IWU Women’s Soccer to Face Early Tests

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — With games against six nationally-ranked opponents in the first seven games of the year, the Illinois Wesleyan women’s soccer team will be tested early at the outset of the 2006 season.
IWU, ranked No. 45 in the preseason D3kicks.com poll, opens its campaign at 7:30 p.m. Fri., Sept. 1 against No. 42 Hope and hosts No. 31 Calvin at 7:30 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 2.
Thirteen letterwinners return from a Titan team that was 13-7-1 in 2005 and became the first IWU soccer team to be selected to play in the NCAA Division III postseason tournament.
Leading the defensive returners for head coach Dave Barrett are senior co-captains Ashley Goergen and Emily Castner.
Goergen (Geneva HS), the Titans’ 2005 “Most Valuable Player”, led a defense that allowed only 0.94 goals per game while Castner (Elgin, Larkin HS) made 69 saves with eight shutouts for the Titans, who were ranked as high as No. 21 in the country in Division III at one point of the 2005 season.
In her career Castner has a 1.06 goals-against average and 19 shutouts, just three away from the school record of 22 held by Alicia Heeger.
Among the top returning offensive threats are sophomore forward Caroline Leighton (Bloomington, Normal Community HS) and senior midfielder Lyndsay O’Brien (Peoria, Notre Dame HS).
Leighton, a second team College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin selection as a freshman, had eight goals and assisted on two more while O’Brien became the IWU all-time assist leader with 25 and is tied for No. 9 with 55 career points. In 2005, she was second on the team with 21 points, including six goals and nine assists.
Sophomore midfielder Tina Rodriguez (Simi Valley, Calif., Royal HS) also contributed as a freshman, scoring four goals with seven assists. Seniors Amy Slott (Oswego HS) and Eileen Ouska (Skokie, Niles West HS) and sophomore Tanya Hnastchenko (Shorewood, Minn., Minnetonka HS) are also expected to contribute offensively.
Four freshmen are expected to contribute immediately, including midfielders Beth Talentowski (LaGrange, Lyons Township HS), Erin Kugler (Peoria, Notre Dame HS) and Elizabeth Sinclair (Peoria, Richwoods HS), and defender Kelsey Hogan (Livonia, Mich., Stevenson HS).
“I am beginning to like this team a lot,” said Barrett, who begins his sixth season with a 66-24-8 record. “I think we have the makings for a very good team. Our back four, goalkeeper, and midfield will be very strong.  We’ll need to be patient in terms of finding goal-scorers, but I think between Leighton and the rest of the corps of strikers we should be dangerous.”
Barrett also sees the IWU schedule as “very challenging. We want to play the very best teams we can, and I think once again ours is as strong as anyone’s in the region,” he said. “We are looking forward to the upcoming challenges but I like our chances if our team chemistry allows us to make the necessary connections on the field.”
Among the other ranked teams the Titans will face early are No. 15 Chicago (Sept. 16), No. 24 Wisconsin-Eau Claire (Sept. 9), No. 29 Washington U. (Sept. 10) and Loras (Sept. 20). The Titans play at No. 3 Wheaton, the preseason CCIW favorites, on Oct. 21.

CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206