THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310648
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 45 lines
The Cox girls soccer team doesn't have a single star.
Instead, the Falcons (19-3), who meet Hylton today at 3 p.m. in the Group AAA state semifinals in Falls Church, boast many.
A year ago, Cox also advanced to state's final four, and it was easy to figure why. Senior Kirsty Hale was the team's defining player with 33 goals in her final season to culminate a 75-goal career effort. She scored in 20 of Cox's 22 games.
``I loved playing with Kirsty,'' said Kim Iman, a senior defender on this year's team. ``It was just like feed the ball, and she would kill it. Now we have two center mids, and it's like feed the ball to either one, and they'll do the same job that Kirsty could have done.
``It's better when you have a whole team that can put it in instead of just relying on one person. It makes it more of a team sport than a one-player sport. One of the girls on the team always says there's no `I' in team.''
The Falcons' goals have come from every which direction this season, with a different player often doing the honors.
One game Robin Dwyer is on; another features a Katie McDonald show, and Erica Webb and Natalie Stumpf have connected several times on corner kicks.
Ask coach Terri Sawyer who is leading the Falcons in goals and she can't name one player immediately. At the end of the regular season Beth Reading had tallied 11, McDonald 10 and Stumpf nine.
On on penalty kicks against West Springfield in Tuesday's quarterfinals, Cox's go-to bunch included Dwyer, Carolyn Stumpf and Katie Etter, who notched the game-winner.
Senior midfielder Cara Reske also played on last year's team and admits it did take an adjustment.
``At the beginning of the season, we didn't have a strong, strong leader,'' she said. ``I think this team is probably better because we've had to grow and work with that.''
Webb also prefers this style, largely for the versatility it gives the offense. ``We're a lot more together as a unit,'' she said. ``We know how each other plays and we do a lot more passes instead of just dribbling. It's a lot more soccer.''
``Nobody feels it's all up to them,'' Sawyer said. ``Last year we felt Kirsty had to do it. With these girls, they pick each other up.
``If Natalie's off, if Robin's off, Katie Mac comes through. You cannot ever really say, `This is the person. This is the person.' '' by CNB