Rebuilding a Championship Team:
Covering the UNC Women’s Soccer Off-season
Sights are still set on the national championship, but all signs for the 2014 University of North Carolina women’s soccer team points to a rebuilding year.
Having lost six starters from the 2013 NCAA quarterfinalist team, Anson Dorrance is looking for his 22nd National Championship and a team that can rival last season’s dominance.
“We gotta figure out a way to replace some superstars. So Crystal Dunn, Kealia Ohai, those are game-breaking players,” said Dorrance, “So what we gotta sort out who is who we have coming back, who’s going to score goals and who’s going to dominate games.”
Dunn and Ohai, who were seniors for the 2013-2014 season, were selected as first and second picks, respectively, for the 2014 National Women’s Soccer League Draft. Dunn will be a huge contribution to the Washington Spirit while Ohai will join the Houston Dash.
According to Dorrance, the duo controlled the attack for the last three seasons; this spring’s focus is on finding their replacements.
Rising-sophomore Joanna Boyles already knows the importance of rebuilding what the team has lost, knowing that it is her class and the one below her that needs to start making a difference.
“The freshmen really have to step up and we have to start making an impact,” said Boyles, “We have kind of relied on the seniors to kind of carry us through and it’s now our time to kind of step up and make stuff happen.”
And the pressure is already on those players to perform.
The team is looking at potential stars in outside midfielder Cameron Castleberry and central attacker Summer Green to pair with incoming freshman to be the stronghold in the offense.
Rising-senior and potential impact leader Brooke Elby, already has expectations for those incoming players.
“We’re actually getting a freshman who is an attacking center midfielder, and it’s not like we’re expecting her to fill those shoes the minute she steps in, but we’re definitely hoping that when we start to transform her into the next Crystal, she can just kind of pick it up,” said Elby of Jessie Scarpa, an incoming freshman who is currently rehabbing her previously torn ACL at UNC facilities.
Dorrance claims he is ‘guardedly optimistic of Scarpa’s recovery adding, “She’s a smart kid. Hopefully she’ll work hard, do all of the right things, and we’ll get her on the field and she’ll stay healthy for us.
“She could step in and start as a freshman. She could score some goals; create some goals. She could be a completely legit first-year starter for us.”
Dorrance is also looking at incoming freshman, Megan Buckingham and junior transfer, from the University of Georgia, Alexa Newfield to become ‘game-breaking players’ on the field.
With all of the new talent coming in for the Tar Heels, it is important to Dorrance that the current players not become complacent on the team. “What I’m going to be telling the kids is which freshmen are going to be taking them out,” said Dorrance, “I want them to know that the class coming in is going to be fighting for time.”
Some of the new class will be joining the team in the second summer session to adjust ‘academically and physically to the environment,’ but until then, every player knows that the spring is their chance to prove that they deserve their position.
Boyles, who is new to the strenuous work of the spring season, said that “The intensity and competition is everyday, it never stops, and I think that is what is going to make us better next season.”
While the focus is continually on getting better for the fall, the pressure is still on filling those roles of who will step in and become a leader on the field.
“We’ve got enough grit to sort of fill all of the other spots. We’ll be gritty in back; we’ll be gritty in goal. We’ll be gritty in some parts of midfield. We have potential superstar elements there, but they’re embryonic. You’re seeing the potential for a complete player.”
Of course, Dorrance talks of a team with potential to be great, yet defines potential, as “you’re not worth a shit right now.”
Despite what seems to be a lack of pure dominance and knowledge of who will lead this team to the College Cup next fall, Elby stands strong that the fighting mentality that Dunn so represented, is still strong within the team.
“We’ll never adjust to what other people say,” said Elby, “It’s always ‘We’re out to win and we’re going to do whatever we can to win,’ regardless of who we lose.”
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This article was written in compliance with the instructions of my creative sportswriting class.