The Dartmouth women's soccer team announced their captains for the 2007 season this week. The players and coaches selected Monica Martin de Bustamante '08 and Annie Stanley '08 to lead the team.
Martin de Bustamante has had an interesting journey as she ascended to the role of Big Green's captain. Martin de Bustamante grew up in the soccer-infused culture of Madrid, Spain, but did not start playing soccer until her freshman year at St. Francis in Los Altos Hills, Calif.
"I loved soccer my entire life and watched it, and lived right next to Real Madrid's stadium," Martin de Bustamante said. "But I didn't play soccer until my freshman year when I came to the US, just because women don't play soccer in Spain. I played basketball my entire life."
Martin de Bustamante was the leading scorer for the Big Green in the 2006 season.
Starting only three games up front, she racked up a .263 shot percentage, scoring two game winners and earning a hat trick in a 5-0 rout of Iowa on September 6, 2006.
Stanley has been a starter on defense for Dartmouth since her freshman year. Last season she helped the Big Green defense in allowing only 10 goals the entire season, and giving up an average of just 6.6 shots per game. Dartmouth averaged over 16 shots per game. Stanley scored the first goal of her college career on October 8, 2006, the game-winner in a 1-0 decision over Yale.
Stanley and Martin de Bustamante found out that they would be captains shortly before the team left for their spring training trip to Scotland and England. While overseas, the team divided its time between practicing, sightseeing and winning both of their matches. Dartmouth won 3-1 decisions against both Queens Park and FC Kilmarnock, coach Angie Hind's former team.
To select the team captains, each member of the team received two votes. The players also give reasons for why they are selecting each player to be their captain.
"We don't really know how [the coaches choose], but they really take the input of the entire team," Martin de Bustamante said.
Both Martin de Bustamante and Stanley were happy with the decision that named them as captains, and expressed that their strong relationship with the coaches would help them in the leadership roles.
"We've gotten to know the coaches pretty well, and we have a good relationship with them and are able to work between the team and the coaches, which is a big key, being able to hold both of those relationships and still be the member of the team but being that link between the two," Stanley said.
Leadership and motivational skills are also important roles for the captains. Martin de Bustamante stressed that the team shares an important bond both on and off the field.
"It's pretty easy, in the sense of keeping everyone together and keeping everyone going," she said. "It's a big role in terms of responsibility, but everyone is there."
"Our team is incredible, we're close as is, we're fortunate enough to have that luxury that everyone gets along, and that we really have a good time hanging out together," Stanley added.
Thea Sutton '10 agreed with the team's decision to elect Martin de Bustamante and Stanley as captains.
"Annie is definitely very vocal from the back, and well-respected by everyone on the team," Sutton said. "She's been a starter since her freshman year so she really knows all the coaches and everyone on the team. They're so cool, and they're so nice, and they're people you want to talk to off the field and on the field, they know all their stuff, and they're really well connected with the coaches."
Martin de Bustamante is currently recovering from a torn ACL and meniscus that will have her off the field until the start of next season. She had surgery over break after tearing her ACL while kicking a ball at practice. After being cleared by a doctor to play, she tore her meniscus a week later while playing in practice. She expects to be back before the third game of the season.
Dartmouth starts their season off next year against tough opponents with Texas A&M and Duke on the docket, two teams that generally rank among the nation's top 15. It will be a difficult way to start off a season after the team graduates 10 seniors this spring, but both Martin de Bustamante and Stanley feel that the Big Green will have the tools to compete.
"We have a very young team, so that changes the dynamics of the team," Stanley said. "We have a lot of people that can easily step into those roles, so we have to use this spring for the core that's left to bring everyone to the next level and get ready to play."
"Next year is technically a rebuilding year for us because we lost so many seniors, but in no way does it seem like a rebuilding year in my mind," Martin de Bustamante added. "We're definitely going to go into it strong and ready to go. Young, but definitely strong."
In addition to new players, the Big Green will also be playing on a new field next year with lights, permanent seating and a north-south orientation that will minimize the effects of the sun during the game.
"It will be fun to have night games because we will get more students coming to night games, it's not right in the middle of their afternoon," Stanley said. "We're going to be good next year. People should come watch us."
