An Inside Look at Signee Mollie Pathman

DURHAM, N.C.- The Duke women's soccer program has added one of its top recruiting classes under the direction of Head Coach Robbie Church.  This spring GoDuke.com will be taking a closer look at each of the 2010 incoming freshmen.

First up is Mollie Pathman, who is a native of Durham, N.C., and attends Durham Academy.  She is a 5-3 forward who is one of the top scorers in the nation.  Pathman is already planning on studying medicine at Duke.

Check out the highlights, newspaper articles, photo gallery and bio of Pathman linked on the article. more

Pride plays its game

RALEIGH -- Kelsey Weiss and Caroline Gentry each had a goal and an assist to propel Leesville Road to a 3-0 girls soccer victory over Cap Seven conference foe Wakefield on Monday night.

Originally a home game for Wakefield, it was switched to Leesville Road because of poor field conditions caused by the recent wet weather. However, neither coach considered the switch a factor in the outcome as Leesville effectively worked the ball in the Wakefield end for a majority of the game.

"They're a very good team, and we're content to let a team like Leesville knock it around," Wakefield coach Scott Sloan said. "What we wanted to make sure is that they didn't penetrate the 18 [penalty area]. They're a great team, and we have to let them play that style and look for the seams to counter through." more

Brooks & Jones Called Into U20 Camp

CHICAGO, ILL. - Tar Heels Amber Brooks and Courtney Jones have been called into the U20 National Team Training Camp beginning next week. The U-20 team will play against two Women's Professional Soccer clubs.

Coach Jillian Ellis will be without several regulars due to school commitments, but will give a look to several players as she continues to formulate a roster that will take part in the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup in Germany this summer. 24 players will train with the U.S. Women's Under-20 National Team in Gainesville, Fla. March 14-21.

The U.S. U-20s will face the host University of Florida on Monday, March 15 at 5:30 p.m. and take on the Boston Breakers on Wednesday, March 17 at 3 p.m. Both of those matches will take place at UF. The U.S. U-20s will finish the schedule of scrimmages against the Atlanta Beat at Flagler College on Friday, March 19 at 7 p.m. more

Wake Forest Announces 2010 Recruiting Class

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's soccer program announced its 2010 recruiting class, which features nine highly decorated high school women's soccer players.

"This class addresses a lot of our needs," head coach Tony da Luz said. "We lost seven very high quality players in our 2009 senior class. I think the biggest loss is in the front three with the loss of (Kaley) Fountain, (Jill) Hutchinson and (Allie) Sadow. There were a lot of goals, personality and leadership in those three players. We feel like we have some really good attacking players coming in to replace them.

"We also lost defensive players such as Caitlin Farrell, Bess Harrington, Laura Morse and Sarah Winslow that will be tough to replace," da Luz continued. "We've got some good players coming in. Cheyenne Biehl is already here. Jackie McSally, who can play in the back or in the midfield, has a defensive personality.

"We have a lot of really good players in this class," da Luz said. "It's a great follow up to the 2009 freshman class, who did really well. I think the class will be rated pretty highly." more

Spartans Sign Six

GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNC Greensboro's women's soccer team has signed six prep standouts to National Letters of Intent, head coach Eddie Radwanski announced Monday.

The six players who will join the Spartans for the 2010 season are: Kory Spotts (Del Mar, Calif.), Kaitlyn O'Brien (Colleyville, Texas), Morgan Kennedy (Lakewood, Colo.), Stine Schoening (Woodinville, Wash.), Jenna Olson (Saratoga, Calif.), and Kristen Schmidbauer (Woodbine, Md.).

"We are very excited about this talented group of young student-athletes," Radwanski said. "Each of them brings something special to our team. They have experience competing at the highest levels nationally with their club teams, and I expect them to help push our team forward as we look to continue building upon the winning tradition established by our class of outgoing seniors. more

Wake Forest Begins Preparing for 2009 Season

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's soccer team began its preparation for the 2009 season with a pair of practices on Thursday at the Spry Stadium practice fields.

"I was pleasantly surprised with our first day of practice," head coach Tony da Luz said. "We had our fitness tests yesterday and had a good showing from everybody. There were a lot of personal bests. The play that we had this morning and this afternoon was quality. There were some surprises from some of the young players so I'm happy for the first day."

After practicing for an hour and a half on Thursday morning, the team went through a two hour training session in the afternoon.

"We're trying to emphasize that we want to be an attacking team," da Luz said. "We want to hold the ball as long as possible and pick our chances to attack. We played a different formation last year, so it's an adjustment. There will be new personnel in different places, so there's a lot we have to iron out."  more

Blue Devils Have Successful Opening Practice

DURHAM, N.C. - Head Coach Robbie Church and the Duke women's soccer team opened practice for the 2009 season on Saturday morning at the turf field on the campus of Duke University.  The Blue Devils performed testing, while also running through drills. 

The Blue Devils will feature another practice on Saturday evening and three more days of practices before traveling to Asheville, N.C., for team bonding and practice for three days.

"It was great," commented Church on today's first practice.  "I was very happy and we had unbelievable energy out here today all the way through.  Starting with our testing, into our technical work and then finishing up in our four-v-four games in our competition.  I think our girls did a fantastic job.  I thought they were really focused as it was a long and choppy practice how it was set up.  I thought we were focused, we had great energy and leadership from our seniors.  They did a fantastic job." more

Renkin Named To CAA Silver Anniversary Squad

8/04/2009

RICHMOND, Va. – Former UNC Wilmington standout midfielder Kelly Renkin has been named to the Colonial Athletic Association’s women’s soccer silver anniversary squad, league officials announced Tuesday.

“This is a tremendous honor for Kelly,” said UNCW Head Coach Paul Cairney, the 2008 CAA Coach-of-the-Year. “Kelly was a one of the most competitive players I have been around, and that competitiveness helped her become one of the greatest players in league history. As with any individual honor, Kelly’s teammates share in this accomplishment with her.”

A native of Midlothian, Va., Renkin was a four-year starter for the Seahawks (2005-08) who finished her career as the program’s all-time leader in game-winning goals (13) and in the top five of the school’s all-time points (73), goals (29) and assists (15) charts. The Clover Hill graduate was a three-time First-Team All-CAA and two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Southeast Region selection, Renkin was recognized as the Thomas V. Moseley award winner as UNCW’s top female student-athlete for the 2008-09 season after leading the Seahawks in scoring (6 G, 3A) on their way to a second-place tie in the CAA regular-season standings.

As part of its 25^th Anniversary celebration in 2009-10, the CAA is recognizing Silver Anniversary teams in 21 championship sports.  The teams are selected by a panel of current and former head coaches in the conference. more

Gatorade names N.C. girls' soccer player of the year

Durham Academy's Mollie Pathman was named the Gatorade N.C. Girls' Soccer Player of the Year.

The award is based on performance, academics and character.

Pathman, a junior forward/midfielder, had 26 goals and seven assists heading into an NCISAA playoff Tuesday.

She is a three-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America Youth All-American and a member of the U.S. Soccer Under-18 Women’s National Team pool. Pathman has 96 goals and 42 assists in her career.

Pathman has a 3.98 grade-point average. She has volunteered as an area youth soccer coach, at a summer camp for underprivileged children and as an academic tutor for local Spanish-speaking children.

Pathman has committed to play at Duke.

Pinecrest downs Britt 3 to 0

SOUTHERN PINES — For the first 23 minutes, Jack Britt stood toe to toe with Pinecrest in a Mid-Southeastern 4A girls’ soccer clash.

But as has often been the case in recent seasons, the Lady Patriots eventually delivered the knockout blow with a 3-0 win.

The victory all but assures Pinecrest (13-3, 11-0) of a conference title.

“I think our goal the whole season has been what we can add to last year,” Pinecrest coach Todd Abbey said. “With a new team and a new face of the team, they wanted to prove that they didn’t need the key players that they had last year. They play more as a team now, and they’re ecstatic about that.” more

Duke Holds Annual Team Banquet

DURHAM, N.C. –  The Duke women’s soccer team held its annual team banquet on Sunday evening to officially wrap up the very successful 2008 campaign, which saw the Blue Devils advance to the NCAA College Cup quarterfinals for the second straight year and win 15 contests. 

A total of six awards were given out on the evening including Newcomer of the Year, Most Inspirational Player, Coaches Award, Most Outstanding Offensive Player, Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Most Valuable Player.  All awards except for the Coach Award were voted on by the student-athletes. 

Taking home both the Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Offensive Player was junior KayAnne Gummersall.  After suffering from an ankle injury for most of her sophomore season, Gummersall came back strong in 2008 with a team-best 15 goals and 34 points.  She also added four assists and five game-winning goals.  In the ACC stats, Gummersall ranked third in points, tied for third in goals, third in points per game (1.42) and fourth in goals per game (0.62).

Gummersall, a native of Wilmette, Ill., played some of her best soccer at the end of the season as she notched goals in each of the four NCAA College Cup contests, while finishing the year with three multi-goal games.  In the final NCAA stats, Gummersall ranked 59th in points per game (1.42),  41st in goals per game (0.625) and 75th in goals per game (0.522). more

Pride wins battle of soccer titans

RALEIGH -- Score early, fight hard and hang on.

That may not have been the script, but that was was how the game played out for the No. 1-ranked Leesville Road High girls soccer team.

In a matchup of undefeated powers, the Pride edged East Chapel Hill 1-0 in a spirited nonconference game.

Leesville's Claudel Pilon, left, battles Farrell Sweeney for the ball. - PHOTO BY RAY BLACK III FOR THE NEWS & OBSERVER
Related ContentPhoto gallery: Leesville Road 1, East Chapel Hill 0


The Pride took an early lead barely four minutes into the game on an 8-yard shot by Nitang Jones past Wildcats keeper Jackie O'Connor.

Leesville Road dominated much of the first half, outshooting the Wildcats 7-1.

In addition to Jones, Melissa Moran and Carolina Gentry fired shots on the Wildcats' goal. East Chapel Hill captain Molly Hrudka, a senior midfielder, recorded the Wildcats' lone shot on goal.

"We've played together for a while," Leesville's Emily Burchette said. "[The Wildcats] definitely gave us some challenges. It was definitely physical." more

Wildcats girls grab soccer lead

CHAPEL HILL -- Three days after beating Broughton, one of the state's best girls soccer teams, East Chapel Hill didn't have the same level of focus.

But it did have enough to defend home field with a 2-0 victory over Durham Jordan and take sole possession of first place in the PAC Six on Monday.

"I'm disappointed in the way we looked tonight compared to Friday night," East Chapel Hill coach Mark Kadlecik said. "It's a conference opponent, so we'll take it."

Jordan (6-3, 4-1 PAC Six) came into the game undefeated in conference play but gave up a quick goal to East Chapel Hill. more