20 March 2009
Lady Irish Begin 12th Season With Good Depth, but Two Key Injuries
Posted by soccermom under: Girls News .
Seniors Maddy Renner (outside midfield), Kathleen Garrison (outside back), and Emily Kessler (forward/midfield) will begin their final campaign for the Lady Irish when Catholic begins a big first week at Pleasant Hope on Monday, March 23. The girls will play Lebanon in their home opener on Thursday before heading east to compete in the Rolla tournament on Friday and Saturday. Catholic will play Columbia Hickman, Rolla, and Washington in the tournament.
The Lady Irish will start the season without the services of senior Anna DeLong and junior Ronnie Renner who are sidelined with injuries. DeLong (knee) currently ranks 5th on the career goal scoring list with 54 goals during her first three years with the Lady Irish. Renner (groin strain) started all 27 games for Catholic last season at the outside back position. Junior Erin FitzGerald will step in for DeLong at forward while sophomores Jessica Bowman and Emily Loethen and freshman Connor Guy will share the outside back duties in Renner’s place.
Catholic will rely heavily on a deep sophomore class in the middle of the field. Rachel Scott begins her second season in goal, Rebecca Mayus and Carsen Baron will begin the season as the central backs with Natalie Smid and Andrea Parker holding down the central midfield positions. Shelby Hatz returns at forward after leading the Lady Irish with 21 goals as a freshman last season. Junior Rachel Herron will play as an outside midfielder as she has in the previous two seasons.
The Lady Irish will have more depth than they have ever had with sophomore midfielders Emily Ortega, Courtney Devlin, and Jordan Banasik expected to contribute solid minutes off the bench. Freshmen Bekah Bade, Mandy Bailes, and AnnMarie Banasik will assist at forward and in the midfield and freshman Megan Goetzinger will back up Rachel Scott in goal.
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