WATCH THE WOMEN'S SOCCER GAME!

[PonyTales]

Replacing Slocum: Erin McLeod will be back from her one-year hiatus to play with the Canadian National Team, and will team with Amanda Clark to form a potent 1-2 punch in the nets.

Replacing Kim Harvey: Nobody - you don't replace production like that with one player. You have to hope several players combine to pick up the slack.

Replacing Lauren Mussallem: I'd like to see O'Rear take that role full-time. She played mostly forward, but is most effective when she has a lot of room to turn on the jets and run. Put her at an outside MF spot and let Adria Campbell and some freshman F team up on the front line.

Replacing Ashley VanMeter: She was a backup forward, and Coach Coss will recruit another. Ashley could have been a lot more - she showed great potential earlier in her career. But injuries really caught up with her this year.

[ladyluck03]

I understand that Erin McLeod will be back from her venture with the national team, but do you think there might be a loyalty issue regarding who will play; after all, clark played awesome the entire year and she looks rather comfortable in goal. do you think there's a possibility that McLeod will sit?

[erin]

Rumor has it that McLeod will not be back next year. I have heard she wants to make sure that she makes the team for the Olympics (she is currently the 3rd goalie on the team and they are only taking 2), so she is going to train full time. It doesn't look like she will return to SMU.

[smuplayer]

The rumor is true, Erin McLeod will not be back to SMU's team partly because of the Olympics but also because of other issues. Kim Harvey is an awesome player and Adria Campbell will not be able to take her position and if anything it will have to be Olivia O'rear. Olivia is not an outside midfielder, she is an awesome forward and will play there if this team is to succeed. From what I know the freshman that will come in will be great and will try their best to help take over the seniors positions from this year. If will be an interesting year next year that I will be following to see what turns out.

[ladyluck03]

that's a shame that McLeod won't be coming back, but as great of a player she is Clark will be able to fill in full-time with ease.

as for olivia o'rear being able to take kim's position, i'm not so sure about that. kim is a finesse player without a lot of speed. kim is able to keep the ball with as many as three defenders swarming her. olivia is not that player. olivia's strength is kicking the ball forward and running after it with her speed. don't get me wrong, this has proved on many occasions to be effective, but when her speed was matched during the texas a&m game, she was lost. she needs to lift some weights and improve her vision for decision making on the field before she can be thinking of making a comparable impact to what harvey did this year. i think adria has the finess, vision, and more strength than o'rear, but if she wants to be a recognizable force in the wac she first needs to add considerably to her speed.

[smuplayer]

That is true that Olivia wont be the same kind of player as kim but what i meant to say is that she will get the same kind of recognition. She will be the top goal scorer like Kim was, but maybe not as many goals as Kim had. Adria will never be like that unless she picks up her speed. I kind of see Kim in Adria but where Kim lacked in speed, she made up in her abilities on the ball. Adria lacks speed as well but she doesn't have that many abilities on the ball. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out through next year. Who knows there might be a freshman coming in that will take Kim's role. From what I know there is 8 who have already committed and 2 more that will possibably commit.

[SMUFan]

You both make some good points. Adria is more like Kim in the fact that she's not a speed burner. O'Rear is more likely to become a big scorer NOW. However, if you recall, Kim wasn't thought of as a really dominant scorer until this year. Take away Sarah Harvey and Tara Comfort and the other offensive players in her first three years, and what kind of numbers might Kim have registered? Who knows? Maybe O'Rear and Campbell will make similar jumps, and perhaps before they get to their senior seasons.

You're right - neither one is Kim Harvey. But if they have three more years together, they might become one seriously lethal combination. It's sort of like a pair of wide receivers. If you have one who's lightning-fast, that receiver is dangerous to score all the time. After a while, teams will recognize that speed and drop a safety back to help with downfield coverage -- allowing the slower possession receiver to flourish when there's a little less traffic. If O'Rear continues to develop like she suggested she might at the end of the year, defenses are going to worry about her .... a lot. If they do, Campbell might just become the finesse, possession-type scorer Kim is now. The Ponies might have better offense in a year or two, not worse.

It's a shame if McLeod doesn't come back. Not that I want to bounce Clark from the pipes - she was terrific this year. I'm just a believer that competition brings out the best in everyone, and Clark and McLeod might push each other to be their very best.

With Slocum gone, who will be Clark's backup?

[ladyluck03]

i agree. i think the combination of o'rear and campbell will be fun to watch. with kim gone, these two young players will be entertaining to watch when they combine their best assets. keeping in mind they are only freshmen, smu has an exciting future.

as for a backup for clark now that mcleod is not returning, i hear that coss has a new recruit coming in, but the recruit might still be deciding which college to attend...hopefully smu!!! :thumbupcool:

[HorsePower]

Hopefully SMU is right. From the games I saw this year, Clark is tough as nails. (Wasn't she hurt going into the WAC Tournament - and STILL should have been named to the all-tournament team?) But as tough as she is, goalies are like quarterbacks -- you need at least two who can play, because you're always one play from throwing your backup in the game, and if the backup can't play, the team is in trouble. Just ask Phil Bennett.

[FloridaMustang]

I think Clark is a great goalie... and no I didn't really see that Olivia was running scared... she seemed to play better in the 2nd half is all i noticed. Adria is just slow. Lauren played amazing.. and you're right.. Kim was taken out of the game by aTm's defense.

I was just watching too many women's world cup games

[PonyFan]

Adria Campbell's speed is just fine. She's not a sprinter, but she has a quick first step, which often is more important when jumping on a loose ball in the box and getting a shot off.

Besides, Kim Harvey can't exactly break the sound barrier, either. But I'd say she panned out pretty well, wouldn't you?

[ladyluck03]

i agree with both of you. Adria doesn't have blazing speed, but she's also not as slow as you think she is. i'm sure coss will work with her over the spring and have her quicker and maybe even a little faster for some of those spring season games. from what i can see, she appears to be a hard worker and i hope she's up for the challenge.

[PonyTales]

I understand she works extremely hard. She'll be fine.

[FloridaMustang]

and keep in mind.. she was just a freshman. i think she'll be a solid player.. look at what kim harvey did...she wasn't exactly burning the turf either.