In the midst of rebuilding

Chopticon graduate is among the four returners back for CSM women’s soccer

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GARY SMITH Chopticon graduate Shannon Snell, left, Thomas Stone graduate Jamie Palmer and St. Mary’s Ryken graduate Taylor Ramsey are a part of a rebuilding year for CSM women’s soccer in 2008. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Picking up this fall where 2007’s breakout season left off appears to be a difficult endeavor for this year’s CSM bunch. Only four players have returned from the celebrated season a year ago, and the young Hawks will be tested from a lack a depth throughout. There are 13 players on the team.

In last Wednesday’s season opener at home, CSM fell by a 3-0 blanking to Rockville as depth issues hurt the Hawks with them playing short a couple of players for 20 minutes in the second half.

‘‘This year is definitely going to be a rebuilding year,” CSM third-year head coach Rodney Fugitt said. ‘‘We’ve got a lot of young freshmen coming with some talent. We want to go out and be competitive. We’re just trying to build a team.”

A host of two-year talents departed from the team after last season, including its leading trio of scorers in Alison Pancotti, Ashley Simone and Crystal Gale, who combined for 81 points, and defensive stalwarts Brandy Thomas and Sammie Jo Goddard.

‘‘A lot of experience went away,” Fugitt said.

One of the few returners looking to impart last year’s success into her new teammates is sophomore midfielder Shannon Snell, a Chopticon High School graduate.

‘‘She did a great job,” Fugitt praised of Snell’s output last year. ‘‘There’s a lot on her shoulders, but with the incoming freshmen and the talent they have, there is a lot on their shoulders too.”

‘‘This year it’s up to us returning players to pick it up. I have to be the example, the role model for the younger girls,” Snell added. ‘‘The girls that have come in, they’ve been fantastic. They’re really talented, so there hasn’t been any problems with them not knowing the drills. I have to make sure I encourage them when they need it.

‘‘This is a whole new year with a whole new team, and I hope to be able to accomplish a lot with this team.”

Freshmen midfielder Taylor Ramsey (St. Mary’s Ryken) and defender Jamie Palmer (Thomas Stone) are among those newcomers that Snell is confident about, despite the rebuilding nature of the season.

‘‘These coaches [at CSM] want nothing but the best,” said Ramsey, who might have scored the Hawks’ opening goal of the season Wednesday in the second half if not for a diving save by the Rockville goalkeeper. ‘‘It’s going to be a learning experience, and I can’t wait. I definitely feel there is chemistry with everybody here.”

‘‘Crystal Gale definitely had good things to say about the coaches, and the experience was great for her so I wanted to give it a shot,” Palmer said, placing credibility in the CSM referral of her fellow Stone graduate.

Initially, CSM had 15 players on its roster before the amount was trimmed by a couple.

Products from all three Southern Maryland counties of Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s are represented on the team.

‘‘This year I think it’s going to be a collective effort,” Fugitt said. ‘‘Last year we had a couple go-to players.”

Unlike last year, CSM will not be looking at its record as a litmus test of progress.

‘‘Any year that you’re rebuilding, you don’t look at record,” the CSM coach said. ‘‘We look at the practice field and how successful we are and then transform it over the game.”

CSM’s took on reigning national champion Catonsville on the road Tuesday evening. The team’s next home affair is against Essex at noon Sept. 13 for the Hawks’ fall festival.