SPRINGFIELD, Mass – The American International College women’s soccer team returns 12 players from last year’s squad and is looking to make the Northeast-10 conference tournament for the first time since 2000, when the team posted an 11-5 record.
2007 RECAP: The Yellow Jackets showed improvement over years past, posting a 7-13-0 overall record in 2007 after going 1-15-1 in 2006. Joanne Germano (West Springfield, Mass) was a first-team all-conference selection after leading the team in scoring with 14 goals and five assists for 33 points.
KEY LOSSES: The Yellow Jackets lost four players to graduation in Germano, Lindsey Wolfe (Westfield, Mass.), Stacy Italiano (Lake Grove, N.Y.), and Gina Lord (Springfield, Mass.), and also lost Katie Warner (Westfield, Mass.), who started each of her 17 games played last season. Germano started all 20 games last season and was AIC’s leading scorer with 33 points. Wolfe started in all 17 games that she appeared last season and was tied for second on the team in points with three goals and seven assists for 13 points. Italiano started in four of the six games she played, but saw her season cut short due to injury.
FORWARDS: AIC returns two forwards from last season, sophomores
Cassie Ashwell (Agawam, Mass.) and
Sarah Boornazian (Farmington, Conn.). Ashwell, who also will be seeing time at defense, started in all 20 of last season’s games, recording two goals and four assists for eight points. Boornazian started each of her 10 games played and had three goals and one assist for seven points. New to the Yellow Jacket squad this year are senior
Nicole Jackson (Lynn, Mass.), junior
Maria Merritt (West Springfield, Mass.), and freshman
Hilary Cooke (Marlborough, Conn.).
MIDFIELD: The Yellow Jackets return six players to their midfield this season. Senior
Tyler Rockefeller (Huntington, N.Y.), who finished the season tied for fourth on the team with eight points on two goals and four assists, started 12 of the 18 games she appeared. Senior
Colleen Hilliker (Williamsville, N.Y.), the teams co-captain this season, started all 20 of the team’s games last season recording one goal. Also senior
Caitlin Mooney (Wilbraham, Mass.) is returning after taking last season off. Junior
Morgan Mastronardi (Corunna, Ont.) started 17 of the 20 games she played and was tied with Wolfe for second on the team in scoring with 13 points on six goals and one assist. Sophomores
Nikki Gode (Killingworth, Conn.) and
Sarah Tomlinson (Clitheroe, England.) are also returning from last year’s squad. Adding even more depth to the midfield this season are freshmen
Jennifer Kirby (Ajax, Ont.),
Nikki Muhlberg (East Hampton, Conn.) and Ashley Wiston (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.).
DEFENSE: Returning this season to anchor the Yellow Jackets’ defense are juniors
Lisa Saltmarsh (Westfield, Mass.) and Megan O’Herron (Springfield, Mass.), and sophomore
Colleen Dorsey (Wilbraham, Mass.). Saltmarsh, another of the team’s co-captains, started each of the 17 she appeared in last season, while O’Herron started each of her 14 games played. Joining the defense this season are sophomore
Brittney Foley (Naples, Fla.), and freshmen
Rachel Pokorny (Agawam, Mass.),
Ally Trinier (Ajax, Ont.), and
Jimaine Titus (Enfield, Conn.).
GOALKEEPER: Senior co-captain
Danielle Hodecker (West Springfield, Mass.) returns to the Yellow Jackets after starting ten games in goal last season, posting a 4-4-0 record with a 2.42 goals against average and a .729 save percentage. Junior
Kara Potts (Westfield, Mass.) also returns this season after starting 10 games last season, posting a 2-8 record with a 2.64 goals against average and a .717 save percentage.
2008 SCHEDULE: The Yellow Jackets will face three teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament last season in national runner-up Franklin Pierce (Sept. 2), UMass-Lowell (Sept. 17), , Saint Rose (Oct. 1) and Merrimack (Oct. 28) to finish the regular season. AIC opens the season on with the AIC Soccer Classic (Aug. 29-.30) hosting opponents Caldwell and Wilmington. Other non-conference opponents include Post, Felician, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and NYIT.