Women's Soccer Begins Preseason Practice
August 14, 2007 | Soccer
Aug. 14, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C-- The 2007 East Carolina women's soccer team opened practice today under Rob Donnenwirth, who is now in his ninth year as head coach. The 2006 squad finished with a record of 10-8-2 and 5-3-1 in Conference USA. The Pirates enter this season ranked 14th in the south region in the Soccer Buzz Preseason 2007 Polls.
Joining the squad this year will be nine incoming freshmen. In addition, Caylin Sandke who red-shirted last season, gained valuable experience from the sidelines and will be a welcoming sight to coach Donnenwirth.
With five returning seniors (Kristen Allred, Jami Dickerson, Anastasia Nikas, Kat Norris, Patty Pierce) on the 2007 squad, Donnenwirth expects his seniors to lead the way for the rest of the team.
"Day one is a tough day," Donnenwirth said. "We ran one of our fitness tests at 7:00 am and the team did very well. You need to be very disciplined to stick to your summer workouts and the team should be happy it paid off. We trained again at 10:00 am and concentrated on one-on-one situations. This training session shows us a lot about a player's individual attacking, defending and competitive spirit."
The Pirates will open the 2007 season Aug. 31 against High Point at 4:00 p.m. at Bunting Field.
