Davenport University Athletics

Women's Soccer Preview: Forwards and Midfielders

8/27/2012 3:59:00 PM

2012 Women's Soccer Roster | 2012 Women's Soccer Schedule | Weekly Notes

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – With the Davenport University women's soccer team kicking off its 2012 season at home against the University of Rio Grande Tuesday at 7 p.m., we take a look at fourth-year head coach Chris Allen's squad by position, continuing on with the midfielders and forwards.

Following Tuesday's season opener, the Lady Panthers will hit the road Thursday to take on Purdue University Calumet in the inaugural meeting at 8 p.m.

After watching his team score a program-record 41 goals last season, Allen is very confident with his offense as many familiar faces are returning from that team a year ago.

Leading the front of the pack is sophomore Paige Eli, who was elected to wear one of three captain bands by her teammates along with redshirt junior goalkeeper Catherine Howard and senior defender Ashley Roth. Eli, who earned a spot in the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference first team last season, started eight of 14 matches, scoring eight goals and tallying a team-most five assists for a total of 36 points.

Also returning this season is sophomore Letesha Cannonier, who led the team last year in scoring. In 14 matches, Cannonier knocked in 11 goals and tallied five assists for a total of 27 points to earn second-team All-WHAC honors. Under Allen's format, he will also be sending junior Lizzie Paul to the front. Paul started 14 of 15 appearances, scoring seven goals and notching one assist. The Lady Panthers will also have junior Thelma Gylfadottir returning from last season along with senior Kasey Eberlein. Gylfadottir is coming off having scored three goals and tallying five assists last season while Eberlain contributed a goal and an assist each.

“We have two to three kids who can play down the middle and we got three to four kids who can play in the outside. It's going to be up to them to do what we expect of them,” Allen said.

Although he is confident with his offense, the challenge Allen will have this season is finding time for nine players in midfield, for which they have proven their head coach they earned a spot in the starting lineup. Allen hinted that the leading candidates for the starting job are junior Laken Duchar-Clark, sophomore Natalie McHale and redshirt senior Karitas Elvarsdottir, but has a few other options to work with. He can move Gylfadottir, Paul and Eli to the middle or send newcomers Elle Charnley and Bridget Zuidgeest.

“They are going to be important to us, our midfield is going to be really important when we are playing in our system. If you don't have a strong midfield, you can just get killed so easy,” Allen said. “So either we'll have to pick the best three or we'll rotate them a little bit. I'm looking forward them sharing the minutes and share the workload. Hopefully get more out of them.”