University of North Carolina Athletics
A Conversation with Jenny Levy
February 19, 2004 | Women's Lacrosse
Feb. 19, 2004
Jan. 16, 2004
Head coach Jenny Levy made the following comments on the upcoming 2004 season, her ninth at the helm of the Carolina program. The Tar Heels are coming off a disappointing 7-9 2003 season, the first sub-.500 campaign in the program's eight year history. Improved depth, experience and talent provide Levy reason for optimism entering 2004.
Looking back at 2003:
"Last year we really struggled in the midfield and on offense. One indication of our season last year was our 6-5 loss to Virginia, a game we could've won. We matched them in terms of shots, but we just couldn't finish. We got shots in our offense but couldn't score when we needed to. I think that epitomized the struggles we had last season, coupled with our inability to defend through the midfield. We had a lot of young players all over the field, especially in our midfield. We weren't creating many opportunities for ourselves in transition, either offensively or defensively. We relied on our defenders, who were very solid, to lock down on somebody and come up with the ball. We also struggled in the goal last year. We had a lot of glaring weak points and went up against a lot of veteran, senior-laden teams, and that hurt us all season."
Where the Tar Heels should be improved in 2004:
"Where we're going to be better is in the midfield. We've got more numbers, we've got more experience. The young kids that played last year are fitter, faster and stronger. The offense has played together for a year and we're going to add some good young players to that group. I hope we have a better understanding of what it takes to put it in the back of the net. We studied our offense over the summer and came up with some schemes to make us more effective."
The senior class:
"We're still really young. There are five players in the senior class, one being a goalkeeper. Meghan Kelly will be a four-year starter this year as a fifth-year senior. Beth Ames will be a three-year starter. Those are the most experienced players in our senior class. Katelyn Hoffman is coming in having started the last two seasons, but she's being challenged by Kristen Hordy. We're encouraged by Katelyn's play last fall, it was the best she's played here at Carolina. The other two seniors are Rachel Szakmary and Brooke Young, both of whom have had a lot of experience. Both were a big part of our team that won the ACC championship and went to the Final Four in 2002. I think they know they need to do a better job of stepping up and not making mental errors. They've made some big improvements in that area from last year."
Improved depth this season:
"Although we graduated three seniors who started last year in Andy Fortino, Jazmine Norton and Lynne Quattrone, a lot of the kids we bring back this year gained experience last year. And we brought in a great recruiting class that is challenging those returning players. We have more depth this year whereas last year we had almost no depth, which allowed a couple of injuries to really hurt us. We have a lot more options this year when I look to the bench. In practice, we can scrimmage full-field now, which we couldn't do last year. We have better competition in practice."
Strengths of the team in 2004:
"They're gritty, they're tough, they're the underdogs. We've had a fiery, underdog attitude all fall. There was a bitter taste left in our mouths from last season, which is a huge motivator. We finished pretty strong last year by beating Dartmouth, which then beat Duke a couple of days later. A week after our season ended, my kids were back training again. I didn't ask them to do that, they did it themselves because they were more disappointed than anybody with how the season went. We're na?ve, which can be a good thing. We're going to make some errors but we have enough grittiness and faith in each other that we're not going to quit. We have more kids who can do more things on the field."
Concerns entering the 2004 season:
"I have a lot of the same concerns from last year, such as goalkeeping. We lost two starters off our defense to graduation and the younger defenders need to learn how to play the schemes we play at Carolina. With a young defense, it's critical to have a goalkeeper behind it, making saves reliably and guiding things.
"Another concern is scoring. We've got to be able to score more than six or seven goals a game if we want to get better and win. We had over 100 fewer goals last year than the year before, and we've got to improve in that area. We need to be able to score more goals if we want to compete in our conference and nationally. We need to find good combinations of kids who work well together and can create goals.
"Finally, the midfield - we want to go back to what we've done well in the past, and that's run. That starts with getting the ball back if we lose it, getting it back before it gets to our defensive end. Creating turnovers creates opportunities, and we've worked very hard to improve that part of our game."
Goals for 2004:
"The team surprised me in the fall. I think we're going to be tough. We can compete for an ACC championship and a national championship, which are always our goals here at Carolina."
The attack unit:
"We've got Allison Higgins, Stephanie Scurachio, Brooke Young, Rachel Szakmary, Nicki Barnes and Brooke Dieringer back from last year. We've really added some nice pieces to our line attack, one being a big lefty in Chrissy Rude. She's not the speediest player, but she's got great size and vision. She seems to be a little of the glue we've been missing offensively - she's smart, she gets the ball to people's sticks, yet she can score. She's going to cause some matchup problems for people.
"Kelly Renzi is another freshman who will help us offensively. We'd like to see her in the midfield, but on offense she's really quick with good lateral quickness. She has the ability to make defenses have to slide, as does Chrissy. I think these two, along with who we've got back offensively, will make a big difference.
"Kristen Tadlock had a good fall, the best I've seen her play, and she's certainly going to be challenging other people to get on the field. Lindsay Higgins is another new player who will play. She's a bigger specimen than her sister, Allison, and she's tough and gritty. She's still adjusting to the college game but has good scoring skills.
The midfield:
"The staples that we'll see in every game include Beth Ames and Melissa McCarthy. Both of them have gotten stronger and are still running well, doing good things in the midfield. Brooke Dieringer and Kelly Renzi will also slide in and out of the midfield (from the attack unit). Melissa drew a lot of tough, senior defenders in the midfield last year and had a tough year. She didn't feel like she had a lot of success last year but she was our team's Rookie of the Year. Gina Allen is another middie, along with her sister, Jess Allen. The two of them see the game so well, great speed, good size, strong. Gina's come in really fit this preseason and will be a leader who takes a lot of our tougher matchups in the midfield. Jess is a more offensive player in the midfield. We'll see her and Chrissy Rude on the draw, along with Melissa McCarthy and Beth Ames.
"Ilsa Leon is also returning in the midfield. She's really working hard to get her strength back in her knee after surgery and she's going to contribute. Christina Juras is one of the fastest players we have. She's still learning, but she will provide some depth because she has a great field sense and is a good feeder in transition. Jenn Cook is another freshman who will get some playing time at defensive midfielder, she's grasping our defensive schemes pretty well and is really aggressive. She could start for us and is battling Christin Krejcik for a starting job on the defensive wing."
The defense:
"Meghan Kelly is our most experienced defender, a four-year starter. We played Lindsey Stover on offensive last year as she was coming off a knee injury and wouldn't have gotten much playing time in our experienced defense last year. She's phenomenal, she's going to start on defense. She's a great communicator and a really tough matchup defensively.
"Joining them as starters on defense will be Julie Gladchuk. She's had a great, great fall. She's fearless and tough. She played a midfield position in high school, so she ends up controlling the ball through transition. She's working on that and plays very physically with a good take-away check. She and Jenn are going to have some adjusting to do as freshmen, but the unit itself has gelled a lot quicker than I thought it would.
"Challenging those guys for time on defense will be redshirt freshman Morgan Russell, Christina LaPenta, Joy Richardson and Sandra Gustitus, a walk-on defender."
Goalkeeper:
"Katelyn Hoffman is the returning starter, but Kristen Hordy is a freshman who's come in and played well. The two of them split time in the fall in all of our scrimmages. Katelyn had the best fall I've seen her play. Everybody's very encouraged by that, starting with Katelyn. She couldn't be more thrilled with the level she's at which playing. I attribute that improvement to Hordy being here. Don't be surprised if both of them see playing time this spring. Katelyn is our starter and Hordy is really challenging her to split time all season."
