Aug. 15, 2011

CHICAGO - With newcomers and a brand new coaching staff for Loyola University Chicago women's soccer, 2011 promises to be an exciting season on the pitch. The biggest challenge of the season may be to build a strong foundation of team chemistry in just a few weeks before game play begins. First-year head coach Barry Bimbi has had the girls hard at work in the preseason, working to build that team chemistry as well as hone their technical skills of soccer.

"Everything is going very well," said Bimbi. "We've worked on building a culture here where all 30 girls are working towards the same goal. We've had a great team spirit so far. The girls are working very hard so we're making a lot of progress in a short amount of time."

He continues, "We've been working on how we want to work on receiving the ball, passing the ball, and the tactics of opening up the field, working on our width and working on our overall quality of play."

Loyola is expected to benefit greatly from an infusion of fresh talent. Multiple freshmen will challenge for starting positions and play integral roles of relief as substitutes.

"We do expect some big things out of the freshmen so the quicker they get integrated and feel comfortable in the group environment, the better they will be able to perform on the field," said Bimbi.

Along with the new talent, Loyola will be charmed with the advantage of having its top four scorers, as well as starting goalkeeper from 2010, back on the roster.

 

Goalkeeper

Senior Katie Groesch is the veteran goalkeeper as one of only three seniors returning to the Rambler roster. Last season she tallied an impressive .686 save percentage with 59 saves and five shutouts in 19 games.

"Katie Groesch has been a constant leader, being a senior. She is in a five-person competition with four other goalies in preseason camp here so she's battling hard," said Bimbi.

Fellow senior Katie Osberg and three incoming freshmen, Carly Stevens, Monica Gonyo, and Lindsay Fillingim will work towards time in between the pipes.

Defense

Defense is where the Ramblers boast the most experience.

Loyola's final senior, Lauren Ostarello, competed in 12 matches last season, earned four starts and notched two shots. As a senior leader, her experience will anchor the backline and provide depth to the midfield.

Of the freshmen, Valerie Gonyo, twin sister to goalkeeper Monica Gonyo, has had a solid preseason camp and is expected to see time. Bimbi looks at her dominating presence on the field to be helpful at center back or even midfield.

Chelsie Stokes is back on the roster but has yet to practice as a result of an injury. Coaches are hopeful of her return within the next few weeks. During an injury-filled season in 2010, she played in 15 matches, starting in 12, and firing one shot.

Freshman Moriah Schwarz and junior Jessie Hubly have also been performing well in the preseason and will challenge for a defensive starting position.

Hubly ended the 2010 season, in which she saw most of her playing time at forward, tied for first with 34 shots in 20 matches. Schwarz, a Rockford, Ill., native, was named her high school conference's Most Valuable Player after her senior season and earned all-state and all-region recognition in each of her last two years.

 

Midfield

Among the midfield is where the team's youth really shines through. The Ramblers will have plenty of talent to choose from with key returnees such as Kristin Papierski, Tricia Stonebraker and Maggie Olsen, and newcomers like Allison Rydberg.

Starting all but on match last season, Papierski led the team in goals and tied for first on the team with 34 shots. Due to knee surgery this past spring, she will not be able to play right out of the gate but will come back into the mix after about a month and will be a leading force for the Rambler offense.

Last year Stonebraker was a freshmen sensation, playing in every game, while earning 12 starts. She finished second on the team with three goals and the Ramblers went 3-0 when she found the back of the net. She came out strong in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament sending four shots on goal.

"Tricia is doing a tremendous job so far in the preseason so we really expect some big things out of her," said Bimbi.

Coach Bimbi recognizes that the core will be a young group but is confident that the versatility of the rest of his players, particularly the experienced defenders, will come in handy.

"We are still a little bit young in the midfield," said Bimbi. "Tricia is only a sophomore. We expect Maggie Olsen to be in the mix in the midfield a little bit, but she is a sophomore. Allison Rydberg is doing a very good job in there. With the flexibility of the girls in the defensive line, we might be able to have the option to move some of those girls into the midfield to give those girls some spells."

Olsen, a sophomore from Crystal Lake, Ill., appeared in 18 games last season and tallied assists against Creighton and Green Bay.

Last season, Rydberg led her team in both goals and assists at Blue Ridge High School in Pinetop, Ariz., and her efforts helped lead her team to a pair of state titles and earned her recognition as a two-time all-conference selection in 2007 and 2008, as well as a first team all-state selection in 2008.

 

Forward

The offensive attack is buoyed by the return of the team's top four scorers from last fall. The Ramblers lost three consistent offensive weapons due to graduation and will look for a few girls to take the reins as goal scorers.

Coach Bimbi will look to juniors Ana Claudia Michelini and sophomore Alex Brown to be those leaders. In her time at Loyola, Michelini has shown flashes of potential at the forward position, appearing in the majority of games over the past two seasons. Brown earned 15 starting assignments last season and appeared in 20 matches. She led the team with a pair of assists.

Freshman Allison Shimer has also shown some great promise up front and will be in the mix come game time. As a prep player in Grove City, Ohio, Shimer was twice named first team all-conference and was a third team all-district selection her sophomore season. She helped her St. Francis DeSales team to a share of the conference title last season and an appearance in the district finals in 2009.

 

Schedule

The road through the season will not be an easy one. During the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Ramblers will face Dayton, which finished last season ranked No. 19 nationally and is coming off a back-to-back Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship titles, as well as Texas A&M, which scored a NSCAA top-15 preseason ranking for the 16^th consecutive season. Let's not forget about the competition within the Horizon League. Until someone proves they can take over, Milwaukee, which is seeking its fourth straight league title, will remain the team to beat. Butler will also challenge the Ramblers as well as Wright State and Detroit.

"The pre-conference schedule always prepares you for the conference schedule. We don't have a scrimmage set up this year so the harder it is earlier the more we'll be prepared and be able to fix the problems as they arise in the pre-conference schedule to get up prepared to compete in the Horizon League," Bimbi said.

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