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Q:
Kurt, I know that there’s a lot of optimism surrounding the Lady
Railer soccer program this year. Tell us about it.
A:
Well, Jeff, this is my second year as the head coach and fourth
with the program. I’ve learned a lot since last year. I have
some girls that have been with the program all four years. These
girls have worked hard for a long time. This is a fairly new
program, as we’ve only competed on the varsity level for just
these few years. I have eight seniors. I believe we have all
reached the point where we’ve worked very hard to get to a
certain point and we’re ready for the pay-off. So, yes, the
optimism is now there. The weather has been great and we’ve been
able to get outside. The girls feel that their time has come.
Q:
It sounds like one of your strengths is that you’ll be returning
some experience this year.
A:
Yes. Some of these girls have played in the program and on varsity
for all four years. We play in a tough conference (the Central
State 8) as far as soccer goes. These girls have just
distinguished themselves as hard workers, and they’ve learned a
lot. Every year in this program we’ve all learned a little bit
more. We tried to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes and
continue doing those things that are working. And I really believe
that this season we’re going to be able to capitalize on those
areas that maybe we faltered on in the past. We’re working early
to develop those areas that need the most attention.
Q:
Tell us about the veterans that you do return. Who will be the
mainstays of this unit? What is the line-up that you’ll be going
with?
A:
I’ll start with some of my seniors. I’ve got Amy Miller, who
will play at stopper or some type of defensive position. She is
one of my stronger players. She’s got a good, strong kick. She’s
a tough competitor. I’ve got Angie and Crystal Smith, who have
been playing at the varsity level since they were freshmen. They’ll
be in the backfield somewhere, and what I like about them is they
both play as hard as they can play. They give 110 percent when
they are on the field. Lyndsey Pickering is a versatile player. I
have probably asked her to play about every position on the field
except for maybe keeper; but she would do that if I asked. She is
a utility player that will give her all in anything I want her to
do. I think she wants to play some soccer after high school. That
brings me to Jacki Maddox. She is one of our scorers out on the
point. She is a strong left-footed OR right-footed player. She is
not a vocal player, but more of a quiet one. Her presence says,
"Here I am. I’m ready to fill my responsibility." She
is unselfish and will do whatever it takes to win. I also return
Lindsey Jones who lines-up as an outside mid-fielder. She is a
solid player. She has developed from her freshman year to becoming
a very strong player. She is surprisingly strong with a good kick.
She can really cross the ball in front of the goal very well. Our
center mid-fielder will be Brittany Robbins. Basically, she will
run the offense from out front. I’m looking for her to continue
to develop her down field vision, to see and direct the offense,
and tell the girls where they need to be or what they need to do.
Stephanie Urton is a new player to our program. She is a good
mid-fielder with an excellent touch on the ball. She is a very
heady player.
As
far as juniors go, Danielle Winter is quick and she’s a natural
athlete. With her speed she’s able to get to a lot of balls at
her forward position. She has been our leading scorer, and I look
for greater and greater things from her. She came in and had never
played soccer before when she first came out. With her quickness
and her ball work, she was able to make things happen along with
her teammates. Again, this is one of our strong points: we don’t
have any selfish players. We’re all working towards a total team
effort. Christy Peters played on the JV level last year in goal,
and she played some on the varsity level as well. So she’s back
as a keeper. Another potential keeper will be sophomore Kristina
Cook. I haven’t had too much of a chance to work with her yet.
She’s also a basketball player, and I like it when they come out
for soccer. They’re already in shape, have some agility and have
developed some of the same skills that they will need to succeed
out here. Kristi Melton is also a junior. She first came to us
last year. She is another strong player that is quick. She also
possesses good skill out front. Stephanie Savery is an aggressive
defensive specialist. I look for good things from her this season.
Susan Chon will also be playing varsity for the first time and is
developing very quickly.
You
asked earlier about our optimism. This is the reason we are so
optimistic. Through the practices we’ve already had up to this
point, we have developed both individually and as a team, and we’ve
come so far since opening day that we know that we can succeed. We’ve
gone from a team that was scattered to a team playing like a unit.
That’s what we are striving for to be able to play as one unit
together not as a bunch of individuals.
[Waiting for opening day
Tuesday, March 28]
Q:
How do you see the Central State 8 race?
A:
Difficult. Every team in the conference is a strong team. Our
schedule usually has us playing a lot of our CS8 games early in
the season, which is difficult for us. We struggle in the CS8
because these other schools have had soccer for a long time and
have developed solid programs; like Springfield and
Chatham-Glenwood, Lanphier. Those teams have players that have
been playing soccer since they were little girls. However, we have
gotten more competitive with these teams every year. Every year
Springfield is going to have a tough team; every year Sacred
Heart-Griffin is going to have a tough team; every year Glenwood
is going to have a tough team. As I look at it, those teams are
probably my top three. We will stay competitive with them. Last
year for instance, we lost to Springfield 7-0 but we never gave
up, and we’re going to continue to fight that way until we get
what’s coming to us.
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If you talk to the other coaches, they seem
to know that our competition level is improving and they seem to
be respecting us for it. One of our goals is to gain competitive
respect in the CS8. In fact, Springfield is starting a tournament
and they’ve asked us to come and play in it, which will take
place early in the season. That gives us a few extra games and we’re
happy to participate in it.
Q:
Being a young program and playing a difficult schedule, what are
your goals?
A:
Quite honestly, I’m looking for a winning season. I’m looking
for a season over .500. To be realistic, I realize that we’re
not going to win all of our games. That’s just not going to
happen in a program this young and with a coach this young. I make
it sound like my team is at fault, but we’re not. We’re all
working together as hard as we can. We need to go into the
post-season with some wins behind us. We’re not going to win the
state championship, but I think that we can be competitive in a
post-season game. In fact, we’ve won post-season games before. I
think we can be competitive in our regional and get a good seed in
our sectional complex.
Q:
What about your younger players?
A:
I have several JV players that will be ready to make the climb to
the varsity level as substitutes. Some of them may even become
starters. I had 50 girls express an interest in soccer at the
start of the year. I don’t have the ability to keep 50 girls in
the program. I don’t have a big enough staff to handle that many
players. I’m at 32 right now and we didn’t have to cut
anybody. Most of them made decisions along the way that they
couldn’t handle the conditioning or the physical play. That says
something of the 32 who have stuck it out and are willing to work
and are willing to play. If you ask the players, they’ll tell
you that they’re working harder than they did last year and that’s
true. We are not going to lose because we are out of condition. I
evaluated last year and saw that we were ahead or tied at half,
but would begin to lose our edge at the 20-minute mark. Things
would begin to unravel, and I think a lot of that was due to our
conditioning. We would lose our concentration and not be able to
perform the things we needed to do. This year that’s not going
to happen. We want to remain competitive throughout a whole game.
[The Lincoln Lady Railers'
soccer team in action]
Q:
Tell us about your assistant.
A:
Coach Steve Parrott came on to help me when I took over the
varsity. The girls seem to really like him. He’s
great...absolutely wonderful. He seems to be genuinely enjoying
himself. He understands the game and knows how to apply the
strategies out on the field. We work very well together as a team.
I have no problem if I have to be gone for any reason, to having
him lead the practice. Oftentimes, early in the season, the JV
team will practice with the varsity so that we can have some
consistency there, and that works very well with Steve and I. I
can bring a JV player up anytime, because we both have the same
idea of what we want to accomplish. I also want to mention our
manager, who plays boys' soccer and that's Ben Sloot. He’s right
there any time I need him. He takes care of so many things. He
takes stats for me and he knows the game. People may not see all
that he does, but those that are relying on him do. I’m really
pleased that he’s coming out for practices.
Q:
Who needs to step up for you to be formidable?
A:
We all do. Our conference is so good—we simply play tough teams.
We’re at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to other teams.
They all have programs locally leading right into high school.
Many of our girls have had to join travel teams to get a lot of
those same benefits. Some of our girls have dropped out and
stopped playing for a year or two because of our local program. It
is a good program, but not every girl continues to play when it’s
co-ed—for a variety of reasons. The girls who have made it
through all the way have become some of our stronger players
because they were forced to remain competitive, but it certainly
has been much more difficult for our Lincoln girls to have all the
experiences that many of our opponents have. So, in light of that,
every one of us will have to step up. There’s no question about
that. They all have to come in and all season will have to play
100 percent.
Last
year we played Mahomet-Seymour on a Monday and beat them. We had
to turn right around and play them the next day in regional play.
We lost in the second overtime—that’s almost 100 minutes of
soccer. We lost on a goal with a minute left. Every girl played as
hard as they could for all 100 minutes. That said something to me
about where their hearts were at and that they came ready to play.
I
learned this from Railer Basketball coach Neil Alexander. He told
me that before a game he does not talk about winning or losing—he
talks about pride. That’s what I really want to stress with this
year’s soccer team, and that is our goal. We want to walk on the
field with our heads held high and to walk off the same way, no
matter what the scoreboard says. Hopefully this pride and hard
work will result in games won.
Editor’s
Note: The Lady Railers open the season on March 28th. The
public is invited to come on out and support this team and all
Railer squads.
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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