Three Captains Lead CU in ’08

This season, the Columbia women’s soccer team will try to improve upon its 8-5-4 (3-3-1 Ivy) record from 2007 and bring home the conference title for the second time in three years.

The first step of the Lions’ 2008 campaign takes place on Friday night against Hofstra (0-2-0, 0-0-0 CAA). The Pride will threaten with seniors Edel Malone and Marie Curtin. Malone, a midfielder, was named first team All-CAA in 2005 and 2007. She did not play in 2006 due to injury. Curtin, a defender, accrued conference honors in each of her three seasons at Hofstra. She did not compete for the Pride in 2007 due to a commitment to the Irish national team.

In addition to Hofstra, the Lions will face William and Mary, Iona, St. John’s, Seton Hall, American, and Stony Brook before meeting their first league opponent of the season, Cornell. Columbia’s nonconference slate should ready the team for tough Ivy League competition.

In 2007, Columbia opened its league schedule with a 1-0 victory over Brown, but the Lions’ momentum then disappeared and was absent for most of Ivy play. In each of their conference losses, the Lions were unable to score first and sometimes could not find the back of the net at all. Columbia often faced uphill battles, fighting to tie games before attempting to win them. The Lions’ victorious ways did return at the end of their campaign, as they finished the season with 2-1 victories against both Harvard and Cornell, improving their conference record to 3-3-1.

This year, the Lions look to once again contend for the Ivy championship. Three captains—Alana Presslaff, Sophie Reiser, and Rebecca Taylor—were selected to lead a squad that includes nine freshmen. In addition, the team welcomed a new assistant coach, Danielle Lewis, who most recently served as an assistant coach and interim head coach at South Carolina State University.

While the Lions lost five players to graduation, this season’s captains provide a solid, talented core for Columbia. Presslaff saw action from the start of each of Columbia’s games last year, as did Reiser. In addition, Reiser was selected to the all-Ivy League first team last season and is a front-runner for Ivy League Player of the Year honors in 2008 as well. Taylor may not be as well-known as Presslaff and Reiser due to her limited playing time in 2007, as she served as the Lions’ second option at goalkeeper behind Allison Vespa, CC ’08. However, she started in four of her five appearances in goal and allowed opponents to score only twice in that five-game stretch.

In addition to the expected contributions of the Lions’ three captains, sophomore forward Chrissy Butler should add offensive firepower to the team. A prolific scorer, she found the back of the net five times last year and should continue to be a strong scorer for Columbia.

Friday night’s game against Hofstra will take place at 7 p.m. at Columbia Soccer Stadium and on Sunday, the Lions will head to Virginia to take on William and Mary at 1 p.m.