Lions open season with tournament

The Columbia women’s soccer team begins its 2010 campaign at the Soccer Excellence Tournament in Hartford, Conn., this weekend. The Lions take on Central Connecticut State on Friday and the host Hartford on Sunday.

In an interview after practice on Wednesday, Columbia head coach Kevin McCarthy was pleasantly unsure of his starting lineup for the upcoming games.

“It is absolutely fantastic that there’s definitely some uncertainty about that,” he said. “I am not speaking ‘coach language’ by saying I really cannot commit to a starting 11 right now, and I also think that I could make two or three different lineups that are all equally strong.”

One starter that McCarthy was certain of was junior goalkeeper Lillian Klein. In 14 appearances last season, 11 of which were starts, Klein was 5-6-2 with three shutouts.

Senior goalkeeper Lindsay Danielson fell out of contention for the starting spot due to a strained quadriceps muscle, which McCarthy described as a “short-term hindrance.”

McCarthy did not start any freshmen in a preseason scrimmage last week, but he did not rule out starting some of them this weekend. Midfielders Beverly Leon and Natalie Melo are the top first-years in a class of nine, though others have shown promise in training camp.

Columbia also returns several starters from 2009. One of those returners, senior defender Kelly Hostetler, is Columbia’s captain.

Three returners—junior forward Ashlin Yahr, senior defender Lauren Cooke, and junior midfielder Nora Dooley—started all 17 of Columbia’s games last year. Yahr, who led the Lions with eight goals last season, earned all-Ivy League second team honors as a freshman and sophomore.

Cooke was an all-Ivy honorable mention in 2008, while Dooley scored six goals that year. Dooley is currently sidelined, however, after fracturing some bones in her hand.

Columbia has never faced Hartford but has faced—and beaten—Central Connecticut State three times. Last season, the Lions held on for a 3-2 home victory. Forward Marissa Schultz, who returns for her junior year, scored two of Columbia’s goals, while Hostetler added one. Central Connecticut State tallied its second goal in the 89th minute, but the Blue Devils could not complete their comeback.

Central Connecticut State is 1-2-0 this year but most recently overtook Holy Cross by a 3-2 score. The Blue Devils were blanked in their two losses, but one of those came to Boston College, which was ranked seventh at the time and is now sixth in the nation.

Hartford is also 1-2-0, but the Hawks have scored five goals since beginning their season with a 2-0 loss to Long Island. They face LaSalle on Friday before taking on Columbia.
Despite losing three starters from their 2009 campaign—including three-time all-Ivy first team selection Sophie Reiser—to graduation, the Lions have a solid core of returners and an impressive group of freshmen that should allow them to be competitive.

“A lot of what we’ve been doing is refortifying our core values of our program on and off the field with our returning players, and then making sure that our newcomers embrace those values as well, so that we are well-connected and playing Columbia women’s soccer in our manner,” McCarthy said. “We realize that’s a process, and we like where we are with that.”