Walk-on sticking with the team

Reb UT '70 · August 19, 2002

Several of the walk-on are looking pretty good, and none have dropped from the team. This means that the two-a-days haven't found any of them to out of shape to keep up. The goalie problem has not been solved, but we do have a girl in camp who has top level experience.

Ridenour is able to walk without using crutches and we are seeing some depth from the walk-ons at the mid-field where it is needed the most. That's a good thing because with Ridenour out we have at least one position and possibly two that need to be filled. If there is still a contest for those positions, it means that we won't suffer when the starters have to be subbed.

What we really need is a minimum of six starters in the mid, and it looks like we might have that even with Ridenour out. In a scrimmage Saturday evening with a local club team, it appeared that Hedlund is looking as moving some players around. Senior Uselton, who was all SBC in the middle was playing fullback, and all- SBC tourney Pina was playing in center mid field in a 4-4-2 formation.

I'm very anxious to see the team play, and I can hardly wait for the Alumni game Saturday.

GrayEagle · August 20, 2002

Reb, why is there a goalie problem? What happened to Housden, last year's goalie?

Reb UT '70 · August 20, 2002

She was chosen to be team captain, and dropped out of school to try to win a place on the Mexican national team. I think that she made a very big mistake, and she has burned some bridges.

I've heard she was not allowed to attend a team meeting to explain her choice to the team. That was hard, but she knew that we that the only other goalie elegible to play was a third string walk on who didn't get any playing time last year. The freshman from last year transferred right after the spring semester, and the girl recruited will not be eligeble until spring becuse her last university refused to release her.

Right now we have two goalies trying out, both are walk ons and we need one of these girls to step up. Right now it is our biggest weakness. As long as Marin is healthy we will be strong up front, we have some depth in the mid field, and our defensive backfield looks stronger than last year's team except at goalie.

The bad thing is that if the defenders don't have confidence in their goalie they tend to play differently and less effectively which results in puts more pressure on the goalie.