Though the grassy green fields behind Thompson Arena are a far cry from the highlands of his native Scotland, Neil Orr, the new interim coach of the women's soccer team, feels very much at home on them. They are real soccer fields after all, lined and sized the same way in America as they are in Scotland. And Neil Orr is by all accounts a real soccer player.
Having spent the last 20 years of his life as a professional soccer player in Great Britain, Orr retired in 1995 and moved to the United States with his family for what was supposed to be a one-year visit culminating in August with summer instruction as a veteran coach at Dartmouth's Lightning Soccer Camps. After the June departure of the Big Green's former head coach, Steve Swanson, Orr's name was suggested as a possible replacement. He was hired on August 13, delaying his return to Scotland.
Orr's professional career began in 1975 with Greencock Morton FC in the Scottish Premier and First Divisions. An outstanding midfielder and defender, he appeared in approximately 200 games before heading to the English First Division to play with West Ham United. After 150 more appearances and the 1987 campaign, Orr transferred to the Scottish Premier Division where he represented three different teams before his 1995 retirement.
Now he is the interim head coach of the Big Green and will spend the next three months at the helm of a very successful soccer program. It is his first full season as a coach at any level, but no one connected with the program seems to have any doubt that the team is in good hands.
"He brings a complete focus to our program and the team because it is his sole responsibility for the next three months," co-Captain Kate Andrews '96 said. "He also has almost 20 years of game experience, so he knows as well as anyone how to get things done on the field."
Besides Orr's wealth of experience, another factor that has made the transition easier for both the team and the coaches is the fact that Orr has made it very clear that he has no plans to tinker with a formula already proven to result in success.
"Steve [Swanson] and I think a lot the same about soccer, and I didn't want to come in and change things, leave in three months and then have another coach come in and change things again," Orr said. "You'll end up with a bunch of confused players."
Another element of stability for the team has been the presence of assistant coach Shelley Addison. A former standout for the University of Vermont, Addison has a wealth of coaching experience for someone of her age. More importantly to the Big Green, she was an assistant in 1995 with Swanson, and provides continuity to the past.
All of the responsibility of recruiting the Class of 2001 will fall on Addison's shoulders, and she was the primary decision maker over the summer as well. She admits that it will be quite a challenge to bring in a strong class for the 1997 season because "a coach can be a major decision factor in where a player of high caliber decides to go."
Leaving the recruiting to the coaching staff, the team is focusing its attention on the games ahead. Even though they have a new coach, Andrews says that little has changed for the team.
"In the end, it is still the same game, and we have to do the same things to be prepared and ready to play that we did when we knew Steve would be here."
Megan Owens '96 agreed, saying that she thought it was easier to train over the summer not knowing who the coach was going to be.
"It became really obvious that this year's season would be the result of what we put into it," Owens said.
With a returning cast as strong as that of the Big Green, there is a lot that can be put into the 1996 season. Eight out of the eleven starters in the first three games were seniors, and position by position, the team may be the most talented in the history of the program.
Strikers Melissa McBean '97 and Jenna Kurowski '97 will be closely marked by opponents because they are a well proven pair of scorers. They led the team in scoring in 1995 and should do so again, though Jessica Prairie '99 and Betsey Dobbin '98 will also be threats.
Although title hopes in 1995 were crushed by injuries to key players, time heals all wounds, and by this point the team should be able to count last year's losses of then-seniors Owens and Andrews as a blessing, for it means they return this year with one final year of eligibility and experience. Add spunky Cindy Goodwin '97 to the mix and the Big Green possesses an impenetrable midfield.
As if such a powerful offense is not enough, the defense returns all four starters and will be a force to be reckoned with. Sweeper and four-year starter Holly Thomas '97 and Suzanne Eastman '99 were both All-Ivy material in 1995 and will be back to terrorize opposing forwards in 1996.
Andrea Lodzieski '97 is another four-year starter who will play on the right side. Camille Powell '97 will patrol the left side.
The biggest question mark on the team will be in goal where the question will not be if the team will have a talented keeper, but which of the two will play when. Annie Eckstein '98 has the upper hand in experience, but Carrie Bourdon '99 will push for the starting position.
Certainly the team will be in the hunt for an Ivy title this season and hopes to take advantage of a new rule that will send the Ivy League champion to the NCAA tournament on an automatic bid.
"Clearly we have only one goal--to watch the other seven fall," Owens said.
