Women’s team led by 7 juniors who have already taken program to new level

When one looks at a breakdown of the 2008 IU women’s soccer team, a number will stick out ­– zero.

Zero is how many seniors this year’s team has on its roster.

The Hoosiers are led by a group of seven juniors who have yet to have a losing season since suiting up in an IU uniform.

Since their freshman season, the women of this class have gone a combined 15-2-2 at home with an undefeated Big Ten home record last season.

They also return their top two goal scorers from a year ago. Kristin Arnold scored a team high 10 goals, and Christie Kotynski finished with five.

The defense is led by Kelly Lawrence, who was recently named to the 2008 Women’s Hermann Trophy Watch List, the top award for collegiate women.

The juniors have managed to gel together despite coming from all different backgrounds. This team has its local products: Jessica Boots and Natalie O’Bryan, both from Indiana; three women from neighboring states: Kotynski and Arnold from Ohio and Liz Holby from Illinois; Taylor Fallon from California; and Kelly Lawrence from England.

“It’s just one of those things where everyone gets along, both on and off the field,” Arnold said. “Honestly we are just a bunch a different personalities that have come together. You have the crazy ones and the ones that are a little bit more to themselves, but we are all over the place. But I think that is what makes this class unique.”

The women all chose different paths in how they ended up playing at IU. For co-captain O’Bryan, her decision was already made up as a young child.
“I was wearing an Indiana Hoosiers bib and having my mom attend IU and sister playing here,” she said.

But for others like Holby and Fallon the decision was not as simple.
“I really didn’t get recruited,” Holby said. “I kind of just walked on, so I didn’t really know what I got myself into. I just came here and worked hard and wanted to see where it would take me.”

For Fallon, although she knew she always wanted to play out of state, coming to Indiana was not planned.

“I literally visited this school on a whim,” the Newport Beach native said. “I was kind of late in my decision, but once I visited I basically made my mind up because the campus is beautiful. I love the team and coaches, and just all the vibes I got from IU is what made me choose this program.”

One thing this junior class has gained is experience in playing in big games. Last year as sophomores, the class played in seven overtime games, only losing one of those, and it had six come-from-behind wins. This junior class also played a huge role on the Hoosier team that went 13-7-3 and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament last season, the furthest any team has gone in school history. This season the Hoosiers look to continue the recent success.

“I think it is a certain amount of pressure (to succeed) but it’s a pressure we thrive on, because we don’t have a senior class above us, so we have to lead the team.” said Lawrence, a first team All-Big Ten selection last season. “It’s not like we are juniors who haven’t played before and sat on the bench the whole time. We have juniors that have experience, know what to do and just basically want to carry the team.”