The secret behind the women’s soccer team’s success
and 9-2 record may not be just its All-American goalie or its
consensus top recruit of 2006, but also the very surface it plays
on.
Drake Stadium, home of 12 of the Bruins’ regular-season
matches, is not just any old field ““ rather, it serves as the
12th man for the squad.
The playing field itself is unusually large and plays fast, a
welcome component for a team that pushes the tempo.
“Maybe other coaches don’t feel this way, but in
soccer the surface and the size of your field is a big part of your
team,” coach Jillian Ellis said. “We’re athletic.
We’re playing on a big field. It plays fast because
it’s such a great surface. The way we play we like to push
the ball around … we like to stretch teams, so that’s a
little bit of a difference I think.”
Compare to other schools such as the University of Florida,
where UCLA played in 2000, whose field is about 62 yards across
while Drake is 72, Ellis said. Drake’s length is about 115
while other fields are around 100.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot numerically, but just
those extra eight or nine yards here or there opens the game
up,” Ellis said.
This tactic of using the home field advantage to its fullest and
capitalizing on the team’s overall speed has been paying off
for the Bruins, who have not lost at home this season.
Home dominance coupled with the return of junior Danesha Adams
from the national team could spell trouble for Cal and Stanford,
who come in this weekend to kick off the Pac-10 season.
The Bruins will welcome back Adams, who has not competed with
the team since the Sept. 22 loss against Santa Clara, but they know
they can compete with top teams even without one of their top
players.
“Danesha’s a great player, but it just goes to show
that we have a lot of talent on the team and that we don’t
need to rely on one player,” junior goalkeeper Valerie
Henderson said.
Adams has only played in five of the Bruins’ 11 games, but
her absence may have had a greater effect on Adams herself than on
the team.
“I actually think it’s been harder on Danesha than
it has on the team,” Ellis said. “Of course we’d
love to have Danesha on our team and we’ll have her this
weekend. But I think it’s hard. Not hard in a negative sense,
but you’re in with one group, you’re back here,
schoolwork ““ it’s a little unsettling, I
think.”
MORE TO COME FROM CHENEY: Freshman phenom
Lauren Cheney, who is leading the team in goals with eight despite
only playing in seven games, has yet to fulfill her potential,
Ellis said.
“I think what’s impressive is how quickly
she’s adjusted to our team and how quickly she’s
adjusted to college soccer,” Ellis said. “But I also
think that she’s not hit her stride, as amazing as that might
sound. I think Lauren would be the first one to say she can be more
productive.
“Now she’s going to be dealing with the fact that
scouting reports are going to mention her and she’s going to
have to deal with double-teaming and those kinds of things, but she
has a good attitude about it, and I’m excited because I think
she’s got a heck of a lot more potential,” Ellis
said.