Soccer inks three; looks to improve in second season

In preparation for the upcoming soccer season, Head Coach Robert Parr and his Lady Bobcats have been working hard to improve last year’s inaugural season record of 5-10-2. Aside from work on the field, Parr has been in the trenches trying to scout and recruit for next season and so far, he believes that his incoming freshman will be a huge asset to the team this season.

Although only three girls have signed and committed to the school, Parr plans on taking about six to eight altogether to increase depth.

One of the problems with recruiting in Georgia is the amount of competition that has sprouted up in the last couple of years. “With so many new programs starting up it’s been tough to find players with the potential and talent that we’re happy with,” Parr said. “We’ve signed three already and I expect that we’ll have about six to eight new recruits by the time training starts (Aug. 8).”

Something different about this year is the fact that coaches are now looking to fill positions instead of filling the roster.

“Last season, we recruited mainly to get enough players on the field, now we can focus more on individual positions.”

The Lady Bobcats will return almost all of their players from last season. Even though they are a “young team”, Parr believes that the experience they gained from last season will give them the chance to be contenders into the next few seasons.

To fill the position of outgoing keeper, Michele Parr, Parr has chosen two excellent candidates for the position, Meghan Rothenberg (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Kristen Moore (Newnan, Ga.).

The first of the two, Meghan Rothenberg, was an all-star player in her home state of Tennessee. Playing at Farragut High school in Knoxville. She helped her team achieve a runner-up spot in the 2004 class AAA State Title. She also posted 19 shutouts in 26 games and made the Tennessee Sports Writers Association 2004 All-State Team.

Her counterpart, Kristen Moore, achieved an equally impressive status in Georgia, she helped her high school reach the quarterfinals in the Georgia AAAAA state tournament. Along with a run for the state championship, she received a handful of student athlete and all-star athlete awards from various newspapers around the Metro Area.

The third recruit, Hayley Ferrel, is a midfielder/forward from Eagles Landing High School in McDonough, Ga. Along with soccer, she excelled in basketball, volleyball and cross country. She was named the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Henry/Clayton County player of the year when she scored 31 goals and had 10 assists for the area champs. “She is an all around athlete, she has excellent ‘touch’ on the ball, and will most likely be one of our go to players this season,” Parr said.

Parr is extremely happy with his decisions so far, but he expects to sign more recruits as the Aug. 1 cut off date approaches. He fully intends to add on to his productive season the team had last semester, and he looks forward to the action starting later this fall.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 4 2005. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry