Complete 2006 Season Preview in Printable PDF

Women's Soccer History
First Year of Women’s Soccer: 1986
All-Time Record: 170-214-13 (24 seasons)
All-Time MIAC Record: 91-139-8
Years in Postseason Play: 3
Last Postseason Appearance/Result:
2005/1-0 OT Loss to Macalester in MIAC Tourney Final
All-Time Postseason Record: 2-3
All-Time MIAC Playoff Tournament Record: 2-3
Years in MIAC Tournament/Streak: 3/3

Women's Soccer Information
2005 Record: 15-4-0
Home: 9-2-0
Away: 6-2-0
Neutra: 0-0-0
2005 MIAC Record: 9-2-0
Home: 5-1-0
Away: 4-1-0
Lettermen Returning/Lost: 19/4
Starters Returning/Lost: 10/1

Top Returning Players:
Morgan Bain

2004 MIAC MVP; ‘04, ‘05 All-Region; 114 Career Pts.
Amy Ravenhorst

’04, ’05 All-MIAC; 2nd in assists (11) on team in ‘05
Miriam Lombardozzi

2005 All-MIAC; 3-year starter; central midfielder
Betsy Olesen

2004 All-MIAC; 3-year starter; central defender
Jill Fancher

2004 All-MIAC HM; 3-year starter; tough wing defender

Suzy Grabko
2003 All-MIAC; school record holder for assists in a conferecne season

Top Players Lost:
Kelly Ping

2005 All-MIAC; led the team in scoring in ’05 (39 pts.)

The 2006 Preview

Concordia women’s soccer head coach Dan Weiler has carefully tended to his garden of top players for the past three years and is about to reap the rewards of a bountiful harvest. Weiler has carefully nurtured this year’s senior class as they have earned three straight MIAC tournament appearances and participated in two consecutive conference championship games. Over the past two seasons, the Cobbers have recorded a 19-3 record in conference play and have compiled 28 overall victories during that stretch.

Weiler has meticulously planned for the 2006 season by fertilizing this year’s seniors with three consecutive “Miracle Gro” classes. All the pruning and constant watering have the Cobbers bursting at the seams in 2006. The team returns 10 of the 11 starting players from last year when Concordia won a school-record 15 games and set the program record for fewest losses in a year (4). Add the fact that this year’s seniors are 20-3-1 at home during their careers and you have a team that has learned how to win, have the right attitude and knows what it takes to succeed in the conference.

The only place left for the Cobbers to take their produce is to the national market. Weiler and his band of seniors have set their sights on the NCAA playoffs for 2006. They will try to become the first Concordia women’s soccer team in the history of the school to advance to the national tournament.

The roots run deep for the ’06 squad. The team’s anchor, 2004 MIAC MVP Morgan Bain (Sr., Hugo, Minn./White Bear Lake, Minn.), returns to terrorize opposing teams’ backlines. Bain has already busted the school record for goals in a career (50) and she now has the program mark for career points squarely in her cross hairs. Bain has 114 points entering her final season and needs 24 points to surpass Angie Tohm ’97 as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

Bain is only one component of the Cobber crop. Weiler returns All-MIAC players Amy Ravenhorst (Hollandale, Minn./Albert Lea HS), Miriam Lombardozzi (Billings, Mont./Billings Senior HS), Betsy Olesen (Bismarck, N.D.), Suzy Grabko (Fargo, N.D./Fargo North HS) and Jill Fancher (Burnsville, Minn.). All five players have earned conference postseason honors at some point during their careers and not coincidentally, all five – plus Bain – comprise the entire senior class. With leadership from the seniors who have backed up their talk with the walk on the field, the Cobber underclassmen have been able to learn the keys to success up close.

Joining the senior six as returning starters are juniors Andrea Purcell (Northfield, Minn.) and Darcy Swagger (Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley HS) and sophomores Chelsee McLaughlan (Blackfoot, Idaho) and goalkeeper Britt Reiersgord (Edina, Minn.). Purcell is a fast and talented wing defender who joins with Fancher as a pair of high-caliber defensive bookends. Swagger has steadily improved every season and now is a college experienced central midfielder. McLaughlin started 14 games last year as a freshman as the team’s central defender and looks even better in early-season training sessions. Reiersgord started every game in goal last year and set the school record for most games and minutes played in a season. Her eight shutouts last year tied the school record for blankings in a year.

Despite her stellar freshman season, Reiersgord will be locked in the most hotly contested spot in the starting 11. That stems from the return of junior Ashley Liegakos (Maple Grove, Minn.) from a knee injury before the 2005 season. Like Reiersgord, Liegakos also shown in her freshman season. In 2004, she set the bar for shutouts with eight and the 0.81goals against average she posted in conference play is the second-best mark in program history. The competition should help each player achieve a new level of play and will help the Cobber defense during the long conference season.

The only vacated starting spot to fill is on the front-line. Last year Kelly Ping turned all the attention paid to Bain into a career season, leading the team in scoring with 39 points and earning MIAC All-Conference honors. Ping’s control game was a perfect compliment to the breakaway prowess of Bain. Ping finished the year with an MIAC best 15 assists and the two combined to score 28 of the team’s 50 goals.

The leading candidate to earn the role as Bain’s sidekick in 2006 is junior Rachel Lewis (Lakeville, Minn.). Lewis was fourth on the team in scoring in 2005 and has scored 10 goals in her first two seasons in maroon and gold. Like Ping, Lewis possesses a game that compliments Bain’s ability very well. She should be able to step into the line-up and not have the deadly Cobber offensive attack slow down.

Like a master gardener, Weiler brought in another high-quality freshman class to ensure that this year’s crop will not be the last top harvest. Ten freshmen made this year’s final roster. They join a sophomore class of 12 to form 22 of the team’s 35 players on the squad. The 35 players on this year’s team represent the most in program history.

All the numbers and quality point to the fact that the 2006 harvest could be the best in school history.

Women’s Soccer News and Notes
Enough of Number 2
Concordia was picked to finish second in the annual MIAC Coach’s Preseason Poll. The Cobbers were right on the heels of top pick Macalester, garnering five of the 11 first-place votes. The Scots earned the other six top picks after winning the MIAC regular season and tournament titles in 2005.

'06 MIAC Preseason Women’s Soccer Coach’s Poll
(First Place Votes in Parentheses)
1. Macalester (6)
2. Concordia (5)
3. St. Thomas
4. Saint Benedict
5. Augsburg
6. St. Olaf (1)
7. Saint Mary's
8. Gustavus
9. Carleton
10. Hamline
11. St. Catherine
12. Bethel

Leave No Doubt
Last year the Cobbers came out on the short end of the national playoff stick. One of the deciding factors in the decision was the lack of in-region opponents for Concordia. Weiler solved that problem in 2006. The Cobbers will play one of the toughest regional schedules in the conference. Of their seven non-conference games, six are against Central Region opponents and the other is against a team that is ranked in the top 25 in the NSCAA preseason poll. Concordia will play WIAC schools UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse and also tangle with national power U of Chicago. Eau Claire is ranked 19th in the national preseason poll and Chicago slides in at No. 24. The other three in-region foes are Carthage (Wis.), Grinnell (Iowa) and Nebraska Wesleyan. Grinnell is the defending Midwest Conference champions and is picked to repeat in the preseason coach’s poll. The lone non-Central Region opponent will be the Cobbers’ opening day foe. Concordia will square off against No. 25 UC-Santa Cruz on Saturday, Sept. 2 in the University of Redlands (Calif.) tournament.

Home Grown
Despite losing two games at home last year, Concordia has posted a healthy 20-3-1 record at “The Jake” in the past three seasons. That includes a 15-2 mark at home in conference regular-season play and a perfect 2-0 record in MIAC tournament action.

Unlike last season when the Cobbers played a walloping 11 games at home, Concordia faithful will only have four home games to root for the maroon and gold. The Cobbers will host St. Thomas in the home opener on Sept. 12 at 4 p.m. They also have games against Hamline, Augsburg and St. Kate’s on the home slate. This year all Cobber home games will have live statistics broadcast on the web. Fans can go to the Cobber athletics website at: www.gocobbers.com and follow along with all the home action.

Roster Report
The Cobbers have 35 players on their 2006 roster, the most in program history. The squad includes 10 freshmen and one other newcomer, making the 2006 recruiting class the second largest in women’s soccer history. Of the 35 players, 24 are from Minnesota. Concordia headed west to make the biggest geographical change in their roster. The Cobbers have five players who hail from Montana. Of the remaining members, three are from North Dakota, while the other three are from Idaho, Colorado and Wisconsin.

Not only is this the largest team by sheer numbers, it is also one of the physically biggest. Concordia has 15 players listed at 5-7 or taller. The tallest players on the team are Betsy Olesen and Rachel Lewis (5-10). On the other side of the ledger, six players check in at 5-2, making them the shortest on the squad.