SLU Women's Soccer Thread

[Lord Elrond]

4 minutes ago, courtside said:

Well earned for Bri. There was some hope that she would get drafted and/or an invite especially with KC. Bri has put in a lot of effort for this. Great opportunity for her. She’s good enough. 

(I know of at least one NWSL player that tried out 5 times before landing a spot on an NWSL roster)

 

Hopefully it will be like Godwin’s story with the Wizards. 

[Cowboy II]

-does Abbie Miller have remaining eligibility? if so do we expect her to Be a Billiken in the fall? I ask as it looks like she is in the picture the team posted about Dolla Bills winning today

-I hope she does and she will

[Lord Elrond]

She wasn’t one of the Seniors who were honored on Senior Day, I am assuming so, but it would be nice to be sure.

[billikenfan05]

53 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-does Abbie Miller have remaining eligibility? if so do we expect her to Be a Billiken in the fall? I ask as it looks like she is in the picture the team posted about Dolla Bills winning today

-I hope she does and she will

From what I understand Abbie will be playing next season. I have no clue what class she would be in off the top of my head. 

[Lord Elrond]

I think she would be a graduate student, she’s played 4 full seasons, this would be her Covid year

[courtside]

1 hour ago, Cowboy II said:

-does Abbie Miller have remaining eligibility? if so do we expect her to Be a Billiken in the fall? I ask as it looks like she is in the picture the team posted about Dolla Bills winning today

-I hope she does and she will

Yes Abbie has eligibility.

Yes she will be back playing for SLU Fall 2023.

Departing Seniors are the following:

Friedrich and Halverson are both out of eligibility. 

The following Seniors are not taking the extra year:

Sydney Beach, Brianna Arthur, Jamie DeBeradinis. Anna Walsh.

Jess Preusser is graduating early. 

Karsen Kohl is taking a 5th year, but not at SLU. She is playing at Lindenwood with her little sister Kilian, who is a Freshman there Fall 2023. 

[Cowboy II]

14 hours ago, courtside said:

Yes Abbie has eligibility.

Yes she will be back playing for SLU Fall 2023.

Departing Seniors are the following:

Friedrich and Halverson are both out of eligibility. 

The following Seniors are not taking the extra year:

Sydney Beach, Brianna Arthur, Jamie DeBeradinis. Anna Walsh.

Jess Preusser is graduating early. 

Karsen Kohl is taking a 5th year, but not at SLU. She is playing at Lindenwood with her little sister Kilian, who is a Freshman there Fall 2023. 

-great, thank you

[Cowboy II]

-who was that on crutches last night?

[Billiken Rich]

Whoops wrong thread

[Billfan7]

11 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-who was that on crutches last night?

Emily Groark.  I have no info on her injury.

[Cowboy II]

25 minutes ago, Billfan7 said:

Emily Groark.  I have no info on her injury.

-thanks, getter better soon, Emily

[Lord Elrond]

1 hour ago, Billfan7 said:

Emily Groark.  I have no info on her injury.

Hopefully something minor that she will be over quickly. I’m more curious to see how Julia Simon and Liz Stureman are coming back from their injuries. At the beginning of last season, Julia had to be considered roughly equal with Caroline Kelly and Emily Gaebe as far as goal scoring ability goes. Liz Stureman was a highly regarded defender out of high school who suffered some injury setbacks.  Plenty of minutes up for grabs next season.

[courtside]

Emily will be ready for the Fall season. Julia Simon will also be ready for the Fall season. Liz Stureman is rehabbing well and hoping to play in the Fall. 

SLU returns 20 players, and, they have added 10 Freshmen for 2023 Fall. SLU has also explored the transfer portal a little bit targeting a handful of players. 

Some Spring highlights in April, will include a home game vs Wisconsin, and, a road game at Mizzou.

[courtside]

SLU Women's Soccer will be in Houston this weekend at the ECNL Showcase recruiting. (several commits and targets playing) They will also get to see SLU alum Bri Halverson, who is in camp with the NWSL Houston Dash, a few miles down the road. 

The Spring schedule will be released shortly with some highlights including home games vs Wisconsin and Illinois, and, a road game at Mizzou.

[courtside]

Unexpected cancellation of the SLU/Wisconsin Spring game. (Hopefully it can be a regular season game) Badgers will instead host Minnesota that weekend as opposed to traveling to SLU. The others remain the same:

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1626659078217818128?s=46&t=Y9OYneaKYX40ucj6Y10mDA

 

[Lord Elrond]

1 hour ago, courtside said:

Unexpected cancellation of the SLU/Wisconsin Spring game. (Hopefully it can be a regular season game) Badgers will instead host Minnesota that weekend as opposed to traveling to SLU. The others remain the same:

https://twitter.com/sluwsoccer/status/1626659078217818128?s=46&t=Y9OYneaKYX40ucj6Y10mDA

 

It will be curious to see if Becca Wolterman or Natalie Phelps or gets a start in goal. 

[courtside]

On 2/17/2023 at 2:28 PM, Lord Elrond said:

It will be curious to see if Becca Wolterman or Natalie Phelps or gets a start in goal. 

There will definitely be some playing time at Goalkeeper beyond Emily this Spring. I would expect to see Becca get some playing time. And, SLU will be adding Maddie Sibbing this Summer/Fall at Keeper. But Puricelli will be SLU’s starting keeper again in Fall 2023.

SLU targeted fewer keepers overall in the 2024 class, three. One higher profile keeper didn’t reciprocate interest, and she committed to Texas. Two other good but under the radar keepers have had high interest in SLU from Chicago and KC. One of them (KC) has had advanced discussions.

Recently SLU added an additional 2024 keeper target, and, SLU is currently in advanced discussions with that keeper as well. (Colorado) There would likely be one keeper addition in 2024. Otherwise they will wait for 2025.

It’s early but there are 4 Goalkeeper targets in the 2025 class, (Stl, Stl, MI, FL) and 2 in the 2026 (Stl, Stl) class. All six are high level.

 

[Lord Elrond]

I anticipate lots of playing time for the whole team. With all 5 games within 25 days, I’m sure everyone will get some playing time and a chance to show they deserve minutes in the fall when it counts more. Emily Purricelli has the starting job, but neither of her backups had many minutes last fall, be nice if the backup had more experience. A minor issue admittedly, but be nice to have a backup with more game experience.

[courtside]

44 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

I anticipate lots of playing time for the whole team. With all 5 games within 25 days, I’m sure everyone will get some playing time and a chance to show they deserve minutes in the fall when it counts more. Emily Purricelli has the starting job, but neither of her backups had many minutes last fall, be nice if the backup had more experience. A minor issue admittedly, but be nice to have a backup with more game experience.

Becca will play some this Spring. And SLU will be adding another good keeper for the Fall. There are 2 mentioned 2024 keeper possibilities, of which SLU will add 1 or neither.

Spring schedule is really 1 game, and then 4 games in a shorter couple of weeks, as there is a short break after the first game. Spring is a chance to work on different things. Last Spring, SLU was even good enough to start and feature 2 outgoing transfer players to help them with their new situations.

Becca will see playing time this Spring. She has had a full season of adjusting to the college game. And she will likely see more playing time as a back up in the Fall when the opportunity presents itself. Sibbing will use the first season to adjust and push Becca as a backup to Emily. 

Some players are more ready to play from an injury standpoint this Spring than others. Fall is what counts and what matters. Unlike the Men’s team, and unlike some other Women’s teams, SLU Women don’t often add 2nd semester high school Seniors. It’s more of a philosophical thing. 

SLU will have 18 field players this Spring. (8 players graduated, 2 have left the program) A few of the 18 are injured, and their training and playing time will be affected by that. So I would say roughly 5-6 field player subs this Spring. It will depend on where 2 of those additional players are at with rehab.

A thing to be looking for in the Spring, is the continued development of this year’s Freshmen (5) as a point of emphasis, as well as the progress of a couple of veteran players who have been sidelined with injury. Outside of that, SLU returns 9 starters, (including keeper) as well as 2/3 other starter level minute players. I would also add center back depth and outside back, as things to watch. 

This Summer, SLU adds 10 new additional Fall players. 9 of them are field players. 

 

 

[courtside]

SLU has a new 2024 commitment from Sian “Nimu” Karani.

While at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Kansas, Nimu was named 1st team Goalkeeper in the rugged Eastern Kansas League, as a Sophomore. 2nd team All State. Nimu was the only Sophomore named to the United Soccer Coaches All Region Team. 

Nimu was invited to the U16 USYNT ID Camp in 2022. She is the goalkeeper for Kansas Rush Girls Academy League, and for the national Rush Select team. 

The daughter of Kenyan immigrants, Nimu’s older brother Sean, was a 1st team, All AAC Conference Forward for Temple University. 

Nimu committed this weekend while in town for some Girls Academy League games with teams from several states.

https://twitter.com/siankarani/status/1627474651281518594?s=46&t=v7OvQG2DcoRmxvpKntZ1gQ

 

[courtside]

SLU has a new 2024 commitment from Sarah Sarnowski. 

A hard working, two footed, wing/forward, Sarah helped lead her Barrington (Chicago) high school team to the Illinois 3A State Championship Game as a Sophomore. 

In club ball, Sarah helped lead her Libertyville FC1974 team to the USYS U16 National Championship this past Summer. They will compete for a repeat this Summer. She also excelled at the USYS Winter 2022 Florida showcase. And, she helped her team to a 2nd place finish in ECNL-RL conference play. 

Sarah was in town this past weekend for a USYS league game. (she scored 3 in a 4-2 win)

 

 

 

[Lord Elrond]

I can’t recall many recruits from the Chicago suburbs heading down here before, now we have Julia Simon who transferred in last year, and now one from Barrington. Has the move of Loyola-Chicago into the A10 increased the attractiveness of SLU as a destination? One can hope so.

[courtside]

4 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

I can’t recall many recruits from the Chicago suburbs heading down here before, now we have Julia Simon who transferred in last year, and now one from Barrington. Has the move of Loyola-Chicago into the A10 increased the attractiveness of SLU as a destination? One can hope so.

There has been recent, more emphasis on Chicago, generally speaking, as a recruiting geography, yes. The addition of Loyola increases SLU exposure in Chicago. (So does winning at a high level over time) Loyola immediately stepped up its recruiting presence in St. Louis, once it joined the league. In the end, SLU will recruit the best players they can get, with the best fit, regardless of geography. 

A few Big East schools such as Xavier recruit Chicago (DePaul). All Big Ten schools and Notre Dame recruit Chicago (Northwestern). Within Chicago, SLU most often goes up against these schools for recruits. Win some, lose some. Loyola of course is in this group, trying to elevate its profile. And the best national soccer schools nationally will swoop in for top national level players regardless of geography, including Chicago.

SLU targeted roughly 7 or so players out of Chicago for 2024 at various levels of interest. One came super close to committing to SLU (She picked Wisconsin). Several did SLU’s camps. A few weren’t a fit, a few others get into offer types or level of offer and mutual interest. Each recruitment is specific and different. So far, there are 6 or so Chicago targets of good mutual interest, out of about 60-75 targets for 2025. About half are from Metro Stl and Metro KC. The rest are scattered all over. 

SLU generally speaking, has an inside out recruiting approach which includes local, regional, national, international. Their home market(s) is Metro St. Louis, Metro KC, and anything in between. 

Some states of recent SLU players and commits have included: Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, Utah, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Texas, Oregon, Kentucky. SLU is initially looking at players from an additional half a dozen states not included in this group for 2025. But the player target quantity is often few, compared to some other geographies. It’s really about evaluating talent, liking a player, having mutual interest, building a relationship, fitting the culture, getting a commitment. And sometimes there are unique or unusual circumstances that can lead to a recruitment. 

It’s probably easier to point out geographies where SLU doesn’t recruit as often. 

Chicago has a lot of good clubs across a wide spectrum leagues. Eclipse, Sockers, Chicago FC United, FC1974, Chicago Inter, Galaxy to name a few. These are the clubs that SLU most often recruits from in Chicago. Building relationships with coaches, directors, players etc over time. All of them play in leagues with St. Louis club teams, and at overlapping regional and national events too.

Another thing I would add is getting a commitment from a club gets the attention of other players at that club, their friends on other club teams or high schools, their opponents etc….and it doesn’t even have to be a commitment, a positive recruitment that doesn’t end with a commitment, a good experience at a SLU camp etc….leads to word of mouth as well. 

[courtside]

Former Billiken, Cal McKee, has been added to SLU Women’s Soccer as a Volunteer Assistant Coach:

https://slubillikens.com/news/2023/3/1/womens-soccer-adds-cal-mckee-as-volunteer-assistant.aspx

After a playing career with with SLSG, Santa Clara and SLU, Cal has coached various age groups, at both Lou Fusz and STLDA, mostly U15-U19, USYS and Girls Academy teams. He is currently coaching 05 & 07 STLDA teams. At STLDA, he has worked with among others, former SLU coach Dan Donigan, and Michael Preusser (Jess and Nina’s dad) Cal has coached and worked with several SLU players and commits.

His older brother Cooper played on the SLU Men’s Soccer 03 NCAA Quarterfinal team before eventually transferring to Stanford. 

 

[courtside]

On 1/18/2023 at 5:59 PM, courtside said:

Congratulations to 2024 SLU commit Ulla Sharp, for being selected to the 18 player National Olympic Development Program rosters (05 age group) for both Dallas Cup, and Las Vegas Mayor’s Cup. (which includes an International trip to England)

 

Great life experiences this week for 2024 SLU commit Ulla Sharp and her Olympic Development Teammates.

9 day trip to England. 

4 friendlies (Brighton, Haringey, Charlton, Chelsea) Haringey are the national champions.

Attend Women’s League Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea.

Train with Brentford FC coaches.

Attend Champions League game between Tottenham and AC Milan. 

Tour Stamford Bridge, while also playing a friendly nearby vs Chelsea. 

Several other trainings at various locations.

Several other sightseeing excursions.