Henderson Castle, Site of the 2009 Women's Soccer Banquet
Team Awards
MVP: Anja Burk
MIP: Zari Haggenmiller
Hornet Award: Katie Manstrom
2009 Team MVP, Senior Anja Burk
Anja Burk was voted team the Hornet's most valuable player for the 2009 season. Burk's contributions throughout the season as well as her career are quite impressive. This year she started all but one game for the Hornets and was an extremely consistent contributor both at practice and in games. She was positionally sound and a superb 1v1 and team defender. Outstanding ball winner, especially with her head Anja ranks among the top Hornet defenders of the past decade. Selfless and quiet, she might not standout but her leadership and intelligence were a major reason for the success that the team experienced this past year! Congratulations Anja.
2009 Hornet Most Improved Player; Freshmen Zari Haggenmiller
Hornet Award Winner, Senior Katie Manstrom
Senior Katie Manstrom was awarded the Hornet Award for her efforts during the 2009 season. The Hornet Award is given to the player who best embodies what it is to be a Kalamazoo College Hornet. Throughout the season Katie faced a number of challenges and did a great job leading through example in practice and at games. She was a superb captain and the little things which she did both on and off the field that go unnoticed were a big reason for the Hornet's 2009 success. Thanks for all your contributions and congratulations Katie!SEASON RECAP
The 2009 Hornets would arrive on campus in mid August. With a roster of 9 returning players from a year ago, 2 seniors stepping back onto the field after six months abroad, and 11 first year players the preseason was full of unknowns. The season would officially kick-off at the Ohio Northern Invitational. Friday of Labor Day weekend the Hornets would open against Ohio Northern and Otterbein College. Both perennial contenders at the top of the Ohio Athletic Conference the Hornets would fall to ONU 4-1 and Otterbein 3-0. In both games Kalamazoo had spells of strong possession but struggled to find an offensive identity. The teams next match would pit them against Huntington College in Indiana. Trailing twice in the match, senior Katie Manstrom scored off a scrappy goal off a Hornet corner kick with just over 15 minutes to play. In the second overtime C.J. McCarthy would record her first goal of the year and give the Hornets there first win of the year.
With a record of 1-2, Kalamazoo would host their first home games of the year. A Saturday morning match against Carroll University from Wisconsin. Carroll, the defending champion of the Midwest Conference tournament would record a goal 7 minutes into the contest. However, the Hornets improved as the game progressed and Hornet forward, Jackie Short would score her first goal of the season in the 36 minute. Despite several quality opportunities for both teams in overtime the game would end in a 1-1 draw. The next weekend Kalamazoo would host to perennially strong programs in the University of Chicago and the College of Wooster. Chicago would arrive in Kalamazoo sporting a record of 4-1 and top 15 national ranking while the Fighting Scots were unbeaten (6-0-1). Against Chicago the Maroons carried play early and were kept in the game with very strong play from freshmen goalkeeper Courtney McCoy who would record 10 saves on the day. The team's confidence grew as the game progressed and two minutes before halftime, Jackie Short would take advantage of a loose ball in Chicago's box and stake K to a 1-0 lead. After halftime the Hornets would continue to play hard and had several chances to take a 2-0 lead. However, with less than 10 minutes to play Chicago would find the equalizer and record the game winning goal with less than 5 minutes to play in the second overtime. A tough loss for K but the Hornets had several excellent segments of play. The next day, against Wooster, K came out firing and Hornet C.J. McCarthy scored less than 2 minutes into the contest. A defensive hiccup at right before half allowed Wooster to take a 2-1 lead at the break. In the second half, sophomore Julia Schroeder would equalize. Despite hitting the crossbar in overtime Kalamazoo could not quite solve the Wooster goalkeeper and would tie for the second time in three games. The non-conference schedule would be complete following a strong win against against Marygrove College (3-0) and tough loss to nationally ranked Denison University (4-0).
Kalamazoo would enter league play with an overall record of 2-4-2 and goal of improving on the previous year's 7th place league finish. The Hornets would open at Trine and with a solid 5-0. In the game all the points would be generated by freshmen. Maya Smolcic 2 goals, 1 assist C.J. McCarthy, 2 goals, Jackie Short 1 goal, 1 assist, and Megan Burns 1 assist. It was the first win in a league opener for K in 9 years. With a 1-0 league record the Hornets would travel to play an very strong Adrian College program which had not given up a goal in their 5 previous matches. Julia Schroeder lashed a shot into the goal in the 22nd minute and that would be all that the Hornets would need for a 2-0 conference record. The story of the day would be Kalamazoo's defense. Already playing numbers down the Hornets sustained a couple more injuries in the game and played the majority of the match with a back line of sophomore Rachel Pitzer, sophomore Maggie Rogers, sophomore Jenn Gateley, and junior Eva Schmidt. Rachel and Maggie who are used to minutes in the midfield, stepped up to the challenge in the back and were two key players on the day. Returning home Kalamazoo's next game would be a game played in the driving rain against the Britons of Albion College. Albion would strike first in the 56th minute, as the game wore on the Hornet's resolve was as constant as the rain and C.J. McCarthy would score in the 86th minute tying the game at one. Once again the Hornets would find the post but not the net in overtime as the game ended in a 1-1 draw. With a league record of 2-0-1 Kalamazoo traveled to Grand Rapids to take on 3 time defending conference champion Calvin College. Calvin jumped on the Hornets early with two early goal but the Hornets fought back and Jackie Short would score making the score at halftime 2-1. In the second half K would have some strong opportunities but would fall to the Knights. A trip to Holland was next up to face Hope College. In Hope's new stadium both teams played a fair and even first half. In the second half the Hornets would have the stronger run of play including having a ball that had beaten the Hope keeper cleared off the line with less than 15 minutes to play in regulation. In the second half and overtime Kalamazoo out shot the Dutch 15-1 and with less than one minute left in the second overtime, junior midfielder Hilary Marusak would win a Hope goal kick, Jackie Short was able to gain control of the ball and put a shot just out of the reach of the Hope keeper. What resulted was a 1-0 win for Kalamazoo and the programs first win over Hope in 8 years! With a league record of 3-1-1 Kalamazoo would welcome Olivet College for a homecoming match. The flu also hit the team pretty hard leading up to the game and K would be without 5 regulars at game time. No worries, a number of K's reserve players would step up and play key roles. It would begin as freshmen Natalie Reszka would record the first goal of the game on a penalty kick. Her classmate C.J. McCarthy would score the game's second goal and junior Jackie Jessup would score on her first touch of the game giving K a 3-0 halftime lead. Olivet would score first in the second half before sophomore Rachel Pitzer would put K up 4-1 with a late goal off a corner kick. After several days off to recover from illness the Hornets would return against St. Mary's at a neutral site. With over an inch of rain in the day prior to the contest the game was moved to the turf field at Vicksburg High School. St. Mary's would prove to be as formidable as the wind and rain that day. They would open the scoring at the 20 minute mark. Struggling to find consistency and rhythm, freshmen Stephanie Verbeek crossed in a ball which fellow freshmen Emily Gray was able to direct into the goal. 1-1 at halftime, the Hornets would come out buzzing in the second half. Jackie Short would convert two breakaways less than two minutes apart giving K all they would need to secure a 3-2 win. With the victory Kalamazoo headed into the final day of the season trailing league leading Calvin and with a win coupled with a Calvin loss had an outside shot at their first MIAA championship in a decade. An afternoon showdown with Alma College would be the Hornet's final regular season league contest. Stephanie Verbeek would score the first goal of the game with a great breakaway goal less than a minute before halftime. Kalamazoo would have several chances to finish off the Scots and not converting would prove costly. Alma would score an unassisted goal in the 79 minute and then win the game in the 2nd overtime with a superb header goal. With the loss Kalamazoo would end the regular season with a league record of 5-2-1 tied for 3rd in the league and enter the conference tournament as the 4th seed.
Kalamazoo would open the league tournament against Hope. After beating them in Holland earlier in the season, the Dutch were primed for a rematch. Katie Manstrom would intercept a ball in the midfield and played Jackie Short forward who would put the ball past the Hope keeper and put K up 1-0 five minutes into the game. The Hornets would weather several late chances by the Dutch to advance to the conference tournament semi final in Grand Rapids against regular season champion Calvin. In a hard fought match Kalamazoo played very strong and organized on defense and neither team was able to capitalize offensively after scoreless regulation and two overtimes the Hornets and Knights had a penalty shootout to determine who would advance to the conference final. Kalamazoo would convert 3 of their 5 shots and defeat Calvin 3-1 in the penalty kick shootout. The conference final would pit Kalamazoo against Albion, teams that had battled to a 1-1 draw throughout the year. A tightly contested match neither team would create strong scoring chances in the first half and Albion would hold and edge in the shot department. In the second half the Hornets would play stronger as the match wore on and had several close calls including a point blank save by the Albion keeper and a defender clearing a Kalamazoo shot off the line. After 110 scoreless minutes the game would again move to a penalty kick shootout and Albion would claim the conference tournament title and automatic bid to the national tournament with a 5-4 win in the penalty kick shootout.
The Hornets would conclude the season with an overall record of 8-6-5. It was a very successful year that included wins over several programs the Hornets had not beaten in years as well as an incredible nine overtime games. All of the team's non-conference would come to teams that would end of qualifying for the national tournament and out of the team's 19 games, 9 were played against national tournament qualifiers, making the schedule one of the top ten toughest in the country. Although it did not end the way the team wanted it to, the progress that the team and program made throughout the year was a major step in the right direction to getting Kalamazoo College Soccer competitive at not only a conference level but also a regional and national level.
All-League Awards:
1st Team: Maya Smolcic
2nd Team: Anja Burk
2nd Team: Jackie Short
2nd Team: C.J. McCarthy
Maya Smolcic, Anja Burk, C.J. McCarthy and Jackie Short received All-MIAA honors for the 2009 season. Smolcic, a freshman from Troy (Troy HS), was named to the All-MIAA First Team. In conference play the midfielder recorded two goals and three assists. Burk, McCarthy and Short all earned All-MIAA Second Team honors. Burk, a senior defender from Saline (Saline HS), was one of the Hornets' top defenders throughout the year, playing every minute of the conference tournament in which the Kalamazoo defense posted three consecutive shutouts. She was also named MIAA Defensive Player of the Week for week seven of league play. McCarthy, a freshman from Ada (Forest Hills Eastern), was one of the team’s top offensive performers. The forward was Kalamazoo's second-leading scorer posting seven goals and two assists for 16 total points. In league play McCarthy was fifth in total points (9) and fourth in the league in goals (4). She was named MIAA Offensive Player of the Week for week 10 of league play. Short, the Hornets' leading scorer and a freshman from Troy (Athens HS), was recognized with second team honors for being the league’s second-leading scorer with five goals and third in total points (10). The 2009 Kalamazoo College women’s soccer team finished in a tie for third place during the MIAA regular season (5-2-1), and fell to Albion in a shootout in the conference tournament final. The Hornets posted a final overall record of 8-6-5 (courtesy Kalamazoo College Sports Information).
