Photos courtesy of VMI

The VMI women's soccer team huddles during a game against Navy this season. The Keydets are 8-9-2, 4-3-1 in the Big South, this fall.

Celine Ziobro is one of only two seniors on the Keydets.

LEXINGTON -- Once upon a time, Celine Ziobro was accustomed to winning.

Her high school soccer team won the Nevada state championship. Her club team won just about every time it took the field.

Then, she came to VMI.

She came for the education, the opportunity, her future.

The soccer? That's another story.

Ziobro and Megan Strand are the only seniors on the VMI women's soccer team that has lifted itself from Big South boot scraper to contender in a single season.

The Keydets (8-9-2, 4-3-1) cap their season with a home game against High Point at 2 p.m. Sunday. They have already secured an invitation to the Big South tournament -- a preseason goal -- and have doubled their combined total of league wins from the four previous Big South seasons.

Picked in the preseason poll to finished lead-sinker last, the Keydets have a shot at second place in the conference if Charleston Southern loses to Presbyterian today and VMI wins Sunday.

"It's exhilarating," Ziobro said. "I came from a club team where we never lost. Coming here as a freshman, we worked our butts off, so I didn't mind losing. Buy I sort of forgot how it felt to win.

"We get a lot of compliments from people up on the Hill. We get a lot more interest, a lot more support. We're one of the only teams at VMI that's winning, and it's the women."

VMI did not admit women students until the fall of 1997. It's women's soccer program began in 2003 under the direction of Julie Davis and joined the Big South in 2004, going 0-8.

Coach Bryan Williams took over in 2005. His challenge, like that of all VMI coaches, is R and R -- recruiting and retention. But recruiting to a women's soccer program with no history of its own, has its special set of problems.

"Some of the girls I talk to from out of state have never heard of VMI and don't know what that means, and some from in-state have some misconceptions," said Williams, a Washington and Lee graduate.

Williams touts the growing program, meaning a prospect is definitely going to get a chance to play, along with the academics and the military system as benefits of VMI.

"On the other hand, VMI is not for everybody," he said. "I am certainly told 'no' more than I am told 'yes.' I have to look for the right personality."

Playing a mix of NAIA and Division III teams in addition to their Division I schedule, the Keydets were 12-24 and 1-15 in the league in Williams' first two seasons.

Last year was the first VMI played a complete Division I schedule, and the Keydets went 5-13-2 overall and 1-6 in the Big South. They made the league tournament for the first time, but lost to Coastal Carolina in the first round.

They played with only 15 on the roster, allowing opponents with deeper benches to substitute regularly, which often wore the Keydets down. This year, Williams said his recruiting has netted him 17 players with enough skill that wholesale substitutions are dangerous.

Still, it's the blend of personality and skill that has made this team successful.

"What I love about this team is that everybody is so close," said freshman Olivia Moore, who is known on the Hill as a rat, but in Big South circles as the league's leading scorer.

Moore has 12 goals, two assists and 26 points, leading the league in both goals and points.

"I've learned a lot this year," Moore said. "I've become more dangerous on attack. I've learned how to hunt for the ball. I was taught to just hang around and let the ball be fed to me. Now I move around and make opportunities."

Moore said: "Having soccer, being on a team with a bunch of girls, is important. The school is pretty much male-dominated.

"We make girlie jokes, talk about stuff, boyfriends and relationships and stuff."

Sophomore goalkeeper Heidi Beemer said she didn't think she would still be at VMI if it wasn't for soccer.

"Through the rat line, my closest friends were on the team," Beemer said. "It helps us a lot. When we were rats we had two strikes against us, 1, being a girl and 2, being an athlete [be]cause athletes get out of everything, according to the corps."

Beemer said winning has changed some of that attitude.

"We used to get back to the barracks and they'd ask 'how was that loss?' They'd just expect you to lose," Beemer said. "Now it's like 'Hey, how'd you do?' and 'Nice win.'"

Beemer was a backup in goal last season, but has been a starter this year and ranks third in the league with a 1.24 goals against average. She is second in the Big South with a .82 saves percentage.

Strand is in a five-way tie for second in the Big South with five assists and is tied with junior Chrissy Beach for second on the team in scoring with 15 points.

"We've been taking baby steps, and now we've taken a toddler step," said Ziobro, who has won a spot in the Air Force pilot training program upon graduation. "Now that we've made it better, us girls have made it better, now maybe they can get some better recruits.

"Now they can start getting into building the framework."