2008 Women's Soccer Preview

Published: April 13, 2021

GREENVILLE, Ill. - The 2008 edition of the Greenville College women's soccer team has returned to campus following their European tour to continue the strong tradition of Panther soccer. While in Europe the team had an 11 day tour of Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, while also having the opportunity to compete against three professional teams. Ten starters return from the 2007 team, while eight first-year players are a welcome addition to the squad. Greenville's only loss from the 2007 squad was All-American midfielder Natalie Lappe (Greenville, Ill., HS). During her four-year career, Natalie was a four-time SLIAC All-Conference performer as well as a four-time NCCAA All-Region performer. Lappe was named SLIAC Player of the Year in the conference last season and also set a SLIAC conference record by scoring 17 games in a row which places her third all-time in the NCAA.Returning all-conference sophomores Molly Spinder (Morton, Ill., HS), Jackie Sievert (St. Louis, Mo., Francis Howell North) and Nicky Ziegemeier (St. Louis, Mo., Francis Howell) will look to step up in the absence of Natalie's contributions while the senior class of midfielder Tiffany Sanders (Greenville, Ill., HS), defender Keely Scott (Normal, Ill., University HS) and forward Janie Hayward (St. Louis, Mo., Brentwood HS) will also look to provide leadership for the Panthers this season.Greenville also returns a solid junior class that saw significant playing time last season as sophomores. Immediate junior contributors include forward Stormy Hatt (Wesclin, Ill., HS), midfielder Megan Troupe (Waterloo, Ill., HS) and defenders Kim Reddell (Camp Verde, Ariz., HS), Tracy Hardas (Highland, Ill., HS) and Liz Marsh (Wesclin, Ill., HS). Returning in goal for the Panthers is second team all-conference senior goalkeeper Sarah Demaree (Granite City, Ill., HS / SWIC). Last season Sarah finished second in the SLIAC conference in goals against average while also setting a school record of 13 shutouts in 22 games. Reinforcing Sarah in the nets are senior Megan Moore (Pacific, Mo., HS) and newcomer Emily Rose (Springfield, Ill., Chatham Glenwood). The Panthers bring in a solid class of eight new players to the program this year which compliments the previous classes of talented newcomers from across the country. In the midfield sophomore transfer Annie Sevy (Harrisonville, Mo., Univ of Minnesota-Duluth) and freshman Rachel Irwin (Normal, Ill., West) will look to provide immediate contribution to the team. In addition the Panthers will welcome back sophomore Kaitlin Sexton (St. Peters, Mo., Francis Howell) to the defense as she had to miss over half the season last year with a foot injury. As the Panthers look ahead now to the 2008 season they will hope to carry on the success from last year's team as a total of 12 school records were broken last year, including a regular season record of 16-4. The 2007 Panthers set records in goals (83), shots (446), longest win streak (6), longest shutout streak (5 games), shutouts (13), and best goal for/against ratio (+53). Individually in addition to Natalie's records, sophomores Jackie Sievert and Nicky Ziegemeier set school records with Jackie recording 18 assists on the season while Nicky scored the fastest goal in a game (.45 sec) along with her 15 goals on the season. Brian McMahon is in his eighth year as head men's soccer coach and seventh year as head women's soccer coach at Greenville College. Now in his 16th year of coaching soccer, McMahon has coached in the club, high school, and collegiate settings.In McMahon's tenure as coach at Greenville he has recorded 125 wins in eight seasons. In addition, under McMahon's direction he has coached eight NCCAA All-Americans, 49 SLIAC All-Conference performers, seven NCAA All-Region, two CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, and six Professional Development Players. In 2004 senior Seth Huber (Coffeen, Ill., HS) was named the Kyle Rote Jr. Award winner which is given to the outstanding player of the year in the NCCAA. As a player, McMahon competed at Indiana Wesleyan University where he received NCCAA regional and national honors. During his four years at IWU, he competed in the NAIA regional final four two times while also qualifying twice for the NCCAA National Tournament. He also was given the opportunity to compete in England, Ireland, and North Ireland with Athletes in Action following his career. McMahon graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University in 1998 with a bachelor of science degree in psychology. Following graduation, McMahon earned his certified chemical dependency counselor (CCDC) license while counseling juvenile delinquents in a treatment facility. In 2002, he completed a master's degree in sports psychology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.In addition to his coaching responsibilities, McMahon is the SLIAC men's soccer chair and serves on the NCAA and NSCAA central region ranking committees.McMahon currently resides in Greenville, Ill., with his wife Jen who also works at the college as an admissions counselor. They currently have one daughter, MacKenzie (2/9/07), and are expecting twins this season with a due date of October 11. Taking into account the return of 10 starters from the 2007 squad and the addition of eight quality incoming players, the Panthers should again be contenders for the SLIAC conference championship.