Women’s Soccer Focused on Success in 2008

HOBOKEN, N.J. (August 18, 2008) – Following its first-ever Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Metro Division Championship, the Stevens Institute of Technology women’s soccer team is looking forward to another successful season during its second year in the Empire 8. The Ducks posted a 15-4-2 ledger a year ago and finished second in the conference with a 7-1 record. The 2008 campaign will feature a veteran group with eight of 11 starters back as well as 19 letter winners returning.

In its final 12 games of the 2007 season, Stevens produced a 9-1-2 mark en route to a berth into the league semifinal of the championship tournament. After a 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, Nazareth College advanced to the conference finals as the contest was decided by penalty kicks. Stevens also suffered its first conference loss in eight years (50 games) when the Bombers of Ithaca posted a victory during regular season play. This year will be a transition for the Ducks as they said goodbye to seven seniors, including the program’s first-ever ESPN The Magazine first-team academic All-American.

“We’re excited to see what type of team we will be this fall,” said Head Coach Jeff Parker (San Antonio, Texas). “We return a large group of veterans and they will join a list of talented freshman. It will come down to how hard we want to work for each other and what opportunities those efforts will create.”

Stevens returns five student-athletes that received all-league honors for their performances a year ago. A talented senior class will be headed by back Salme Cook (Fairfax, Va.), who was tabbed a National Soccer Coaches Association of America second-team All-New York Region recipient. Cook has been the backbone for the Ducks’ defensive scheme for the past three seasons as she has started every game since her freshman year (65). Cook was an Empire 8 first-team selection and received honorable mention NSCAA/Adidas Women’s College Scholar East Region honors. Furthermore, she landed second-team All-New York Region accolades from D3kicks.com.

Returning for her final season as a Duck, senior forward Meghan Tennyson (Folsom, La.) closed out her junior year as the top scorer for Stevens having posted nine goals and four assists. She is on track to be the second all-time scorer in Stevens’ history. A 2006 second-team All-Skyline Conference recipient, Tennyson currently sits sixth all-time at Stevens for points (65) and fourth in goals scored (26). Senior midfield Audra Clark (Dallas, Texas) returns to the roster in 2008 after landing honorable mention NSCAA/Adidas Women’s College Scholar East Region honors a year ago. Selected as the defensive MVP of the Stevens Engineering Cup, Clark was named to the Empire 8 Presidents’ list for the fall of 2007. She concluded her junior year fourth on the team in points (12), with four goals and four assists

Rounding out the senior class are Hope Fulgencio (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Erin Brennan (Clark, N.J.). Fulgencio saw action as a defender in 18 games, in addition to having recorded four goals and an assist. She went down in the Stevens record books as she netted the fourth fastest goal scored from the start of game (1:08) during November of 2007 against Centenary College. Brennan will return to the back/midfield after being chosen as the Empire 8 Sportswoman of the Year by the league in 2007.

Junior midfield/forward Leslie Kallberg (Mission Viejo, Calif.) was second on the team in points (17) a year ago as she totaled eight goals and an assist. She received honorable mention Empire 8 accolades in 2007. Junior midfielders Katelyn Stewart (Manchester, N.H.) and Alicia Vandersluis (Colorado Springs, Colo.) will step into more prominent roles as leaders in 2008. Stewart started 20 games last year and landed honorable mention league honors as Vandersluis comes back from injury having posted a goal and assist during her first seven starts of the season.

Junior Erica Risch (Mission Viejo, Calif.) and sophomore Katria Mislio (Short Hills, N.J.) will add depth and experience to the lineup. Risch tallied three goals and a pair of assists as Mislio, an Empire 8 honorable mention recipient, was one of the Ducks’ assist leaders (6) in 2007.

Over the course of the season, Stevens will also count on the continued growth of sophomores Nicole Brand (West Windsor, N.J.), Kara Pepe (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Mary Chew (West Deptford, N.J.). Brand was a solid contributor over the course of 20 games last season, while Pepe saw action in 21 games having scored a pair of goals. Chew started nine of 21 contests as she added a pair of goals and three assists.

This year’s freshman class will consist of Heather Goldberg (Albuquerque, N.M.), Sarah Lehman (Gilbert, Ariz.). Kaitlin McClymont (Corpus Christi, Texas), Zabella Simos (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and Julie Wilkerson (Waldwick, N.J.). The Ducks are also excited to bring aboard junior midfielder Sonia Kappeler (Westwood, N.J.), who has transferred in from NYU.

A new addition to the coaching staff in 2008 is Mary Velan (Stamford, N.Y.). Velan arrives in Hoboken following her matriculation and outstanding athletic career at the State University of New York at Oneonta. She graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and concluded her career as a six-time All-American in soccer and track and field. Velan earned four All-America awards in soccer (2004-07). She graduated as Oneonta’s all-time leader in points (169), goals (71), and assists (27) and led the Red Dragons to four State University of New York Athletic Conference titles and NCAA tournament appearances. On the coaching end, Velan has been very active member of the Oneonta soccer scene. She was an Assistant Girls Program Director at the Oneonta Boys and Girls Club as well as a regular coach and instructor as part of the Headwaters Soccer Camp in upstate New York. Parker is enthusiastic about the addition and feels that Velan will have provide significant contributions towards the success of the program.

Taking a look at the schedule, Stevens will play a pair of Final Four teams from last year in addition to hosting the fifth annual Stevens Engineering Cup. Last season, the Ducks defeated New York University in penalty kicks (3-1) to take the tournament crown as they contend for their fifth-straight Engineering Cup title in 2008.The Ducks open the season with two exhibition contests and 18 regular-season games prior to the start of the Empire 8 Tournament in early-November. Furthermore, the Ducks will carry a 40-match home unbeaten streak into the 2008 season. That mark is the longest current streak in the nation and the sixth-longest in NCAA Division III history.

Stevens will take on Vassar College in a non-conference game at 7 p.m. on September 13. That game will be Alumnae Night for the Ducks. After traveling to compete against the always challenging Montclair State University on September 17, Stevens will open Empire 8 play at home against St. John Fisher College on September 20 at 3 p.m. On September 27, defending Empire 8 champion Ithaca College will visit Hoboken for an important match-up. The Bombers are coming off a season in which they reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Stevens will have the opportunity to avenge the conference semifinal tie that sent Nazareth to the finals after penalty kicks, when the Ducks travel to Rochester, N.Y. to compete on October 12 at 1 p.m.

The Ducks will wrap up its final five games of the season with three conference contests against Rochester Institute of Technology, Utica College and Hartwick College. Stevens will also face the 2007 national semifinalist, Western Connecticut State University on October 29. The Empire 8 championship begins on November 8 as the host site will be rewarded to the highest seed.