Current Issue .. Archives .. Request Hard Copy ..Subscribe ..Contact Information

Six All-Conference players returning for second Lady Pilots soccer season

Click here for the 2006 Lady Pilots Soccer roster

“I am not sure anyone really knew what to expect last year,” LSUS Lady Pilots soccer coach Jed Jones recalled as he prepared for the university’s second-ever season in intercollegiate women’s soccer. “We were a new team in the highly competitive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. The players all met just two weeks prior to taking the field for our first conference game.”

Two weeks after that first meeting, Jones’ Lady Pilots stepped onto “The Swamp” (the name they gave their new field in the hollow on the south side of the campus) to face a GCAC foe in their first-ever game. Despite a hard-fought battle, the Lady Pilots dropped that opener to the William Carey College Crusaders, 3-1. Just two days later, a 9-1 loss at the hands of NCAA Division I and eventual Southland Conference champion Northwestern State University had LSUS at 0-2 on the year, and it looked as though the team was in for a long season.

But, the Lady Pilots responded with a nine game win streak to stretch their record to 9-2, and went on to post a 12-6 record, which included wins over two NCAA Division I squads, and births in the GCAC and NAIA Region XIII tournament championship games. Six members of the squad were named to GCAC All-Conference Teams – First Team: Katrina Blackwell, Brenna Bussart and Shaderia Evans; Second Team: Michelle Williamson, Hannah Jennings and Kristen Schaeffer. Blackwell and Evans were named to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s All-Louisiana Team, Williamson received an LSWA honorable mention and Jones was named coach of the year by the LSWA.

The six All-Conference players are returning for the 2006 campaign, as are all but four of the other team members. Blackwell is now a junior, Bussart is a senior and the other four All-Conference picks are sophomores. And, Jones has recruited four more blue-chip players – three freshmen and a junior – to keep the talent pipeline full. Overall, Jones will have shin guards on two seniors, five juniors, eight sophomores and three freshmen.

“When we put this team together we were looking for specific types of players,” Jones said. “We wanted hard-working, goal-oriented, high-character kids who love to play the game. That is what we found, and that is why we had success. The women bought into a system that allowed them to be successful, and we did not let up for anyone at any time. The teams that thought we were a first-year program that may win a game or two found out differently. We were a very good first-year program and we’re only getting better.”