Talk about the youth movement. Benigno and Wilson -- two frosh -- scored both goals. Every field player in the starting lineup was an underclassmen -- including five frosh. Another six substitutions off the bench were frosh -- that's 11 frosh that played.
This remains a very young program and I mentioned last year that the frosh from 2019 would be looked upon this year to lead, while the incoming frosh would be expected to contribute right away.
A few roster notes that occurred in the offseason that have affected thing:
1. Tiana Bucknor transferred to Maine. She played in the back line in her two seasons as an off-and-on starter.
2. Izzy Greene was another off-and-on starter in the offense in her two seasons. She has transferred to A10-foe St. Joseph's of all places.
3. Landy Mertz transferred after starting all 19 matches as a frosh and making the A10 All Rookie team. This is a real loss. She was talented and was destined to be an All-A10 player. She has transferred to Pitt as she's from the area and was the former Pitt Post Gazette POY in HS. Shes playing for former Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum.
4. Magalie Depot was from Quebec and did not play much. She transferred to McNeese State in Lake Charles, LA, where she made an official visit before originally committing to UD. Not a loss here.
5. Sophomore defender Grace Rickett is no longer on the roster but cannot find out if she landed anywhere else or just hung up the cleats. She had 11 starts as a frosh but did not play last year -- cant remember if she was injured.
Of the five players here, Mertz is the big loss. The other ones will not be felt long-term in my opinion. While losing Mertz hurts and she was going to be a sure-fire starter and one of the key pieces in the offense, but main core of the great frosh class last year returns as sophomores. That includes Alexis Goins, Yaiza Navarro Leon, Jess Sheldon, and Laney Huber in the offense. Marlee Taylor also returns as a sophomore -- she mostly came off the bench a year ago. In the defense it includes Audrey Steiert and Mackenzie Lutz.
Frosh Diana Benigno from Beavercreek is going to be an instant impact. She is undersized but has super soft feet and sees the field extremely well. Has a knack for putting it in the net too. Shes sort of a cross between Yaiza and Goins.
Class breakdown:
11 Frosh
9 Sophs
5 Juniors
5 Seniors
I know this rebuild has required patience and the COVID thing has just made it more aggravating, but I am 100% behind Coach Golz and he is building this back up the right way. The bulk of the talent is young and the kind of impact players that can grow into upperclass All-A10 talent. He's still probably a couple years away from challenging
St Louis for the top spot, but we are closer to the end of this rebuild than the beginning. His job is to just maintain roster continuity and not lose any of the budding talent.
Give talent like Goins, Huber, Steiert, Lutz, Sheldon, YaYa, Benigno, and a few others two more seasons of "seasoning" and they will be extremely tough outs. Its going to be hard to grade this season on much of a fair scale. We are playing soccer games in the dead of winter, on Fieldturf, amid all kinds of restrictions and concessions. Its a severely shortened season and its been hard to even do a conventional offseason.
UD was picked 4th and I think that's fair.