2008 Woodie Awards
Women's soccer: Roster breakdown
Toulouse, Rodriguez, lead team from the back.
Adam Miller, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/2/08 Section: Sports
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The Maroon and White lost Britt Canfield to graduation and juniors Sydney Stoll and Meghan Gould are likely out for the season with injuries.
UMass coach Jim Rudy calls this team the youngest he has ever seen during his 20-year career with the Minutewomen. They will have plenty of new faces for the upcoming season with eight newcomers ¬- seven of which are freshmen.
The other newcomer is redshirt senior Vanessa Lima. She originally transferred to Salem State but decided to transfer back to UMass.
One of the positions that will feature a new face is at goalkeeper..
Goalkeepers
Junior Lauren Luckey spent much of her time on the bench during her first two years. She got some playing time at the end of last year after Kristen Walker went down with an injury. This year Rudy feels that she is ready for the starting job.
Freshman Katie Muller is the backup, unless something drastic happens that causes Rudy to lose confidence in Luckey.
Defense
Senior Melissa Toulouse and redshirt senior Tina Rodriguez will share time at center for the defense.
Rudy loves what he gets from his two key veterans.
"They're not relying on the coach telling them what to do," Rudy said.
He also appreciates their aggressiveness on defense and said they are great tacklers who can also head the ball.
Junior Katie Ruggles moved from the midfield position to give the defense some of the aggressiveness that she had when she was a forward. So far, she has transitioned quite nicely.
"Our defense isn't the biggest in the world but they are skillful," Rudy said.
Midfield
Even though the Minutewomen will be without junior Meghan Gould due to a concussion, the midfield position is deep and is the oldest of any group.
Amy Ballew, who is in her third year at UMass after transferring from Tennessee, has worked to improve her conditioning since last winter and got serious about her training.
"She got herself into the best shape of her life," Rudy said.
Ballew is going to split time with sophomore Therese Smith at the center midfielder position.
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