By: Mike Hayes Staff Writer
The fall semester has just begun at Montgomery College, and Rockville’s sports teams are gearing up for the new season. Women’s soccer and volleyball are both looking to defend their Region XX titles and are aiming for an even higher goal, a possible national title run.
Last fall, the Lady Knights soccer team went undefeated in the regular season and won the regional title thanks to last year’s MD Junior College coach of the year, Kelly Wakeman. The team was the top ranked squad in the country for eight weeks last year and finished the season ranked fifth.
“The team is definitely a force to be reckoned with,” said Erica Lloyd, the Marketing/Promotion Coordinator here at MC Athletics. Lloyd expects big things from the school’s teams in her first year at MC. She is also working to see the student body get more involved in supporting athletics, and she expects an increase in attendance at games. Last year, all of the fall teams performed well, and Lloyd, along with the coaches and players, would like to see more recognition of the team’s achievements from students on campus.
As it defends its regional title and aims to surpass that achievement, the women’s soccer team will be led by its leading scorer from last fall, Anna Bolanos, who finished the regular season with 18 goals, an average of one per game.
The other MC team defending its regional title is women’s volleyball, which made it to the national tournament in Minnesota last fall. The regional title was the team’s first and an incredible turnaround from the previous season, in which the girls went 2-14. The team went 20-5 last fall and looks to improve upon that even more with help of returning stars Tori Kenno and Melissa Langendorff, the MVP of the regional tournament. Not only is the team ready to repeat as regional champs, but coach Amir Mafinejad looks to win a second Region XX Coach of the Year award.
The women of MC athletics aren’t the only ones who had a good run in fall 2010. Last year’s men’s soccer team went 14-4-2 and made it to the playoffs. Coach Steven Nakamura has over 20 years of coaching experience and is entering his sixth year as the head coach of the Knights. Men’s soccer enters this season aiming for its first state title since 2006, which was also the year Nakamura was named Maryland State Coach of the Year.
The women’s volleyball season was to begin Saturday, August 27 with a scrimmage against Hagerstown, but the scrimmage was cancelled due to the hurricane. For more information, visit www.montgomerycollege.edu, or contact Sports Information Director Tarlouh Gasque at 240-567-7588 or at [email protected].
