Sports

UAPB SOCCER READY FOR RUN IN SWAC TOURNAMENT

By Troy Schulte/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, November 5, 2009 12:21 AM CST

Heading into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament today in Itta Bena, Miss., the Arkansas-Pine Bluff women’s soccer team is in the exact same position it was at this time a year ago.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff sophomore Nicole Parks-Powell (left) and the rest of the Lady Lions soccer team begin play in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament against Alabama A&M today in Itta Bena, Miss. PINE BLUFF COMMERCIAL/RALPH FITZGERALD.

A 1-0 loss to Grambling State last week made it so UAPB entered the tournament with the No. 2 seed from SWAC Western Division, just like last year. And, when the tournament begins at 10:30 a.m. today, the Lady Lions will play the No. 3 seed from the East, Alabama A&M, just like they did a year ago.

The difference this time around, though, is third-year coach Roberto Mazza isn’t just hoping to knock off the defending conference champion. Instead, Mazza enters the three-day affair with the thought that his team has the talent and, perhaps more important, the experience, to make a run to Sunday’s championship game.

“We’re not really too worried about what’s in front of us,” Mazza said. “We have the team to actually win it all.”

UAPB enters with a 9-6-4 overall record and has lost just once to a SWAC opponent. And that loss, last Friday’s setback to Grambling, wasn’t one Mazza said his team left while hanging their heads.

The year of experience has helped with that, he said. Last season they started 10 newcomers and this year, though five freshman are starting, half of the starting lineup and most of the team has been through a postseason tournament before.

It’s the type of experience that helps make that loss to Grambling not mean so much.

“It’s kind of like, ‘Let’s restart,’” Mazza said.

Two consecutive recruiting classes have also overhauled the talent on a team that had never made a SWAC Tournament before last season. When the SWAC awards were announced by the conference office on Wednesday, UAPB had three players represented on the All-SWAC first team and three on the second team.

Along with Jade West, a sophomore forward who was named SWAC Offensive Player of the Year for the second time, UAPB defender Erika Forbes and Rachel Harker were named to the first team. Sophomore forward Nicole Parks-Powell and freshmen Noah Mithrush, a midfielder, and Chelsea Klein, a goalkeeper, were named to the second team.

West earned her award even with her offensive numbers being down a bit from last season. She leads the conference in goals (nine) and points (24), but scored 17 goals and 47 points a year ago.

Part of that, Mazza said, has to do with the increase in talent around her. Her and Parks-Powell combined for 33 goals last season, but the rest of the Lady Lions scored just 14 goals, seven of which came from Harker.

This year, the duo has combined for 17 goals, but the supporting cast of Harker, Forbes, Mithrush, Shantel Brown and Taryn Wright have added 25 more.

“Other coaches don’t know what to expect,” Harker said. “They were saying, ‘Mark Nicole, mark Jade, double-team.’ Now we have players like Noah and Taryn who can get the ball into the offense.”

The Lady Lions’ defense has also improved, thanks to the insertion of Klein in goal, a freshman from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Klein spent most of the nonconference portion of UAPB’s schedule rotating with incumbent Bre-Ann Laypoole, but has been the Lady Lions’ goalkeeper for much of the conference season. She has eight shutouts during conference play and her .887 save percentage (102 saves and only 13 goals against) ranks ninth in the country.

“She’s been unbelievable for us,” Mazza said. “We just hope she continues that in the tournament. There’s times when you need that big save. She’s capable of that.”

Klein partially credits Laypoole, who was the only goalkeeper on the roster last season, for her success.

“It’s easier when you have two goalkeepers. They kind of go off each other, and they become more competitive,” Klein said. “She’s a big part of this.”

A win over the Bulldogs (2-14) today would set up a rematch with Jackson State (7-5-2) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday. The two teams played to a 1-1 draw in Pine Bluff last month.

The tournament final is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday and Mazza expects Grambling to be there.

“I think we definitely have the team to win it,” Mazza said. “That’s only if we come out and play the way we’re capable of playing.

“I’m pretty confident this year that we have a chance of winning it.”

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