Friday, September 04, 2009
Women's soccer coach fishes for challenges
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
e-mail ray.cox@roanoke.com or call 381-1672
Ray Cox
Recent columns
As with any coach of an NCAA Division I sport you care to mention, Ben Sohrabi is a competitive cuss.
Naturally, it's a personality type that lends itself well to the task of building a women's soccer program.
Sohrabi, 39, has certainly done that at Radford University, the reigning Big South Conference champion. Last year's title was the third in Sohrabi's 13 years at Radford.
Yet as if battling year in and year out to win the league and advance to the NCAA tournament isn't enough competition for him, Sohrabi takes his revved-up internal motor to other arenas, particularly watery ones.
That's right, last year's state women's soccer coach of the year as voted by the colleges' sports publicists is a committed tournament bass fisherman when he isn't on the pitch or recruiting road.
This season, he and partner Tim Campbell of Christiansburg fished the required five Fishers of Men tournaments to win the Southwest Virginia Division of that circuit and qualify for nationals next year. Sohrabi and Campbell won the first local qualifying tournament and were in the top five in the other four.
The bodies of water involved included Smith Mountain thrice, Buggs Island and Philpott.
"Like you said, I'm a competitor," Sohrabi said. "Since I got old and overweight and out of shape, I get my competition from fishing."
Not that there's any lack of competition in the Big South. Radford lost only once in the league last year, to Coastal Carolina, rebounding in the tournament to upend the Chanticleers in the final.
A number of key players return from the team that made the one-round trip to the NCAAs last year. Among that group are six seniors and a sophomore goal-keeper.
Of that group, five are used to a defensive orientation. On the back line is Amanda Heins and Jill Boyer, where last year they played with Caitlyn Roan and Jackie Cozza. The latter two have new assignments in the midfield this year. Cozza retains some defensive responsibilities.
All that should be of great comfort to keeper Lisa Lubke, a first-team all-conference selection last year. As good as she was, it would have been difficult to envision such a sensational season without the considerable contributions of members of the back line.
"There's no doubt about it," Sohrabi said. "They were a huge part of it."
The key for the younger player was the ability of the veterans to communicate with her and keep her spirits high after the disappointments that are a keeper's inevitable burden.
Defense and goal-keeping will be the foundation of this year's team. The previous edition had, by contrast, substantial firepower, much of it now gone to graduation.
Until the next generation of Radford sharpshooters emerge from the shadow cast by their predecessors, the defense will not rest.
It certainly hasn't so far.
In the Highlanders first two games last weekend, victories over Tennessee Tech and Howard, one goal was yielded in four halves.
The other senior in the group of returning starters is forward Justine Dugger, who scored four goals to go with an assist last year. Dugger has a big shot and a knack for scoring goals in crucial situations. There ought to be plenty more of those now that Radford has established itself as the team to beat in the league.
"There's no doubt, we've got that target on our back," Sohrabi said. "But I'd rather have that target and people's respect."
The respect would increase exponentially if soccer becomes the second team in university history to make an NCAA tournament and advance.
"That's the goal every year," Sohrabi said. "This year, there's some pressure with the expectations, sure. I think the players are a little tight."
Who is under the most pressure?
One candidate would be Lubke. Any goal keeper could be one play away from a psychiatrist's sofa. Sohrabi doesn't worry about it.
"She's the kind of keeper who you can count on to make the saves she's supposed to," he said. "But every once and a while, she's going to make one she's not supposed to. That's the mark of the difference between a good keeper and a great one."
Radford knew what it was getting defensively at midfield and on the back line. Heins opened the season on a brisk note when she scored the team's first goal on a corner kick in the 2-1 win over Howard. It was her first career goal.
"It was actually rather shocking," she said. "I really never thought I would score. But it was really exciting, especially being able to score the goal before halftime and help us get a lead. It got everybody's momentum up and brought us all together."
Heins was named conference player of the week for her efforts. She thought that was great, but she has bigger goals.
Speaking of big, the heftiest bass Sohrabi ever caught was a 9-pound bonecrusher apprehended after a major battle on Kentucky Lake. There was a sad story that went with the capture, though.
"I caught him during the free fish before a tournament," Sohrabi said. "He would have won best fish by 3 pounds the next day. I had to let it go. I tried to go back to that spot the next day and of course it was gone."
That's where the Highlanders want to be come November, long gone to the NCAA tournament.
