky Bartos, who will bring leadership and talent to the midfield. She is the all-time career and single-season  assists leader at Waubonsee Junior College. Anna Hoffman and Ashley Bush come to Trevecca out of high school and should create a more aggressive attack on offense. Hoffman was named to the Best of Preps Third-Team in the Chattanooga area and Bush was the leading scorer in high school, both as a junior and as a senior, where she was named team MVP and was a two-time All-District player.
 
Urbana will be led by senior goalkeeper Meghan Taucher and midfielders Abby Pearson (fifth-year senior) and Brittany Mazzu (junior). Taucher is a two-year starter who recorded 152 saves, two shutouts and a 1.78 goals against average in 2011. Pearson, a three-year starter, is fourth all-time in game-winning assists, ninth in game-winning goals, ninth in shots, 11th in assists, and 20th in games started. Mazzu led the team in goals and points in 2011. Replacing Brooke Shultz, who was a four-year starter and the Team MVP in 2012 is critical, and a trio of recruits, Alyx Brown, McKensey Cross, and Bailey Domer will look to replace and improve the offensive attach. Brown was Team MVP and named to multiple All-Conference and All-Region teams after scoring 27 career goals. Cross, who was a three-time captain, was named Best Offensive Player from 2009-2011 after leading the team in goals and assists in each season. Domer was named to the Division I All-Central District Second Team and was a key factor in her team’s ability to possess the ball in the midfield.
 
Ursuline returns a very talented and experienced group led by senior goalkeeper Rachel Smith, who has rewritten the record books for the Arrows. In 2011, Smith established single-season marks with 14 wins, only three losses, 11 shutouts (eight shutouts and three combined shutouts in which she started and played at least the whole first half), seven shutouts in a row, 10 wins in a row, 13 games without a loss in a row, and 715 minute stretch without giving up a goal. She will be joined by junior Amanda Levaskevich, who led the team with 33 points (12 goals – four game winners – and nine assists), plus sophomores Brittany Prato and Paige Rowan. Prato was an NCAA Division II All-Ohio First Team selection as a freshman, leading the defense that helped Smith post all of those impressive stats. Rowan started 14 matches as a freshman and led the team with 13 goals, scoring seven goals in the final four games of the season on her way to being named Co-Freshman of the Year by the ICAA, which voting was completed prior to Rowan scoring the seven late season goals. Despite losing Jaimie Grindle, the team’s all-time leading scorer (46 goals, 18 assists and 110 career points), and Leah Sweet, the team’s best defender (63 career starts), the talent pool has been expanded with the addition of Canadians Vanessa Consiglio and Taylor MacIver, along with a group of talented freshman that can push for significant playing time.
 
Women’s Soccer Preview – Team News

Cedarville returns 12 players after losing 11, but the class of nine newcomers (described above) show that the loss in experience will be replaced by youthful talent. Included in that mix of newcomers will be senior goalkeeper Alysia Bennett, who returns to the program after not playing in 2011. Last season, the team lost in the semifinals of the Ohio Independent Championships to eventual champion Notre Dame College, and lost to Grace in the finals of the NCCAA Midwest Regional, however as a first year full active member of the NCAA Division II, the Yellow Jackets will look to continue to improve and make an early impact on the G-MAC.

Trevecca Nazarene returns 17 players and replaced seven lost with six young talents. They will look to improve upon a 8-8-2 record from last season, where the team was seeded first in the NCCAA Mid-East Regional, but lost in the semifinals to Covenant College in overtime, 2-1. Looking forward into 2012, Kayla Vanes has a chance to move into the Top-3 in career points and goals scored, and into the Top-10 in assists. Brook Gann is only two goals shy of the Top-10 in goals scored, while Bekah Headrick is currently third in career saves and should move up a spot with a successful season, while maintaining her top spot with the lowest goals against average in school history.
 
Urbana returns 11 players from last season and brings in an incredible 17 new players to the mix, which should dramatically change the culture of a team that went 5-12-1 last season, losing 1-0 to Cedarville in the first round of the Ohio Independent Championships last season. Abby Pearson has an opportunity to lead this program forward in her final season, while also looking to climb the career ladder in goals, assists, and game-winners, while with a successful season Meghan Taucher has an outside shot at the career goals against average of 1.367 set in 2004.
 
Ursuline will be hosting games this season in a renovated soccer stadium that includes a newly leveled, expanded, and re-sodded grass field that includes greater drainage, plus the addition of a new LED scoreboard. Last season the Arrows, seeded third despite a 2-0-1 conference record, knocked off sixth seed Malone 6-1 and second seed Walsh 3-0 before falling to Notre Dame in the finals in overtime 3-2. Notre Dame and Ursuline played two contests in 2011 with the first game going to a 1-1 overtime tie, meaning it took almost three full contests to decide a winner. Important dates on the Arrows schedule include a game against Davis and Elkins which is the only game between Youngstown State (first game of the season) and the final game of the season in which Ursuline lost.
 
Women’s Soccer Preview – Season Outlook

Cedarville will look to get off to a quick start and establish which newcomers will make the greatest impact right away as the rest continue to improve and hope to make a late season impact. Under Coach McGillivray, who begins his 15th season with the women’s program at Cedarville, after coaching the men’s program for 24 years, the team will be in for an exciting season, that includes its first ever contest against a NCAA Division I opponent, Youngstown State (Sept. 25). With improved depth and youth, the team’s success will be dependent on their success during a six-game stretch of road games and how they begin the year during the three-game home stand to start the season.

Trevecca Nazarene with significant upgrades to the TNU soccer facilities, Trevecca will begin the season by hosting the Nazarene Classic, before traveling up to NCAA Division I Lipscomb University to play their first-ever women’s soccer match against their old rival. Three more firsts will come Trevecca’s way in conference play as they face Urbana, Ursuline and Cedarville – all for the first time. TNU will look to improve upon last season’s finish, and with a significantly improved strength of schedule to coincide with the schools transition into Division II, a winning record would be a major accomplishment. The goal for the season to the G-MAC crown and once again host the NCCAA Mid-East Regionals as the top seed and advance to the finals in Kissimmee, Florida.
 
Urbana will look forward to both continuing and starting fresh a rivalry against Cedarville as members of the G-MAC, while also looking to continue its recent winnings ways against local rival Findlay. In her second season as Head Coach, Lauren Lewicki looks to utilize the 17 newcomers and six experienced seniors to improve and build upon an impressive 5-2-1 home record last season, while looking to quickly end a 12-game road losing streak that dates back to 2010. Despite a rough 2011, the Blue Knights are not far removed from a nine-year stretch in which the team won at least seven games each season, including a 14-5 record in 2007. Coach Lewicki is hoping her team of newcomers, can take the excitement of a new conference, and start a new streak, as the program heads in a new direction.
 
Ursuline has 19 letter winners returning and eight newcomers that will be in charge of replacing five seniors. The Arrows are deep with talent and coming off a school record 14 wins, they are ready to make another step in their transition from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II level under head coach Jason Kubbins. Can the defense be as strong as they were in 2011, and can the midfield continue to possess the ball, leading to easy attacks for Rowan, Levaskevich, and others. These questions will be answered quickly as the Arrows start the season with back-to-back matches against Shepherd and Pitt-Johnstown on back-to-back days.