STANDISH, ME – The Saint Joseph's College Women's Soccer team posted a 7-9-1 overall record and went 5-6-1 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference contests this fall under the guidance of seventh-year Head Coach Michael Bolanz '00.
The Monks kicked off the 2010 campaign with five consecutive victories, including three conference wins and several lopsided results. Unfortunately, several key players went down with injuries and the Royal Blue won just a pair of games over the final 12 contests.
St. Joe's suffered its biggest loss when senior forward Jessica Needham (East Bridgewater, MA) was felled with a season-ending knee injury early in a game against Suffolk on September 22nd. Needham was on fire before getting hurt, as the four-year starter had tallied seven goals – including three game-winners, five assists and 19 total points during the Monks' 5-0 start. She was selected as the GNAC Player of the Week during the season's first two-reporting periods as well.
Saint Joseph's scored 21 goals over the first six games of the season, but with Needham out and a revamped system, the Monks netted just 12 markers in the team's final 11 contests, a span during which the Royal Blue was held scoreless on three occasions.
The Monks went on to tie St. Joseph (CT), the top team in the conference at the time, on October 11th and defeated Albertus Magnus – the eventual #5 seed in the GNAC tourney – on October 23rd, but the team was unable to string together victories against league opponents and missed the GNAC Tournament for the first time in four seasons as a conference member.
A small consolation for the Royal Blue is the fact that the side, which featured 17 freshmen and sophomores, began to gel as the season progressed. Many of the underclassmen, including first-year netminder Jaci Lorenzen (Windham, ME), forward Jessica Capozzi '14 (Saugus, MA) and defender Casey Monaghan '13 (Portland, ME/Portland), all gained valuable experience in 2010 and look poised to become big-time players for the program in the near future.
Lorenzen started all 17 games in goal for the Monks and played all 1560 minutes between the pipes as a freshman. She posted a 1.67 goals against average with a .746 save percentage and four shutouts last fall.
Capozzi, Ashley Beaulieu '14 (Durham, ME), Katherine Chambers '13 (Hampden, ME), Cassie Diplock '14 (Augusta, ME), Jennifer Keaney '13 (Scituate, MA), Lauren Chouinard '14 (Gorham, ME) and Emily Cocciardi '14 (Middleton, MA) combined to tally 16 goals and nine assists as a group of talented underclassmen last fall.
Fans should expect several players from this list to help fill the shoes of the departing seniors, a class that includes a pair of players who rank very high in the Monks' all-time offensive categories.
One of those seniors is Mikayla Call (Portland, ME/McAuley), who led the Royal Blue in goals (8), assists (6) and points (22) in her final collegiate season. The four-year starter capped her career ranked second all-time in points (109), tied for second in assists (25) and third in goals (42). The two-year team captain collected three First Team All-GNAC honors during her career.
Needham leaves the team ranked third all-time in assists (23), sixth in points (89), and tied for seventh in career goals (33). She is the Monks' career leader in game-winning goals (11) and was potentially on her way to breaking all the team's career offensive records before getting hurt.
Another four-year player who will be missed is Elizabeth Theberge '11 (Danvers, MA), who recorded eight goals, nine assists and 25 total points in 70 career contests for Saint Joseph's.
Overall, the group of departing seniors helped the Monks post a 48-22-7 (.686) record, including a stellar 35-10-6 (.778) mark in conference play, during their time on the pitch.
