|
|
Howard women's soccer making their markED HILL For those fans who have followed college soccer at historically black colleges,
they are familiar with the rich history of the Howard University men's
soccer program. The Bison hold the distinction as the only HBCU to capture NCAA
national championships, a feat they accomplished in 1971 and 1973. But few people are familiar with the Howard women's program. That is until this year. The Bison are off to their best start ever at 6-2 and are gaining national attention. The women's program is in its sixth year and has experienced much growing pains. "It took a while for me to get adjusted to the demands and responsibilities in coaching and recruiting on this level," recalls head coach Michelle Street, who had never coached at the collegiate level before being hired as head coach. "We were basically trying to field a team. The players gave the effort, but many of them had not really played that kind of competitive soccer. I began to figure out what it takes to recruit and sell the program and that class three years ago proved to be the turning point in the program." Included in that class were senior goalkeepers Lauren Pruitt and Tamika Anoia and senior midfielder Daniella Henrique. Slowly, things began to take shape as the team's victory totals went from six the first three years to a combined 14 the past three years, including a school-best eight wins last season. Along the way, Coach Street began to go after blue chip players. First, there was junior forward Erinn Garner from Stone Mountain, GA, who Coach Street says "was our first real legitimate soccer player." Last year, she added junior college transfer Pollyanna Williams to the mix. As important as those players's contributions were, there was still something missing. The recruitment of Raneika Bean, a talented freshman from Hamilton Parish, Bermuda, who had an outstanding high school career in Madison, Ala. the past two years, proved to be that missing piece. Bean leads the nation in scoring (3.5 goals per game) and goals scored (12). Her outstanding talents have allowed Garner, Williams (4 points) and sophomore Tiffany Day (4 points) and her teammates to be more effective and make solid contributions. "She is just an awesome player," says Garner, who led the team in scoring with 25 points last season and is currently second on the team in scoring with 11 points. "When I first came here, I think there was a lot of pressure on me to do so much. But things have changed. We were getting better and when Raneika came, it allowed us to take our game to a different level." It is a thing of beauty to watch the graceful Bean elude defenders with ease and use her powerful left leg to rocket goals past helpless defenders and goalies to score goals. The team presently plays an independent schedule, but Coach Street adds that she is hopeful that the program will soon join a conference, thus enhancing the chances of qualifying for an NCAA berth. "We have come a long way, but no means have we arrived, "says Street, a 1993 graduate of Hampton University. "If we continue to progress, there is no question that we can get to the NCAA tournament." Howard is one of only three HBCUs who have women's soccer programs. The others are Alabama A&M and South Carolina State. Delaware State is scheduled to add it in the next year. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
|
