Season Outlook
2
W
ith just one senior and nine newcomers on the roster, the 2011 season marks a fresh start for head coach Daniel Brizard and the Tennessee Tech soccer team. The Golden Eagles narrowly missed qualifying for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in 2010, one season after advancing all the way to the league championship game. It’s a return to prominence that Brizard is seeking in his second year, and one he hopes begins in preseason camp. “Last year, I was still getting to know the team in the preseason,” says Brizard, who came to Cookeville from an assistant position at LSU. “This year, I’m trying to integrate nine players into a team that already knows me and I know them.” In keeping with the theme of a fresh beginning, Tech Soccer Field underwent several renovation projects over the summer, including the installation of a new scoreboard, the shifting of the bleachers from the east side of the field to the west in order to enhance fan experience, and a leveling of the playing surface. More good news for Brizard is that the Golden Eagles return both their leading goal-scorer in junior forward Andrea Meloff and assists leader in junior midfielder Kerri Reid, as well as defensive stalwart and team captain Lindsey Reed, the squad’s only senior. The head coach will look to those players in particular to guide a team whose 2010 record doesn’t tell the whole story of its season — four of Tech’s 12 losses came in overtime. Meloff and Reid are just two members of a talented junior class that came of age for the Golden Eagles in 2010 as sophomores. Tech returns all five of its leading pointscorers this season — Meloff, Reid, Kris Cambron, Sarah Gawthrop and Jacquie Watkins — and all five are members of the junior class. With Reed the only senior on the roster, Brizard will lean heavily on his juniors for leadership in 2011. Beginning with home matches on Aug. 19 and Aug. 21, Tech will play a 20-match schedule which Brizard believes will be competitive while also giving his young squad a chance to grow and develop.
Stronger Than Ever n 2011