CLARION – A new era in Clarion University women's soccer starts at noon Sunday when the Golden Eagles open the 2010 season by hosting Alderson-Broaddus.
The game will be the first for new Golden Eagle head coach Rob Eaton, who takes over a Clarion squad that went 4-14-2 a year ago including 0-13-1 in the PSAC-West.
“It's going to be a building process,” said Eaton, who has 13 years of collegiate head coaching experience on both the men's and women's sides. “You normally don't go from 4-14 one season to 14-4 the next unless a lot of the teams in front of you have had problems. We know we are in a tough conference. We have four teams in our conference who aren't going into the year thinking about conference titles but are thinking about national titles. If we can find a way to turn a few of the 1-0 losses from last year into wins, we can reach our goals.”
Clarion's goals, which Eaton has termed the “Hit List” include breaking the school record for wins, six set in 2006, shutouts, five, fewest goals allowed, 44, fewest losses, 11, and goals scored, 24.
“If we can come close to a majority of those goals, then we might have the best season ever at Clarion,” Eaton said. “If we reach a couple of them, then it can be status quo.”
Eaton is very pleased with how his players are buying into the idea that reaching the goals on the “Hit List” is part of the process of turning around a Clarion program that hasn't had a winning season since its inception in 2001.
“The players have bought into it big time,” Eaton said. “They are fully on board and are working very hard. We would like to start laying a foundation for the future this season.”
In setting that foundation, Eaton would like to see the Golden Eagles become tougher to score against.
“We can't let silly goals into the back of the net,” Eaton said. “Goals against us have to be earned. There is a psychological aspect to that. We have to be disciplined, and we have to be poised.”
In order to limit the number of goals against, Clarion is going to employ a possession strategy where the goal is to keep the ball away from the other team.
“We want to keep the ball more,” Eaton said. “We may not try to score as much because when you try to score all the time, the ball tends to go to the other team more. If we give the ball to the other team, we are going to be in big trouble. So we will play a style of keep away rather than attack.”
When the Golden Eagles do get opportunities to score, they have a couple of players capable of putting the ball into the net.
That group is led by senior
Jill Miller (North Huntingdon/Norwin). Miller is the second all-time leading scorer (27 points) and goal scorer (13) in school history. She needs three points to tie Ashlie Regazzi's school record of 30 points and one goal to tie Regazzi's school record of 13 goals. Miller is the current school-record holder in goals per game with 0.24 and is tied for second in game-winning goals in her career with three. Her six goals in 2008 set the Clarion school record, and her 12 points that season tied with Nicole Scott for the school record.
Last season, Miller was moved from forward to midfield and led the team with seven points while tying for the goal lead with three. This season, she is moving back to forward.
“
Jill Miller has to score more than ever before,” Eaton said. “If she is not our leading goal scorer, she will be in the top two or three.”
Daloisio tied Miller for the team-lead in goals a year ago with three while finishing second on the squad with six points. In two seasons, she has four goals and nine points.
Dibeler has two career goals and five career points with all the scoring coming in her first two seasons with the Golden Eagles.
