Follow-up for UT Martin soccer expected to be another title

Coming off the most successful campaign the UT Martin soccer program has ever seen, the Skyhawks are once again primed to contend for a championship.
The Skyhawks are the Ohio Valley Conference preseason favorites for the first time in program history as UT Martin garnered 13 out of 22 first-place votes and 190 points overall in the poll, conducted by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.
“We are building on several firsts for the program,” said third-year Skyhawk head coach Phil McNamara, who guided the program to a record 14 victories and first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance last season. “We are taking a healthy step forward as a program. Being chosen first shows a respect factor that we have established around the league.”
Last year’s regular-season champion Southeast Missouri (180 points) accounted for the nine other first-place votes.
Morehead State, who the Skyhawks defeated in the OVC Tournament championship in 2011, came in at third place with 143 points, followed by Eastern Kentucky (130 points), Belmont (122), Murray State (122), SIU Edwardsville (98), Austin Peay (92), Eastern Illinois (65), Jacksonville State (33) and Tennessee Tech (33).
In order for the Skyhawks to return to the postseason, the team will have to replace a rock-solid senior class that established itself as the heartbeat of the program.
Gone are Melissa Govea (2011 OVC Defensive Player of the Year and first teamer), Brooke Robertson (two-time All-OVC first teamer), Rosaelia Loza (17 goals in two seasons), Katie Imperiale (five career game-winning goals) and Lauren MacKenzie (program’s all-time leader with 10 shutouts over two seasons). Together those five players started 218 matches in their careers, combining for 41 goals, 18 assists and 150 saves.
Knowing his team would only have two seniors, McNamara quickly hit the recruiting trail and brought in seven transfers among nine overall newcomers.
“We tried to be smart with this recruiting class because we did graduate five players who played a lot of minutes and did well for our program,” McNamara said. “We felt it would be difficult to replace their leadership with freshmen so we brought in a good recruiting class with a lot of maturity.”
Four of those newcomers (Jessica Horvatich, Jessica Johnson, Melisa Erturk, Ashley Reveiz) have previously played at Division I universities, while Jenna Merrill helped her team win a national championship in the junior college ranks. Sarah Tompkins and Ashlie Watson also join the Skyhawks after performing well for in-state NAIA programs.
“All of our transfers come from strong programs, they will know the expectations and demands of the collegiate level and that will help offset the leadership we lost from last year,” McNamara said. Published in The WCP 8.9.12

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