Women's Soccer Preview

"There's no 'I' in Soccer, not even a 'me', but there is a 'core'," said eighth year UB women's soccer coach Jean-A Tassy (68-49-11).

In a game where goals are harder to come by than a sober person at PJ's, there is one goal that Tassy has on the agenda for his team.

"To play 'til December and win the conference championship," said Tassy.

With a great nucleus of returning seniors, juniors, and a more experienced roster than ever before, all of a sudden that goal does not seem very far-fetched.

Buffalo finished last season with a very deceiving 7-8-5 record, with three of those loses coming by only one goal.

"If we're given the opportunity (to score), we must put the ball in the net," said Tassy. "We out-shoot our opponents but sometimes the shots weren't going down for us. If we can average 12 shots a game, we have a 3:1 ratio"

The Bulls had a mid-bracket finish but the season ended in disappointing fashion, a double-overtime playoff loss to Bowling Green. UB has signed four players for the upcoming season, three of which have made this year's roster and are competing for starting jobs. Tassy apparently has no problems playing freshman, sophomores, or even Jonathon Brandis from "Lady Bugs."

"If somebody has the potential to start, then they will," said Tassy.

The team has great potential to succeed but nobody is jumping the gun or promising anything.

"We just want to take one game at a time, minimize mistakes, and improve situations," said Tassy. "We can't predict anything because of injuries."

After a preseason that showed maturity as a group, the ability to handle challenges and the emergence of veteran leadership, the Bulls are ready to open up the season.

They get the chance to do that tonight, against Minnesota in the Theadora Cup Tournament. Minnesota is a big time school, which will be a great challenge in the team's first game.

Not coming from the Pat Riley School of coaching, Tassy does not believe that individuals make up a team. Tassy believes it is the team that makes the individuals.

"The key to the season is to start initiating that every person knows (what they need to do) and the focal point is the mission of the team, then we'll be fine," said Tassy.

The Bulls, who lost just four players from last year's team, are led by two-time All-MAC defender Devon Russell, who also serves as a team captain. Last season, Russell scored two goals while anchoring the Bulls on defense. Buffalo also returns leading scorer Natalia Crofut, who had five goals and two assists in her freshman campaign.

An already bright spot for the team was the reception of the NCAA Citizenship Through Sports Award sportsmanship award. The award was given for their brave and compassionate actions on the day of November 5, 2003. It was on that day that tragedy struck the Bowling Green women's soccer team as one of its players, Leslie Dawley, collapsed and died on the field in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Championship game.

The next day, each UB player handed a yellow rose to their Bowling Green opponent, and then proceeded to join hands for a moment of silence. Truly a class act in a very tragic and unfortunate incident.

After the Minnesota tournament the Bulls will travel to the University of Texas-El Paso for the UTEP tournament. UB returns home September 12, to host Western Michigan at RAC Field. The game, which will take place at 7 pm, marks the start of the Bulls' conference schedule.