Nov. 7, 2008

By Adonis A. Seldon

Like the Fall ushering in a change in season, five young women who begin practicing their routine before many of us dare to step out of bed, know what must be accomplished in order to succeed. All hailing from South Jersey and their club soccer days, Carly Salter, Megan Crable, Maggie Lupinski, Steph Maurer, and Jen Pfeiffer are poised to emerge as a formidable collegiate soccer team under the tutelage of Saint Joseph's coach, Jess Reynolds, who has served seven seasons coaching women's soccer including helping her team making it to three A-10 Tournaments.

And from the looks and actions of soccer players like Carly Salter, who in 2007 tallied a team high of nine points and four goals, their team had already cemented its foundation. Bringing early recognition and success to her collegiate mates, Salter also finished second on her team in shots and scored her first collegiate goal in a 1-0 win over Drexel. She also won the SJU Offensive Player of the Year for 2007.

Salter's high school record in club soccer is nothing to sweep under the rug though. She became All-State and All-State Top 20 South Region as a junior and senior, and in 2006 earned MVP honors at the SJSCA Senior All-Star Game.

But like Salter and many of her teammates, the road to collegiate soccer was paved with not only hard work, but solid relationships that took them further, and according to them, having that type of bond was, and is still priceless.

"Most of us started playing when we were young. We all played together in high school, even though we went to different high schools," they said.

That type of close-knit family type relationship for all of these years has translated into an unbreakable chain that has traveled with them all the way to Saint Joseph's University. Their club soccer days created that vital link in establishing who they are as young women and as a team today. As the women stood out on Finnesey Field that early morning you could see that their passion for the game was electric.

According to freshman Steph Maurer, having a coach like they did in high school really prepared all of them for what they know now and would become as soccer players. And her stats prove it. Maurer's high school resume speaks for itself. She was a four-year letterwinner, who for three of those seasons served as captain, and also lettered in basketball.

"I think the college pace is really fast and our coach at that time prepared us for that because he knew what the college level was like. He tried to prepare us as much as possible."

This season, Maurer, Crable, Lupinski, and Pfeiffer must create their own collegiate status, and as freshmen, these their work is cut out for them.

"I think it's a lot more demanding, a lot more physical," says Lupinski. "When we were in high school, the demand was also there, but not like it is here at Saint Joseph's. The bar has been raised here, and we've got to know how to compete better than we have before."

While it may take a little while for them to fill up their stat sheet, the other teammates also recognize the difficulty they will have to endure.

"We've put in a lot of work to get here, and we still put in a lot more. And we try to get a lot of goals. That's just the way it is. We work hard. We play better," Crable says.

"It's just comforting to have a bunch of people you know, and who you have such good chemistry with on and off the field. And there's like a friendship here, a real friendship that I think you don't see everywhere," Lupinski adds.

And judging from this spirited team sisterhood, they've got that chemistry they need to not just survive through their collegiate years, but also prosper playing the game.

"It's kind of funny though, because you'd expect at least for something to go wrong because we've been together for so long, but we really haven't had any problems like that," Maurer says.

And that's the truly amazing thing about these young women. They may be a bunch of rookie-class freshmen now entering into a sea of more seasoned players like Carly Salter, but their experiences, determination, and stats prove they have the heart and passion to produce a team that can make an impact.

With a laundry list of accomplishments to their credit already - individual scoring records, regional and state titles, and national rankings - these ladies have what it takes to not only score goals on the field, but also set real goals off the field.

Soccer may not be one of our country's national sports treasures, but the fine, young, and spirited teammates on Saint Joseph's women's soccer team proves that the heart of the game is alive and kicking.