Murray State University Athletics
Soccer prepares for 2005 season
8/21/2005 5:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
On one hand, the Racers -- 8-11-1 overall, 4-3-1 (third) in Ohio Valley Conference play last year -- lost its most prolific scorer in Theresa Reedy, who scored 13 of MSU's 25 goals last season. Reedy finished her four-year career with 34 goals, tops among all Racers.
On the other hand, MSU has 25 of its 34 players returning from last year's squad, which has head coach Mike Minielli happy.
"Everything looks good going into the season," he said. "Everybody's pretty healthy, and the core of the team is back. We lost a lot of the important players to graduation, and that's most important right now, to see who can step into those spots.
"Our offense is definitely faster, but there are still some unknowns. Reedy had 13 goals last year, and that was more than half of our goals. Obviously, we have to have some freshmen step up and score more goals. We had an adequate amount of goals last year, but we need to score more to help take some of the pressure off of our defense.
"Defensively, almost everyone is returning," Minielli said, "but we have got to get a little better. We've added Kiley Price, who red-shirted last year, and Jen Pyles, a Canadian transfer who played at Arkansas-Pine Bluff last year. Lauren Blessinger will be back from her injuries in two to three weeks, so that is looking good for us. We've got high hopes in the back as well. We've got the potential to be really good."
When Murray State began soccer in 2000, it was the sixth team in the OVC. This season, the league roster expands to 10 teams, as Eastern Kentucky begins play, with Tennessee State being the sole member not to have women's soccer.
"The growth of the number of teams is good from the standpoint of it gives everybody 's schedule a set number of games," Minielli said. "They become big games on your schedule, and the quality of teams each year is better. First-year teams in the OVC -- us, Austin Peay and now Eastern Kentucky -- all come in with the support of their athletic administrations. They aren't the typical first-year teams that struggle through their first five years. Eastern Kentucky may finish in the middle of the pack.
"Right now, there is a huge amount of parity; there's little difference between the top and the bottom. Conference season is pretty intense; there are no easy games. Also, there is no dominant team, so you don't feel like you don't have a chance to win the championship."
Murray State was picked sixth in this year's pre-season coaches' poll with 40 points. Samford, which has won each of the last two regular-season titles, was picked first with eight first-place votes and 80 total points. Eastern Illinois, which has won the last four league tournaments, was picked second with two first-place votes and 73 total points. Southeast Missouri State was picked third with 63 points, followed by Jacksonville State with 57 points, Tennessee Tech with 43 points, Murray State at 40, Austin Peay and Morehead State tied at 29, Tennessee-Martin at 20 and newcomer Eastern Kentucky at 16.
Murray State begins its 2005 season on Friday at Valparaiso. The Racers open their home schedule on Sunday, Sept. 4, at 1 p.m. against Southern Mississippi. The Sept. 7 home game against Louisville will be MSU's 100th all-time game.
