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 The Trailblazers soccer team starts the season Labor Day weekend with home games versus Hamilton College on Saturday, Sept. 4, and Smith College on Monday, Sept. 6. |
MCLA Fall Sports Ready for SeasonChris Piscioneri
iBerkshires Intern
04:24PM / Thursday, September 02, 2010
The women's volleyball team has high hopes for the season. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts held its annual luncheon for the fall sports season on Wednesday at Murdock Hall. Coaches for the volleyball and soccer teams talked about their upcoming matches and goals for the year.
The volleyball team looks to build on an 11-13 season in which they started out strong, winning nine straight games. MASCAC (Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference) ranked the Trailblazers fifth in its preseason poll but the team says it's ready to have a strong year and make a run at the conference championship.
Coach Amanda Beckwith is in her fifth year as head coach, and said, "expectations are the highest they've ever been."
The Trailblazers are returning four important seniors in Tasha Berroa, Christina Kidd, Amanda Borsetti and Amanda Lane. The team is also hoping for a big impact from four incoming first-year players including Jill Gariepy and Chelsea Halsted, who average 6 feet tall between them. MCLA opens play Saturday, Sept. 4, with games versus Eastern Nazarene of Quincy and St. Joseph's in Connecticut.
The women's soccer team is coming off a school record 15-win season, including appearances in the MASCAC conference finals and ECAC semifinals. The Trailblazers are led by 11-year coach Deb Raber, who said her players have been working extremely hard in practice and are ready to make another run at the conference title. The MASCAC preseason poll picked MCLA third in the conference.
Coach Adam Hildabrand and new assistant Scott Botto, former Drury soccer coach, isn't worried about the team's 5th ranking. |
The team lost an important senior leader from last year in Jade Prickett, but are returning a strong core of players including all-time leading scorer senior Jess Tietgens, and All-Conference players Jen Wehner and Danielle Parenteau. Some players to watch for this season are last year's second leading scorer, sophomore Lindsay Barbolla, and freshman Ashley Schofield. The Trailblazers start the season Labor Day weekend with home games versus Hamilton College on Saturday, Sept. 4, and Smith College on Monday, Sept. 6.
The men's soccer team is ready for the start of a new season. The Trailblazers finished 8-6-2 last year and were voted fifth in this year's MASCAC preseason poll. Coach Adam Hildabrand is in his fourth year as head coach and is happy with their rank and feels it is a good position to be in. Hildabrand is also joined by first-year assistant Scott Botto, who was the head coach at local Drury High School before retiring from the position.
The Trailblazers are looking for senior leadership this year from captains Israel Diaz and Adam Tarsa. Hildabrand is also looking for a lot of sophomores to step up this season, including last year's team point leader Jake McCall. The team is facing a demanding nonconference schedule including the CIAO Classic versus Union College and SUNY Potsdam. A plus for the team is that 10 of its last 15 games are played at home, where Hildabrand says the team performs better especially on the new turf of Shewcraft Field. MCLA opens the season Saturday, Sept. 4, at Western Connecticut State.
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