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By Jeff Mannix
Staff Reporter
While most women’s soccer players take the summer off to rest and recuperate and maybe to do some off-season training to get ready for the fall, seven University of Maine players had more soccer to play.
These players represented four provinces during the women’s soccer tournament at the Canada Games, which was held this past August in London, Ontario.
Three players, sophomore midfielder Katie Hodge, sophomore forward Annie Hamel and freshman defender Linda Consolante, represented Quebec during the tournament.
“It was good competition,” Consolante said. She also thought that it helped her prepare for college games. “It was difficult, and exciting. It got me in the right frame of mind to come here to play in college.”
“It was a great tournament and a lot of fun,” said Hamel, though she was frustrated about the performance of the Quebec team. “We finished fifth and we all thought that we would finish much higher.”
Hodge also found the experience of playing for Quebec helpful.
“Our team prepared a lot to play together, and we were disappointed with how we finished, and we loved our team,” she said. “It was a really great summer. We had a lot fun.”
The Canada Games, however, was not Hodge’s only experience during the off-season. Hodge was called upon to play for the Canadian National Team during March at a training camp it was holding with the United States National Team.
“I was really excited,” she said. “It was so overwhelming. I was seeing people that I’d only seen on TV, and I was like, `I’m not sure if I deserve to be here.’ It was a lot of fun, though.”
Hodge did not get into the game, but she remains in the pool of players that can be called up to the national team.
Sophomore forward Emily Stevens and freshman defender Alison Kelly played for the gold-medal winning Ontario team.
“It was awesome to play at that level,” Kelly said. “It was good experience to build up to the university level. It was a lot of fun, especially toward the end of the tournament. It got me excited to play here.”
“I wasn’t very confident going into tryouts,” said Stevens, who also plays for the women’s hockey team at UMaine. “When I made the team, it really built my confidence and it kept building as the tournament went on.”
Winning the gold made it that much better for Kelly and Stevens.
“It was awesome,” Stevens said.
“It was crazy, we were all going crazy,” Kelly said of her Ontario teammates.
Sophomore midfielder Kim Walsh played for Team Alberta. Alberta only had a one week training session before the tournament, and was one of the favorites. Instead, the team finished a disappointing seventh.
“It shows you need to have some more training,” Walsh said. “We had a lot of talent on the team.” Even with the disappointing finish she did enjoy the experience. “It was great, we were treated like professional athletes. I’d love to live that lifestyle for my whole life. It gave me more confidence in coming here for this year.”
Sophomore forward Kate Crawford played for New Brunswick.
“We weren’t expected to win any games,” she said. “The average age of my team was 17, and most of the other teams were 19 and 20-year-olds.”
But New Brunswick did win a few games. The team had trained for a year and half and was ready.
“It was a good experience,” Crawford said. “I had come off surgery and just started playing again two weeks before the tournament, so I only played 25 to 30 minutes a game, because that’s all I could run at the time.” Crawford was a starter on her team.
The players have all used their summer experience for the Black Bears. The seven are playing well and are contributors to the team. They have helped the Black Bears to a 5-1-1 record after two more wins this past weekend.
The play of the team together has only gotten better as the season has gone on, and the major reason for that are these seven players. Hamel has the most goals on the team, while Hodge and Kelly are tied for the team assist lead, along with Rachel Kennedy. Consalante has been a constant anchor in the back, while Walsh is helping in the midfield.
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