‘Hope’-ful start for head coach’s second season

The goalie is the orchestrator of the game. Confined to the box, her view of the field is expansive and full. Hope Clark, Georgia College women’s head soccer coach has owned the goal for her entire soccer career, starting in high school, to college, and later to semi-professional soccer. The Louisiana native lettered all four years in soccer at Virginia Tech. Clark was recruited in the first-ever recruiting class for Tech her freshman year, and in her second she earned most valuable player and was the first Tech women’s soccer player to be named to All-Mid-Atlantic Region.

When Clark graduated from college, she temporarily stopped playing the sport.

“I literally stopped playing soccer,” Clark said. “As soon as I was done at Virginia Tech I moved out to California to start my master’s program and I wanted nothing to do with soccer.”

She didn’t even bring a ball or cleats with her to California. Eventually her feet were bored and a year and a half later she found her next contribution to the game.

She moved back to Washington, D.C. and worked with American University’s women’s soccer program. Her first stint of coaching in Georgia was with a men’s high school team in Spalding County.

“It was different from going from behind the game, to the side,” Clark said.

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Later, traveling south, she worked as an assistant with the University of Tampa, focusing on their goalies. Her committed lessons and work earned the UT goalie All-Conference honors for her seasons under Clark. After some years in assistant coaching, Clark put the cleats back on. She played in a women’s league through the Atlanta Silverbacks organization, comprised of ex- division one players. From that team, her goalie skills earned her a job on the semi-professional Atlanta Silverbacks team.

In 2007, Clark was given her first head coaching job at Auburn University Montgomery. Her fledgling squad went 14-5-1, earning a berth to the NAIA regional tournament. Her returning year, she finished 6-12-1.

“That first year, I’ll be blatantly honest, we over achieved,” Clark said.  “The second year I lost three All-American’s within two weeks of school, and that will damage your program.”

An onslaught of injuries followed, facing Clark with adversity early in her coaching career.

“I have seen some riffs certainly as a head coach, but I feel pretty comfortable that within my third year, I start to see success,” Clark said.

The next season, her Lady Senators reached the national tournament.

Last year, the Georgia College soccer program was in chaos trying to find a new coach. The new head of the program was not decided until late in the summer.

“I started July 12 and our season kicked-off August 10, so I had less than a month,” Clark said.

Despite not having time to get to know her players in a personal sense, or time to distinguish her strengths and vast elements of the team, she finished 7-7-3, making the PBC tournament.

“It was like a blank slate. It was beneficial to me because I got a fresh start,” senior mid-fielder Karen Bonilla said. “It was like each of us was trying out for one another.”

Bonilla was named to the All-PBC second team during Clark’s inaugural season. Clark’s arrival to Georgia College did not completely distance her from Auburn University Montgomery. Three of her previous players transferred to Georgia College. Senior Erica Padula, sophomore Susan Lotyczewski, and redshirt junior Dixie Robinson all followed Clark for their remaining years of eligibility.

“We (Auburn University Montgomery) got a new coach,” senior forward Erica Padula said. “I played for Hope for two years and that’s the style I grew accustom to.” With a full summer of preparation and a year to establish her team, Clark’s sophomore season is set for a matchup against Lenoir-Rhyne University on Sept. 2 in Tennessee at the Tusculum Tournament.

“This is a very young group. We’ve got five seniors and four juniors. It’s just a young squad,” Clark said. “A lot of freshman and sophomores and you’re going to see a lot of impact from those young kids.”

Posted by Taylor Lamb on Sep 1 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.