As Saint Louis University enters its final year of competition
in Conference USA, the Saint Louis University women’s soccer team
looks to go out with a bang. After coming painstakingly close to
qualifying for the NCAA Tournament last season, losing in penalty
kicks to DePaul University at the C-USA postseason tournament, the
Billikens look to finally get over the hump in 2004.
“After last year, our two main goals are to win the conference,
go to the NCAA Tournament, and do well there,” said SLU coach Tim
Champion.
The Billikens return eight of their 11 starters from a team that
went 14-5-3 last year, highlighted by senior forward Jamie Perry,
the team’s leading scorer with 29 points in 2003–a mark that led
to her being named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of
America All-Region Team. Last season, Perry earned SLU’s individual
career point leader with 84 points, also becoming the all-time
leading goal scorer at SLU with 34 goals.
The Billikens return two members of the C-USA All-Freshman Team
with sophomores Dee Guempel and Courtney Hulcer. Guempel, a
midfielder/forward, was the team’s second leading scorer, with
eight goals and 20 points. Hulcer, a midfielder/back, finished
second on the team in assists with 8, with 10 points on the
season.
Kelly Ferguson, a junior midfielder who was named to the C-USA
All-Conference 3rd Team, serves as another key among the returning
players. Champion forecasts her as a player who should have a
breakout season this year.
Sophomores Tara Gresco and Maureen Hughes, both key players as
freshmen playing in all 22 games, should also be primed to build on
their solid freshmen seasons and become even more dominant players
as sophomores, as should Guempel and Hulcer.
Other key returnees include junior keeper Amanda Martin, senior
back Tressa Pecher, senior back Kara Kornfeld, and senior back Kim
Sinclair.
The Billikens did lose three starters, two to graduation and one
to a transfer. Anny Lucier and Carrie Carlson, both backs, were
lost to graduation. Christie Cigno, a prominent scorer for the
Billikens the past two seasons and an NSCAA All-Region pick last
season, transferred to Auburn.
Over the past few seasons, the Billikens built their team around
strong defense and quickness while attacking, which makes this an
exciting team to watch.
“We should be even quicker this
year,” Champion said, referring to the addition of even more
speed to the team, such as freshman Liz Fox, Shannon VanMatre and
Cassi Winchell.
A challenging schedule, featuring six games against participants
from the 2003 NCAA Tournament, awaits the Billikens.
Champion set up the strong schedule with the idea that it should
propel his team into the NCAA Tournament assuming they take care of
business early in the season.
After playing an exhibition game against Lindenwood University
on August 20, the Billikens travel to Norman, Oklahoma to open the
regular season against the University of Oklahoma Sooners on Aug.
27, followed by a trip to Normal, Ill. to face off against the
Illinois State University Cardinals on Aug. 31. Both Oklahoma and
Illinois State participated in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Over Labor Day weekend, the Billikens will travel to Lawrence,
Kan., where they will compete in the KU Invitational, hosted by the
University of Kansas. Their first game of the tournament, against
Mississippi State University, will be played on Sept. 3. On Sep. 5,
the Billikens will take on the host team, which advanced to the
third round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament.
After opening their season on the road, SLU will play their
first home game on Sept. 8 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium, where the
Billikens were 8-1 in 2003, against in-state rival Southwest
Missouri State University.
SLU will host the Toys for Tots Tournament for the third
consecutive year.
The first game will be played on 17th against Army, with their
second game against 2003 NCAA participant University of Mississippi
on Sept. 19th.
After a match-up with Rice University at Hermann Stadium on
Sept. 24th, the Billikens open their final Conference USA season
against DePaul on Sept. 26th in a rematch of last season’s C-USA
Tournament final, which the Blue Demons won in penalty kicks over
the Billikens.
The Billikens open their final Conference USA season against
DePaul on Sept. 26th in a rematch of last season’s C-USA Tournament
final, which the Blue Demons won in penalty kicks over the
Billikens.
The Billikens will open up the month of October with a weekend
in Texas, playing at the University of Houston on Oct. 1 before
traveling to Fort Worth to take on Texas Christian University just
two days later.
The state of North Carolina will come to St. Louis the following
weekend as East Carolina University and the University of North
Carolina-Charlotte will battle the Billikens on Oct. 8 and Oct. 10,
respectively.
The Bills conclude their regular season by hosting Marquette
University on Oct. 30.
They will then travel to Champain, Ill. to face off against the
University of Illinois Fighting Illini. Illinois will be defending
their Big Ten Conference Championsip which they earned last
season.
After the disappointment of last year’s penalty kick loss in the
finals of the C-USA postseason tournament to DePaul, SLU will have
the chance to earn a place in this year’s NCAA Tournament in the
2004 C-USA Tournament, which will be played at Robert R. Hermann
Stadium on SLU’s campus on November 3, 4 and 6. This looks to be
beneficial to the Bills.
“It will be a big advantage to play at home,” Champion said;
“(but) I hope that by then our record will be good enough to get us
in anyway.”
