University of the Cumberlands Women’s Soccer 2008 Wrap-Up

The University of the Cumberlands Women’s soccer team rounded out their season with an overall record of 13-5-1 and a conference record of 5-1. The Patriots are coming off their second winning season in 6 years. In 2007, they ended the season 16-5, which makes this the best back to back record in the program's history. In 2007 and 2008 the Patriots had a combined record of 29-10-1.

Cumberlands fell shy of being ranked in the NAIA’s Top 25 this year as they started the pre-season ranked 36th. The Patriot ladies had a rocky start, but finished up the season strong as they won 9 out of their last 10 regular season games. This performance earned the ladies a 2nd place seed in regular season conference action.

In the Mid-South Conference Tournament, the Patriots hit the field against Campbellsville University in semi-final action. The ladies fell short of a win as they tied the tigers 2-2 in double overtime. This led to a round of penalty kicks where the Tigers advanced 4-3.

The Patriot Ladies were honored at the MSC Tournament, when they had players named to the All-Conference team, Academic All-Conference team, and as the MSC’s Champion of Character. Receiving the award for MSC All-Conference Team and the MSC’s Champion of Character was Rebecca Rube (Louisville, KY). Named to the MSC Academic All-Conference Team was: Jamie Dubeck (Clarksville, TN), Lindsay Embry (Beaver Dam, KY), Courtney Hamm (London, KY), Lauren Howe (Dry Ridge, KY), Sarah Kamalian (Springboro, OH), Rebecca Rube, and Nery Saucedo (Bartow, FL).

Head Coach Aron Bassoff finishes up his fourth season as the Cumberlands Coach and he is particularly pleased at how the season ended up. "It was a solid season and winning our last 9 out of 10 regular season games says a lot about our team and the commitment to being successful,” said Bassoff. “I believe that was, in large part, a by-product of our success that we had in 2007 when we went 16-5. The expectations for the program now are to win and starting the season ranked 36th shows that we have the potential to be a top 25 team. That will be our goal next year.”

Cumberlands will lose 4 key players who have left big shoes to fill for next season. Rebecca Rube broke the all-time scoring record as she has a total of 56 career goals for the Patriots. "Her ability to score in our last 10 games of the season was a big part of our success," commented Bassoff. Rube also led the team in points this season, with 41. Nery Saucedo tied to lead the Patriots in assists with 8. "Natalia de Pires Oliveira (Osasco, Brazil) and Jamie Dubeck were solid contributors to the team and had a good attitude throughout the season and their career," said Coach Bassoff.

Looking on to next season the leading scorer from 2007, Leslie Allred (Anderson County, TN), will return to help relieve the pressure of replacing Rube. Davin Caudill (Frankfort, KY) will return to play a key role in the midfield and provide a scoring potential, as she did this season. Jamie Roberts (Owensboro, KY) is another returnee who will play a key role for the Patriots as she was the second leading scorer this season and the co-assist leader. Another key returner will be freshmen midfielder Tiffany Miller (Coxs Creek, KY), who had a good first year playing as a Patriot. Bassoff had this to say about Miller, "Now that she has one year under her belt I expect very good things from her next year and she can also take on the position of outside back, which will only make us stronger."

Defensively, the Patriots will return Heather Lopez (Louisville, KY), Courtney Hamm, Renai Medeiros (Stoney Creek, Ontario Canada) and Jaylan Irwin (Owensboro, KY) who all played very well this season. Bassoff commented on the ladies defense. "Heather was as solid as she was last year, Courtney progressed from last year to this year and ended up being a big key for us on defense while Renai started in 16 games on the defense helping to maintain our unit. Jaylan was the biggest surprise in the fact that she emerged as a great outside back." Also, returning for the Patriots defensively is the goalie, Brittney Gadd (Mercer, PA). Brittney earned 63 saves this season with only 20 goals against.

As a team, the Patriots dominated their opponents throughout the season. The ladies outshot their opponents 374 to 147, had a 2.8% goals per game as opposed to the 0.9 by opponents, and they had a team total of 37 assists when compared to 12 assists by the opposing teams.

All in all, the Patriot ladies had a good season and have a great season ahead of them as they return several starters to the field. "I anticipate that we will have a number of key signings that will bring us a lot of competition for starting positions and give me more flexibility in who I play where," says Bassoff. Coach Bassoff also hopes that several freshman returners that did not get the chance to play much this year will step up and compete for a starting position next season.

The women's soccer program is in a good position to achieve their goal and become one of the top 25 teams in the nation for the 2009 season.

[2007 Wrap-Up] [2006 Wrap-Up] [2005 Wrap-Up] [2004 Wrap-Up]