As sophomore Summer draws to a close, the high-school students attending camps and creating long lines at the Courtyard Cafe will soon be replaced by an influx of new recruits and returning athletes. Preseason for the Dartmouth men's and women's soccer teams begins this week, and the men will work to improve upon last year's Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament and move on to the Final Four while the women look to clench an Ivy League title along with an NCAA Tournament berth.
The new season comes with several changes, including the addition of new women's head coach Theresa Wagner, who helped lead the Stanford Cardinals to a laudable 70-4-3 record during her career as assistant head coach from 2008-2010.
Team members said they believe she can replicate that success for the Big Green.
"She's great and very talented, and with the talented, new freshman class, I'm very excited for this upcoming year," defender Aurelia Solomon '13 said.
After losing a strong senior class, the men's team is looking to balance the loss with a strong incoming class of freshmen, and with having rising juniors and seniors stepping into leadership roles.
"The continued success of the program has allowed our coaches to recruit some of the best players in the U.S. and from abroad, and with each year the crop of talent gets better and better," goalkeeper Sean Donovan '13 said.
International students will also bolster the team's strength, according to forward Stoian Nedelchev '13.
"We have a Swedish kid coming in, bringing the tally of Scandinavian players to three now," he said. "I like that."
Athletes said the College's many athletic resources will help them train for the season.
"Last summer, training in D.C., I was limited since I didn't have a track for a lot of our agility and endurance workouts," Donovan said.
Nedelchev agreed, describing the difficulties of practicing without a dedicated field.
"Having the wide array of athletic facilities that Dartmouth has available to you is so much easier than, say, being at home and having to find a gym, track or a soccer field to practice on," he said.
Many sophomores have also worked as counsellors at recruiting camps for other college athletes from the surrounding area and have had the opportunity to train and play small-sided games to keep their skills sharp.
Each team began preseason with fitness testing last Friday, promptly followed by two-a-day practices beginning Saturday.
The men have an opening showcase against Franklin Pierce University on Aug. 28 at home on Burnham Field, while both teams open their seasons on Sep. 2. The women will play Texas A&M University, while the men will open against College of the Holy Cross.
"We have a very tough start to the schedule," Nedelchev said. "Playing a lot of top-ranked teams in the first quarter of the season should be hard but exciting."
