Coming of their best season in school history at 13-7 overall with a 4-5 mark in SCAC play, the Millsaps College women's soccer team hopes to build off last year's success with 17 letterwinners and five seniors returning for the 2009 campaign.
The historical 2008 season opened with a school-record 7-game winning streak and closed with the Majors winning four of their last seven -- all shutout wins. The team was stingy on defense and prolific on offense, conceding just 26 goals for the year in 20 games (1.3 GAA) while tallying a school record 44 of their own. The Majors also set school records in assists (30), total points (118) and shutouts (nine) en route to tying a program record of four league wins, the highest conference finish since 1996.
Millsaps lost six terrific seniors in the offseason, including midfielders \#Hayley Barber\# and \#Kristen Massey\#, forwards \#Erin Sanford\# and \#Bobbi Jones\#, defender \#Ann Blumer\# and goalkeeper \#Elizabeth Sooby\#, but will have plenty of talent on the field this fall with six starters returning and a pair of all-conference selections.
Entering his seventh season at the helm of the women's soccer program, head coach \#Paul Van Hooydonk\# is 32-68-5 overall and 8-43-3 in SCAC play, needing just one more league win to move into first all-time at Millsaps. He will have the luxury of three coaches by his side for the upcoming season, adding assistants \#Drew Ziegler\# and \#Kathryn Brusco\# and goalkeepers coach Anna Fiser to the staff just before the start of the season.
Offensively, Millsaps returns senior midfielder and NSCAA/Adidas All-South Region Second Team selection \#Leslie Robichaux\#, midfielders \#Jessica Harris\#, Emily Townsend and Hayley Nemeth and senior forward \#Megan Sullivan\#, who combined for 22 of the Majors' 44 goals a year ago. Harris had a breakout freshman campaign last year, scoring seven goals and adding a school-record nine assists, while Robichaux led the league with 10 goals, including four game-winners.
The Majors return three of their four defensive starters in First Team All-SCAC nod and senior \#Meredith Harris\#, who also chipped in five goals on the offensive end, junior \#Callaghan Starrett\# and sophomore \#Holly Warren\#. The fourth starting spot is up for grabs between a few incoming freshmen and several returning letterwinners.
A huge gap to fill will be at the goalkeeper spot, with Sooby lost to graduation. Sooby posted six shutouts and combined with \#Sarah Nelin\# for three more en route to a school-record nine for the season. Returning letterwinners Nelin and \#Molly Beth Jourdan\# are in competition for the starting spot, but will both see time between the posts this year.
Millsaps' 2009 schedule features 10 home and nine away contests, with eight of the final 12 at Harper Davis Field. The Majors open with five of their first seven on the road, including four consecutive at Agnes Scott, perennial power Emory University, Belhaven and Alcorn State University from Sept. 12 to Sept. 20.
"We play the majority of our conference games at home this year, and we feel like that's a big advantage," Van Hooydonk said. "We hope to make the most of that opportunity and continue to improve in the league standings. We also want to post back-to-back winning seasons, which has never been done before in this program."
Millsaps opens the season at Louisiana College on Sept. 1 in Pineville, La.
