Brit Maisano discusses her season, fitting in & MAC Freshman Team

Coming into a new situation can create anxiety because of the unknowns.  I was excited by the prospect of beginning a new journey in my life at Kent State but also a little nervous about what was yet to come.  As an incoming Freshman I was worried about how I would do in school and how I would be able to contribute on the soccer field.  Would I like Kent and would I fit in?

As my first semester has played out, I could not have asked for a better start to my Kent State experience.  Not only have I made many new friendships, but I have had the privilege of being able to play with some outstanding soccer players.   From day 1, I felt that the returning players were very accepting of new players.  I learned very quickly that respect, work rate, and selflessness were key qualities needed in order to be successful.  On and off the pitch, the team demanded an unbreakable family-like bond.  Every player is supportive of one another and every member of our team is treated equally.  This bond is what makes the Kent State soccer program so special.  I am convinced that this bond contributed to our success this season. 

Personally, my goal this year was to work hard for the team, respect my teammates and coaching staff, and to compete for a championship.  I was blessed this year to earn a defensive position and every game I challenged myself to make the game I was playing my best game.  MAC play is very fast paced and physical.  During the season I concentrated on not getting pushed off the ball and limiting goals with my teammates by forming a “defensive wall.”   Being named to the All MAC Freshman team was humbling and capped a rewarding first season for me at Kent State.  I am so thankful to have been recognized and share this recognition with my teammates and coaches who have helped me all season long.

Julie Keslar writes about "What it means to be a Team"

During my experience at Kent, I have learned what it really means to be a team. To be a team, it takes a group of people who have the same goal and will stay with each other through thick and thin.  Everyday is not going to be perfect, and things may not go your way. Perseverance through the rough times, sore muscles, and busy school lives is something that I will use the rest of my life. Also having a team celebrate together when all the perseverance pays off is something I will never forget. With the up coming MAC games, it will take perseverance to pull out the victory. MAC games are what we look forward to each year.  The best and worst thing about the MAC is that anyone can win on any day. They are full of scrappy goals, overtimes, and are always a battle.  This year, the MAC championship is up for grabs for anyone in this conference.  We have the confidence that we could win it this year. Keeping in mind, the team who comes to fight on game day is the team that pulls out the W, no matter who we are playing. 

Building off of a great weekend

By Rob Marinaro
Head Coach

I think we have really stepped it up coming off of the St. Bonaventure and Marshall weekend. We learned a lot about ourselves against Marshall and how we need to play in order to succeed.

The way our team came out this past weekend is exactly what we'll need to be able to successful. We beat two really quality opponents in Cleveland State and Valparaiso. We'll take what we got from this weekend, move forward, and hopefully be able to add some more healthy bodies. And then we'll try to continue our high quality of play with a lot of high pressure and creating quality opportunities.

It was really nice to see Jessacca Gironda get player of the week, which was well deserved after getting to game-winners. Both of her goals came off of quality work by our entire team. Her first goal came off of our goalkeeper's punt, which was then flicked on by Stephanie Haugh for a great finish by Jess.

The second goal was great service from Stephanie, Madison Heltebran with a great header hit the post, and then Jess followed up like we've been asking our forwards to do. We've asked them to constantly stay in motion. It was nice to see that finally pay off and get us a very late, double-overtime win.

This weekend we are at the College of Charleston where we will play both Coastal Carolina and the College of Charleston. We don't know a whole lot about either team, which is actually kind of how we like it. It's a little different style of play by two southern teams. It will be nice to see some different opponents and to see how we can build off of a very nice weekend.

Coach Richter guides the USA Women to Gold Medal at the 2013 Maccabiah Games

From July 7-31st, I had the privilege of coaching the US women’s soccer in the 19th Maccabiah Games. The Maccabiah is an international Jewish athletic competition, the third largest sporting competition in the world. It takes place every four years in Israel and are often called "the Jewish Olympics."  

Team USA was comprised of 20 women from around the country, college and post-college. The women were hard-working, dedicated and committed to our goal of a gold medal.  Team USA achieved that goal, beating Israel 6-1 in the Gold Medal round.

We held training camp from July 7-11, during which the team trained twice a day in preparation for the tournament.  The team came in very fit, which made it easy to adjust to the hot temperatures (90’s) and humidity.  The team quickly became united, both on and off the field and I knew from camp this team could accomplish great things.   We finished camp by scrimmaging ASA Tel Aviv, the Israeli club champions.  Both teams had quality scoring opportunities, unfortunately ASA came out on top 2-1.  It was a good test for the team and gave us some areas to improve upon for the upcoming tournament.  

Before the competition started, the team had a unique opportunity to participate in the Israel Connect program from July 12-17. During this time, the team traveled to cultural and historic sites to experience firsthand their own connection with Israel and Judaism. Some of the sites we visited included Masada (and ancient fortification), the Old City of Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum).  

Then it was time to do what we came to do when the 19^th Maccabiah Games began on July 18.  We had a very challenging schedule playing 6 games in 8 days.  There were 7 teams in the tournament so we played each team once.  The top two teams in the group advanced to the Gold Medal game.  The team opened the games with an 8-0 win over Australia.   Team USA went 5-0-1 in group play, taking first place in the group.  In the gold medal match, we started really strong, scoring in the 6th minute and the 15th minute to give us the early lead and never stopped pressuring them for the rest of the game.   We scored some great goals and played our best match of the tournament.

I am so fortunate to have been a part of these games, coach an amazing group of women and come home with the Gold.  I also gained valuable experience in leadership and coaching at the international level and skills that I can bring home to Kent State University to help our team continue to be successful.

Senior Morgan Mah on the start of her last college season

By Morgan Mah
Senior from Edmonton, Alberta

Preseason marks the beginning of a new team, year and expectations.

The bar is set high so we as a team have something to strive for. Every year is a challenge that brings about a different experience and with every experience comes new learning opportunities.

Some key things that help get ourselves through preseason are: focus, determination and remembering why you still love to play the beautiful game. Each year you gain a little more confidence in yourself and things seem to come more naturally.

As I go into my fourth preseason, this spells the beginning of the end of my collegiate career. I could not have asked for a better four years with my teammates and coaches.

Thoughts on the first day of practice

By Rob Marinaro
Head Coach

This is obviously a really exciting time of the season with getting everything started and seeing everybody coming back to campus.

All of our players are back and we had our first fitness test today. We probably had the highest percentage of passing players ever. That's a great start.

We are looking to push this group to the next level this season, so the expectations are a little bit higher and the demands are a little bit higher. So far, they are starting to meet those demands and expectations.

The top priority for all of the players during the summer is always conditioning. You get a taste of what they did during the summer right off the bat by starting with the fitness tests. We've had a chance to see which players were serious about their work in the summer, and which ones probably should have been working a little bit harder. With that, we've already started making determinations of the roles they will play during the year.

It was a real nice start with players passing the test on the first day, but they'll still have two more days to show that they have pushed themselves from a conditioning standpoint.

You can tell some pushed themselves a little harder this summer. As coaches, we are really trying to get a read on the freshmen, and that group was very impressive this morning. There are still some kids who need to step up a little bit, though. You don't always get a true indicator on the first day. You get a read, but that's not necessarily a read that tells us what the season holds for them.

The nice thing is we are finding that more of our players are pushing others to our expectations.