Women's Soccer opens pre-season this weekend

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University women's soccer team will open their 2010 pre-season this weekend with a controlled scrimmage versus the University of Toronto Saturday and an exhibition game versus NCAA Division I opponent Niagara University on Sunday.

Next weekend, August 28th and 29th, the Badgers will be at home in pre-season action versus Centennial College and Sheridan College.

Under first year head coach John Durish, the Badgers will look to return back to the National Championships. In 2008, Brock finished with a school best CIS silver medal finish at the Nationals knocking off both the No. 1 and 2 teams in the country.

In 2009, the Badgers lost in the OUA West semi-finals to Laurier 2-1 to end the season.

"I am very excited about the 2010 season," said head coach John Durish. "We are going to be a very competitive team and are going to be very physical with a lot more speed than last season."

The Badgers have a strong nucleus returning as well as a talented freshman class.

Up front the Badgers are led by two of the program's all-time leading scorers in fourth year standouts Cassandre Van Bakel (Aurora, Ont.) and Jill Geier (Ancaster, Ont.). In their first three seasons, the dynamic duo have combined for 30 of the Badgers 70 goals. Also returning is senior enforcer Lisa D'Aguanno (Richmond Hill, Ont.) who registered a career-high three goals in 2009 and sophomore Lindsay McDonald (Burlington, Ont.) who finished with four goals last season as a freshman. In the midfield, Brock will be led by junior Jordanna Phillips (Markham, Ont.).

"It is going to be a very exciting season said senior Lisa D'Aguanno. "We have a strong core of returning players with a very strong group of rookies. Our goal as a team is to win an OUA and CIS Championship, one step further than two years ago when we captured national silver."

The Badgers have one of the top defensive units in the OUA led by senior goalkeeper Syreeta Rhoden (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and the trio of defense in senior Dayna Haig (Toronto, Ont.) and juniors Stephanie DiMartino (Markham, Ont.) and Carrie Kalata (Oakville, Ont.).

Top incoming freshmen that will make an impact right away include striker Larissa Bruzzese (Welland, Ont.), defender Lauren Giles (Pickering, Ont.) and midfielder Katie Locke (Whitby, Ont.). We are very pleased with our recruiting class," said Durish. "All three of these players have looked strong in training camp and will be immediate contributors to our program."

Brock opens the 2010 OUA regular season on September 12th on the road at Western.