Women’s Soccer set to open season on Saturday at UMass-Boston
The MCLA Women’s Soccer program will kick off its 2012 campaign on Saturday when they travel to Boston to face off against the UMass-Boston Beacons.
North Adams, MA- The MCLA Women's Soccer program will kick off its 2012 campaign on Saturday when they travel to Boston to face off against the UMass-Boston Beacons. The Trailblazers are looking to rebound from a 6-10-1 mark from a year ago. MCLA will boast a young team with 15 underclassmen in 2012.
Under the direction of 13th year head coach Deb Raber, MCLA will look to get off to a quick start heading into conference play. The task won't be easy though as the Trailblazers will open with four difficult non conference contests, including three on the road.
The Trailblazers welcome back a host of offensive weapons. MCLA's Brianna Dandurant, Janelle Stannard, and Lindsay Roy are the top returning scorers from last season. Raber's troops will also welcome back Lindsay Borbolla and Ashlee Scofield, both of whom were productive in 2010 before injury sidelined them last season.
Defensively is where MCLA will have to transition the most. The Trailblazers lost three key defenders, including all conference players Jen Wehner and Kaitlyn Dano. MCLA will turn to a trio of potential keepers in Danielle Heinsohn, Kate Tsapatsaris, or freshman Erin Ferris. The defense does return All Conference second team selection Kasie Harrington.
The MASCAC race should be exciting as well. New in 2012 is a six team playoff format (formally four teams qualified) with the top two teams earning a bye into the semifinals. MCLA was on the outside looking in a year ago as they finished with a 2-4-1 mark in conference play. The Trailblazers were tabbed sixth in the recent MASCAC preseason poll.
The conference slate gets underway on Saturday, September 15th when MCLA will host Salem State.