Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990 TAG: 9005110132
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's when first-year coach Tracy Coyne and her Lady Maroons stopped wondering if they were a team and began to feel like one.
Roanoke started the season against Denison University of Granville, Ohio. Not only was Denison nationally ranked in Division III, it just happened to be the school at which Coyne had compiled a 21-6 record in the previous two seasons.
She had mixed emotions, and her new team sensed it.
"It was hard for me that first game because I had left Denison in the middle of the summer," Coyne said. "I felt very close to a lot of the kids and that was my first time seeing them. It was the last part of leaving Denison.
"We [the Maroons] huddled before the game and I told them, `I don't want to be at Denison anymore. No matter what happens, you are my team and you are the ones I care about. Roanoke is where I want to be.'
"I think it definitely made them feel good. They understood that I was completely with them. If there was one game I really wanted a lot, it was that one."
Roanoke upset Denison 15-9 and never stopped winning. Going into Saturday's NCAA Division III quarterfinal playoff game at 1 p.m. at home, the Lady Maroons are 17-0 and ranked third in the nation.
The opponent Saturday is - surprise - Denison (11-4).
"It's ironic," said Coyne, who was named Old Dominion Athletic Conference coach of the year. "In the past few years, the West representative hasn't been sent to the South for the first round. It's kind of funny that this year Denison was sent here.
"We're excited," Coyne said. "It's been a big rivalry over the last couple of years, and this year even more since I left Denison to come to Roanoke. We're expecting it to be a very close and competitive game. We have a lot of respect for Denison and its program."
For Roanoke, national respect came almost overnight. The Lady Maroons were unranked in the preseason. But in addition to beating Denison, Roanoke also defeated nationally ranked Kenyon College, William Smith and Johns Hopkins.
After the 12-11 victory over Johns Hopkins, Roanoke was 6-0 and vaulted from unranked to No. 4.
"We played some tough games early and to come out of them with wins really helped our confidence," Coyne said. "It was nice to be ranked, but we wanted to make sure that we continued to work on the things that would make us a better team. We weren't focusing so much on winning against our opponents but on being satisfied with what we were doing as a team."
The Lady Maroons have been blitzing opponents with a blend of offense and defense. They have outscored opponents 252-97, yielding 10 or more goals just twice.
"We started to jell as a team," she said. "The attack had the advantage early because it always seems to click a lot earlier, but when the defense kicked in we became very consistent."
Led by Mary Brown, who was named ODAC player of the year after scoring 80 points, Roanoke has four players with at least 50 points. Leigh Budnitz (53) and Robin Collinson (50) are 50-goal scorers, while Brown has 43 and Stacey Stude 38. The Lady Maroons have seven players with 10 or more goals.
Goalie Kiki Chesterton has turned away 73 percent of the shots thrown at her.
"If they shut down one person, we have plenty of other people to pick up the slack," Coyne said of her team's offense. "It's the same on defense. We've done a job of matching up with the other team's main threat."
If the matchups are successful Saturday, the Maroons will advance to the Division III Final Four in Princeton, N.J.
"We want to play the best we possibly can," Coyne said. "It's a whole new ballgame, a new season. Everyone that's in the tournament deserves to be there. We're not looking past Denison, but I certainly think we're capable of winning it, as long as we play our game."
by CNB