Freshmen prepare for season

By Greg Doddridge
Staff Writer

The preseason training is done and the freshmen on the women's soccer team are ready to compete against someone other than each other.

"I'm just pumped," said Meghan Dybvig, a freshman from Burnsville, Minn. "I want to play a game."

She and everyone else will get their first chance at 3 p.m. Saturday in Milwaukee, as Purdue takes on the Marquette Golden Eagles in a scrimmage game that won't count toward either team's regular-season record. The Boilermakers return home for the Boilermaker Challenge Cup next weekend.

"I'm excited to get a game underneath our feet," said freshman Lori Podell, here in West Lafayette from South Bend. "To go out there and play our hardest and give everything we've got. We want to leave everything out on the field."

And the Golden Eagles return scorers to the field. They return 17 letter winners from a squad that won 20 games last season, one of only five teams in the nation to do so. Junior forward Kate Gordon scored 17 goals and amassed 40 points last season while sophomore midfielder Kirsten Jensen had 12 points. Marquette is ranked 24th in the nation according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Purdue is not ranked, but the Boilers have quick freshmen on their side.

"I definitely think speed is one key factor," said Podell. "Technical ability, our technical skill is good too. The ability to play as a team is strong as well."

And Dybvig said the players have been willing to push each other to the next level.

"I think we have brought a hard-working attitude to the team and that helps us work hard and keep a high-paced game going," said Dybvig. "I do think we all have speed. But I think we all bring our own individual thing to the team."

The freshmen have just been playing against themselves during practice. Dybvig and Podell both said it would be nice to play against someone else for a change.

"I think this is definitely the time," said Dybvig. "Like, Yeah, we can play with our team and everything, but if the freshmen can step up and show that they want to be there and deserve to be there. Just show what they got, pretty much."

Recovery update

Chrissy Creamer, Jocelyn Cavalier, Tari St. John and Heather O'Cull all suffered season-ending knee injuries last season. All of them tore their anterior cruciate ligament in one knee and had to have surgery.

Coach Rob Klatte said all four came back to practice this fall. O'Cull, however, did not make the cut for the team.

Creamer, a junior forward, had her season cut short with injury on Sept. 3 of last year.

"It was extremely hard because our team was so successful last year," said Creamer. "Having to watch through the Big Ten Tournament, which was something that we had never accomplished before, was extremely difficult but at the same time was good motivation for me to get back for this fall."

She said the motivation to play again made rehabilitation easy. She said she got a lot of help from her teammates and trainers. Creamer said her knee feels fine now.

"Last year the knee injuries were a sore subject around here," said Creamer. "But now that everyone has been doing well and gone through recovery, it's all right to joke about it.

"We hope nobody has an injury this year."

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