Senior captain aims high

At the age of 9-years-old, Erica Mincher's parents gave her a choice between dance classes or soccer.

"I liked the athleticism and the competition so I chose to play soccer," said Mincher, a senior and now the captain of the UB women's team. "My family has been very supportive of that decision."

It's a good thing for UB that Mincher stuck by her choice and never looked back. The midfielder from Waterford, N.Y., has her eyes on a Mid-American Conference championship in her final season at UB.

"These past two years we've had a lot of younger players, now we are maturing and growing as a team," Mincher said. "We have a lot more chemistry this year as opposed to the past couple years."

Mincher has played a leadership role for a successful team before her college career. As a senior at Shenendehowa High School, she was the captain of a team that went 22-0, won a league championship, and was a state semi-finalist. Mincher was also named first-team All-League.

"Being a captain in high school got me used to the leadership role," Mincher said. "It's always nice to be named captain, but the main goal is to win."

Although she is a natural leader, she hasn't always been left-footed. She was born favoring her right hand and foot but since none of the teams she played on growing up ever had enough left-footed players, Mincher was always put on the left side of the field.

"When I was younger I wasn't dominant with my left foot but since no one could play there my coaches always put me on the left," Mincher said. "Now my left foot is stronger than my right foot. I look at it as a positive thing, I can take corner kicks from either side and I can take free kicks from almost any angle because I can use both of my feet well."

Since becoming a lefty, Mincher's game has steadily improved. As a freshman at UB she appeared in 16 games, cracking the starting lineup once and recording one assist on six shots. Her first point recorded as a Bull was against Canisius.

As a sophomore in 2003, her role on the team was elevated to that of a regular starter. Mincher started in 12 of the 18 games in which she appeared, again tallying one assist, this time against Western Michigan.

"As a freshman there was so much new information to deal with when it comes to the college game," Mincher said. "I played more of a supporting role when I first got here."

In 2004 Mincher was named one of the team's three captains. She started every game and scored her first goal as a Bull. Just like her first assist, her first goal came in a victory over Canisius. Other highlights that season came from recording two assists in one game against Western Michigan, providing the game-winning assist against last year's co-championship Ohio, and finishing the year with a career-best seven points.

So far this season she has one goal, against Central Florida.

"We haven't been able to score goals lately," Mincher said. "But the Mid-American Conference is wide open. A team can go from last place to the top spot in just one weekend of games. That is what we hope to do. Our main goal this year is to become MAC champions."

Mincher and the Bulls' next game is this Friday at 4:00 p.m. It is a home game at UB Stadium against Western Michigan.