Women’s soccer is gearing up for a faster, younger season, as a
group of freshmen from St. Louis and several veteran players step
up to take the places left by nine seniors who graduated last
year.

Coach Tim Champion doesn’t seem worried about the
transition.

“It’s been a very good recruiting class for us. I’d expect three
or four of the freshmen to get pretty good playing time.”

Senior Forward, Anny Lucier, echoes that confidence.

“Although we have a lot of young players, we do have a core of
veterans returning into the lineup.

The sophomores got a lot of playing time in games last year, so
we are definitely not lacking in experience,” Lucier said.

Four of the incoming freshmen, Courtney Hulcer, Dee Guempel,
Tara Gresco and Maureen Hughes all played together for the same
club in high school.

Champion emphasizes that the majority of the central players are
back, and that if you’re going to have a young team, it’s good to
have young players in the offense, because it leaves them room to
make mistakes. Lucier is part of that fall back.

“I want to be an integral part of what could be the defense’s
record-breaking season,” Lucier said, “Allowing zero goals at home
and in conference play is a huge expectation to have, but I think
we should strive to achieve it.”

Lucier is around this summer, training with the other athletes
who choose to stay and take advantage of the work out facilities on
campus.

For most of the players, however, there’s not a lot of time
spent at SLU before it’s time to play. “They have about 10 days to
put things together,” Champion said.

Lucier explained how the team gets together in those first few
days: “We divide into small teams and have a huge scavenger hunt
around the city of St. Louis–getting signatures, taking pictures,
collecting objects … being competitive off the field as well. All
of us get pretty into it.”

Champion explains that leadership doesn’t necessarily have to do
with age. He said that the team would probably only start two of
the seniors.

He points out that, among the other upperclassmen players,
senior forward Jamie Perry is “one of the big impact players.”
Perry matched the school record for the most goals in one season
her freshman year–26.

Champion hopes to fill the gap left by goalkeeper Megan Burke,
however, with two freshmen, Amanda Martin and Lyndsay Gensler. “I
think they’ll step in without a problem,” he said.

The Bills will start the new season at home against Arkansas
State at Robert R. Hermann Stadium on Aug. 31, at 5 pm. They will
then once again host the Toys for Tots Tournament, where Army and
Navy will again travel to SLU as well as tournament newcomer
Indiana. The Billikens will play the feature match against the
Hoosiers on Friday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 pm.

SLU’s home schedule includes nine games; three on Friday night
and three on Sunday afternoon.

Overall, Champion said that although this team isn’t the
biggest, it is a quick team.

“We’ll be different this year, but there’s a lot to look forward
to. We’ll have more speed, and more skill,” Champion said.