The 2012 USC Salkehatchie Women’s Soccer team is shaping up to be the strongest team in the history of the program. Of course, optimism always runs high in the preseason; however, oftentimes those early hopes are dashed. This time around, USC Salkehatchie Head Soccer Coach Bill Glass believes that the Indians are the real deal. “We have 7 returning starters who will be joined by the best recruiting class we have ever had, “said Glass. “Our team is stacked.“
Featured among the returning players will be former high school teammates Cyles Barnes and Sherrieka Othello. Barnes is a defender and Othello plays central midfield. Both are from Miami, Florida, where they graduated from Miami Springs High School. Returning to the team from the state of Georgia will be defender Michelle Adams of Jesup who played her high school ball at Liberty County High School. Amelia Green, a NJCAA All Region X selection last year, will come back to the USA from her home in Antigua to anchor the Indians defense. In addition,
several players will be returning from closer to home, including Hillary Clegg, a forward from
Walterboro who played at Colleton County High School, Sierra Lamar, a defender from Aiken who played at Silver Bluff High School, and forward Brittany May of Moncks Corner who played her high school ball at Berkeley High School.
Coming in new for 2012 will be more South Carolina players. Forward Rosina Fadul of Murrells Inlet will transfer in from Horry-Georgetown Tech and midfielder Dublin McManus will switch to Salk from Charleston Southern. Florida will send one new player, midfielder Kassandra Contreras of Fort Lauderdale who played for the Northeast High School girl’s soccer team last year.
By far the largest contingent of new players will come from the neighboring state of Georgia. Sweeper Ashai Brown will come to Salk from Dublin where she graduated from Dublin
High School after starting for the girls’ soccer team there. Sasha Crawford will take I-20 from Decatur to get to Allendale, she played soccer at Southwest Dekalb High School last year. Goalkeeper Danielle Danforth of Augusta minded the nets at Richmond Academy in 2011 and
defender Lisa Doolittle of Auburn graduated from Winder-Barrow High School and played soccer there. Kimberly Giroir of Kennesaw will play in the midfield for the Indians which is also the position she held down at Kennesaw Mountain High School last year. Brianna Gooden-Brown will also be coming over to South Carolina for college from the Peach State. Bri is from
McDonough where she played a key defensive roll for Eagles Landing High School last year. Another defender who will be joining the team new for 2012 is Kori Hunter of Jonesboro, GA.
up top. Ouli Ka is another Georgian who will be featured on the Indians soccer team in 2012. Ouli is a forward who graduated from North Springs Charter High School.
Aside from all the metro Atlanta players, the southern part of the state of Georgia will also provide players for the Indians. Chelsea Mayo of Brunswick will be playing central midfield for the Indians this fall and that is the same role she filled for Brunswick High School. Jasmina Smith will come to the Indians from Hinesville where she attended Liberty County High School and played defense on the girl’s soccer team there.
Amelia Green will not be the only international player on the squad this season. Elle Shelton, a striker from Clarence Town in New South Wales, Australia, will be making the long flight over
to try her hand at American college soccer. “We came close to being without an Aussie on the
squad for the first time in 5 years,” said Glass, “but Elle came through for us and prevented that from happening.”
Obviously Glass believes in the potential of this 2012 team, otherwise it is hard to see why he would schedule three tough preseason matches for the Indians with large 4-year colleges. As it is, the Indians will kick off the preseason on August 25 by visiting Brewton-Parker College, a NAIA institution in central Georgia, for a 6pm clash. Next the team will travel up the road on August 18 to USC Aiken, an NCAA D-II member. Then, on August 22, the Indians will close out the preseason at Newberry College, another NCAA D-II. “These tough games will get us ready for the regular season,” according to Glass. “Also, we get to showcase our players for these coaches who will be looking to recruit them after they finish their two years with us.” On August 25, the Indians will open up the regular season at home against Wake Tech at 4pm. As always, times and dates of games are subject to change so Indians fans are encouraged to check the athletic blog for the latest updates prior to taking to the road for a game (http://uscsalkindians.blogspot.com/).
