BATON ROUGE ? LSU soccer head coach Brian Lee and senior captains Casey Crawford and Roslyn Jones met with members of the media at Walk-On’s Bistreaux on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming season and what they expect to accomplish in 2008.
Comments from head coach Brian Lee at LSU Soccer Media Day
Opening Statement …
“We’re excited to start the 2008 season. One of our big mantras is ?deserve to win.’ We talk to our kids all the time about how you live over the course of the year and that what you do for the nine months that you’re not playing our regular season directly reflects on what you do in the fall. Our kids have done all the right things. They’ve done well in the classroom, a great job with community service and they’ve worked very hard on strength and conditioning to come in as the fittest, strongest and fastest team I’ve coached in my 13 or 14 years in the business.
“Big picture, we’re unbelievably excited about the season. We feel like the kids have put in the work. Friday night, we open against South Alabama. It’s Baton Rouge Soccer Association night. Last year we finished in the top 10 in the country in attendance, and we’re looking to do that again and even grow. The stadium seats 1,500 and two or three times last year we were at max capacity. For those who haven’t been, Friday nights at the Soccer Complex are a great family atmosphere, a great college atmosphere. Our stands are right on top of the field, so it’s a great way to see soccer. Hopefully we play the right way.
“When we say ?deserve to win’ with the kids, we also mean it on the field. We want to be the better soccer-playing team. We play a little bit of a different sport. We’re not like a football team where we can line up our 300-pounders against another team’s 200-pounders, or even like a basketball front line that has three seven-footers that will eventually overrun some teams. It’s not that kind of sport. Different things can happen on different days, but we want to win for a reason. That includes on game day being the better soccer-playing team. To us, that means pass-and-move, possession-style soccer. It means playing creative, attacking and flowing soccer that’s enjoyable to watch, and for the kids it’s enjoyable to play.
“Post-Friday night, we’ve got BYU coming to town on Monday. They’re a perennial top-20 team and they’ll be in the NCAA tournament again. They’ve got great aspirations for the season, as well, so that should be a big-time match-up right here in Baton Rouge and hopefully a good opening weekend to get ourselves started in the right direction for the fall season.”
On if he feels that goalkeeper Mo Isom can be the difference-maker this season …
“Soccer is a little unique in that, positionally, if you’ve got a big-time goalkeeper and you’ve got a big-time goal scorer everything else can kind of fall into place. She’s young. I don’t want to put the overburden of big expectations on her, but she’s good. She spent the spring with us, which I thought was extremely big. She was able to get comfortable with a spring in the weight room. I think she’ll help us.
“She’s really mature. Mo is a kid who had her own sports talk radio show in Atlanta as a 15-year-old. She’s comfortable in front of the camera and has already been out in the community a good bit. She’s got a real glowing personality, so she’s comfortable.”
On why this team’s defense could be the best that LSU has had in a while …
“Well, we’re older than we were. We recruited a talented group. When we got here, we signed a fairly talented, nationally-recruited class. Since then, we’ve kind of tweaked it. They’re experienced, they’ve been through the ringer, and they know each other’s motions. In the back line and up front there’s a lot to be said for continuity. Nikki Bush and Chelsea Potts have a great relationship in terms of understanding each other’s movements. Really, we try to defend from the front backwards. Rachel Yepez and Roslyn Jones are as hard working a pair of forwards as there is in the nation on the defensive end. We feel good about ourselves defensively.”
Comments from senior captain Casey Crawford
On the season opener …
“We’re very excited. We’ve been putting in a lot of work since last season ended in December. Our game has greatly matured. We are a lot better and have been working extremely hard on the things we can do. Knowing that we have put this amount of work in, we are excited about the opening game and the season. As a senior, I am ready for my last year. I want to pull it strong for my last year.”
On the goals for this season …
“Our goal is to win the SEC. It is definitely a huge goal and each practice we take bigger steps to reach that goal. This season, it is achievable for this team. We are all ready and know we can achieve it.”
On the strengths of the team …
“We don’t have as much depth as we’ve had the past couple years, but we are a very strong team. We have a much more experienced roster, and everyone is a quality player this season. Every position is strong and very confident in what they do. We look forward to playing anywhere against any team this year.”
On the freshmen …
“They came in as a big surprise. Freshmen are usually unsure about what’s going on. They came in working really hard trying to get used to this level of competition. Brittany Potts is a great player and has preformed very well for us. They are following us as we teach them what to do.
On leaving a legacy …
“It’s one of the most important things to Roslyn (Jones) and me. We have worked very hard for four years. We want to keep this team moving forward and taking bigger leaps so that this program and this team will be successful. I think about it a lot more in everything I do. Every thing revolves around the team and how successful we are as a team.”
On playing for LSU …
“It’s great. We have great fans and every year we have more and more. It’s wonderful to play for LSU. It’s a traditional school so our fans are very loyal. I’m proud to play for LSU and proud to play in front of so many local fans.”
On her new position this season …
“In the last seasons I’ve played defense. I’m still playing a defensive role but I’m playing in the midfield a little bit more. I’m very excited, and I’ve been training very hard for this position. I’m still figuring out stuff, but I get everything now and I really like the new position. I’m able to work hard for my team and hard at this new position.”
Comments from senior captain Roslyn Jones
On starting her senior campaign …
“We are all very excited about this season. We feel we have a stronger team and everyone is working extremely hard. We feel that we can accomplish a lot this season. We are all ready to do it.”
On the biggest strength of the team …
“I think the biggest strength is having such a veteran team. We have gone through seasons where we had tough times, but just last season we won the SEC West and we want to build on that. Everyone on the team has the same mind set and we want to win SEC.”
On her personal goals for this season …
“My personal goal for this season is to be a leader on and off the field. I want to score goals for my team and I want to assist in scoring goals. I just want to bring the team together and get them pumped for the games.”
On the pressure playing as a forward …
“I always feel pressure to score because that’s how you win games. I feel I’m ready to take that position and I’m very excited.”
On what type of influence the upperclassmen have on the underclassmen …
“We are very vocal. They know when they mess up or if they didn’t go into a tackle hard enough or if they’re not giving it their all. I think this class has leadership and the underclassmen see that. They know how hard to work. I feel they came right in and everything flowed. It felt like we had had only a week off. Everyone came in and meshed well together.”