Women's Soccer Spring Recap - Oregon State University Athletics

CORVALLIS -- The spring season is all about preparation for the fall. Since the OSU women’s soccer team’s defense conceded a school-record fewest goals allowed last year, the Beavers got a lot of offensive work in as they try to become a more dynamic attacking machine.

“We looked at getting more players into the opponents’ attacking third and improving the quality of our final pass,” OSU Coach Steve Fennah said. “We feel very good that we achieved many of our goals in the spring sessions.”

Unfortunately, not all the news out of the spring was good, as senior defender Alison Vislay injured a knee and likely will be lost for the 2006 season. Vislay missed half of her freshman season in 2003 with a similar injury. She is expected to redshirt and return in 2007.

“Alison’s injury is very disappointing, for her and the team,” OSU Coach Steve Fennah said. “We’ll miss her play. The good news is that she can redshirt and come back the following year.”

Fennah had a difficult spring himself, as he came down with a bout of pneumonia and missed a great deal of training.

“A lot of the credit for this spring goes to (assistant coaches) Heidi (Slaymaker) and Linus (Rhode) for their work,” Fennah said. “I don’t think I’ve ever missed coaching a game before due to sickness, and certainly nowhere as many training sessions as I did. So they carried a lot of the weight this spring and did a super job.”

The Beavers, who look to increase their goal-scoring rate after tallying just 24 goals in 19 games last year, spent much of their time working on offense.

“Our goal at the start of the spring had really been to look at different ways to attack,” Fennah said. “We wanted to work on our individual technical abilities. And I think we came away feeling really good about that. Players have improved in the areas where they needed to improve. And that’s what spring is about, as much as anything else.”

On the pitch, the Beavers suffered a 4-1 loss to the U.S. Under-20 National Team, then rebounded to beat Portland State, 1-0, and San Diego, 2-1. The spring ended with a 1-0 loss to Oregon, though the Beavers were without star forward Jodie Taylor (away at an England Under-21 National Team camp) and a couple of players missed the game with injuries.

“We played some very competitive games,” Fennah said. “Playing the Under-20 National Team was a great experience. The timing wasn’t great because it was right after spring break, but we still went out there and played well.

“We played fairly well against Portland State. We controlled the tempo and moved the ball around well. We scored probably one of the best goals ever at Lorenz Field. We had a lot of strong passing, something we’ve been working on in training. We were able to connect a number of passes and get Jen Crump in behind. She beat a player, swung in a cross to the far post and Kelsey Provo score don a great header. It was nice to see the fruition of all our training work very nicely.

“It was a successful trip down to San Diego, although I didn’t make that trip. San Diego is always a very good team. The manner of the win, from my conversation with the assistant coaches, was really very good. We controlled the tempo and had 70-80 percent of the possession.

“It was a little disappointing finishing the spring with the loss to Oregon. We didn’t connect very well. But it’s not a major concern because when we play them in the fall we expect to be healthy and Jodie will be back in the lineup.”

Fennah can look around the field and feel very good about what he has coming back from the 2005 squad, which went 10-8-1 and was considered a “near miss” for the NCAA Tournament by Soccer Buzz.

“We were solid across the back as usual,” Fennah said. “Lauren Wippel had a good spring and continues to develop. Alison Vislay and Monica Storm were as solid as they ever were early in the spring. McKenna Martindale had been doing a nice job at left back and then moved into the center, where she’ll probably be this fall. As a result of that, Jetta Sadusky slid to left back at times and she had a very good spring.

“Jen Crump and Kelli Washburn continued to be solid as our central midfielders. The twins, Esme and Julie Arredondo, have both improved and are continuing to develop. It was a frustrating spring for Samantha Pabst, who was injured much of the time. But she’s looking forward to an injury-free summer and will be ready to go in the fall.

“Up front, Whitney Goodell has a great opportunity. She’s spent two years behind some very good strikers in Jodie and Stacey Mescher. With Stacey graduating, Whitney has the opportunity to be the player there. She made some strides this spring and will compete for a starting position. We missed Jodie because of her time in England, but she’s done well over there and has looked sharp for us. Kelsey Provo has had an encouraging spring and got to play some very good minutes.

“Melissa Onstad has been our starting goalkeeper and she’ll be a senior. I expect her to finish her career in fine style, and she’ll go down as one of the top goalkeepers in OSU history. Ashley Wood continues to develop in her role and has exciting athleticism and potential. Caitlin Seeley joined the squad after a spring tryout. She will add to our goalkeeping corps and has good technical ability.”

The next step in the fall will be to integrate eight newcomers into the fold.

“We’re excited about the new players coming in, and finding a way to slot them in and mix them in with the current squad,” Fennah said. “We’ll have more flexibility for different looks and different lineups because we’ll have a higher quality of depth than ever before. It’s our job, as coaches, to put that together.”