There is no doubt that the Cabrini University women’s soccer team has a lot to live up to in the 2016 season. With five consecutive CSAC championships under their belt and under the wing of their head coach of fourteen years Ken Prothero, the team’s dynamic is under drastic reconstruction this year.
With only three returning seniors and 14 freshmen joining the mix, the women’s soccer team constantly reinforce that they “don’t rebuild, they reload.”
“As a team we all give 110 percent at practice,” junior midfielder Marisa Christensen said. “Whether it’s being aggressive with each other or working on our ball skills, that extra push of positive criticism as student-athletes prepares freshmen on the field and in the classroom.”
Many are looking to the four 2016 captains, Jess Breuning, Allie Vallen, Brittany Runyen and Taylor Tralie, to lead the team to their sixth CSAC championship. Meghan Horn, a senior midfielder, believes they most definitely have what it takes to make Cabrini history.
“Teams are out there to get us, to knock us off, to beat us but our team has what it takes to get that sixth consecutive,” Horn said. “Those four together [Breuning, Vallen, Runyen and Tralie] are the leaders this team needs. We are a team with great chemistry. That’s all that it takes.”
If hard work and team chemistry is all that it takes, the Cabrini women’s soccer team will soar through the 2016 season; from team time before practice to pasta parties and homework sessions, these women bond on and off the field.
“Having such a strong team chemistry off the field definitely translates into our game and that’s exactly why I think Cabrini women’s soccer has been so successful over the past five years,” Christensen says. “The upperclassmen and returning players are constantly there for support and advice. Our coaches take a family approach both on and off the field.”
