MSNsportsNET Wrote:One Goal in Mind
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
August 21, 2008


Robin Rushton and her West Virginia teammates open the 2008 campaign against Towson Friday night.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - Senior defender Robin Rushton is ready for her last hurrah in an Old Gold and Blue uniform when the 10th-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team opens up its season with a home match against Towson on Friday night at Dick Dlesk Stadium.

Rushton, one of the team’s returning defenders, brings a solid blend of defensive skills and team leadership to the reigning BIG EAST champions and Elite Eight finalists. More importantly, she has gotten plenty out of her first three seasons in Morgantown and looks to end her career on the right note in 2008.

“Being a senior is kind of unreal,” Rushton admitted. “I feel like I was just a freshman last year and just graduated high school.”

Now that the Scarborough, Ontario, native is heading into her final season, she believes her role on the team has increased over the years. Like any good veteran, Rushton says her intangibles are the most important thing for her to display in front of her teammates.

“It’s really bringing the experience I have as a three-year starter to help the younger players, and to use my experience to help my team as much as I possibly can,” Rushton said.

The Mountaineers enter the season with an impressive front and middle lineup, led by returning All-American midfielder Amanda Cicchini and 2006 All-American forward Deana Everrett. Junior midfielder and All-BIG EAST Second Team player Carolyn Blank also returns to give WVU a star-studded presence on the offensive end.

However, the back line must adjust with the departures of Natalie Cocchi and Krystle Kallman, both tallying 151 starts combined. Although All-American senior Greer Barnes returns to help Rushton anchor the defense, last year’s role players and a talented freshmen class will have an opportunity to get their feet wet and help fill the void.

“We need to bring them in and make them a part of the team that we worked with over the spring,” Rushton said of the freshmen. “It’s just a matter of bringing the team concepts together, getting all of our individual talents and forming it into one.”

Rushton looks to feed off her play from last season, when she shined the brightest for her team toward the end of the season. The Scholar All-East Region honorable mention player performed admirably in the BIG EAST tournament to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team. She also helped guide the program to its first-ever conference championship with an exciting penalty kick win over Notre Dame.

Now this season’s squad comes with a target on its back; not just within the conference but throughout the country. The Mountaineer program is at an all-time high and boasts a team that is prepared to go even farther than the final eight.

“A lot of people don’t think we can do it again,” Rushton said of the team’s quest for back-to-back conference titles. “But I think the best part about the team is we are all extremely competitive. If you came to watch one of our practices and we’d have 4-4-4 we would be tearing each other’s hair out. I think it’s important that we keep that mentality and we know that we can get back there, we should get back there and we have to get back there.”

While she exudes great physicality and competitiveness when anchoring the back line, Rushton is more conscious of possessing a stronger mentality than her opponents. She stresses to her squad that going into a game with the better mindset is perhaps the greatest advantage that a team can have.

“We need to stay focused; that’s the biggest part of anything because the season is so long and so short at the same time,” Rushton said. “As long as we stay mentally focused I think we’ll go very far because we have worked so hard over the spring and summer. It’s just a matter of staying mentally focused throughout the season.”

The Mountaineers will certainly need to put the blinders on when facing some of the country’s premier opponents, as Top 25 squads Notre Dame, Virginia, Connecticut, Tennessee and Santa Clara are just some of the many difficult opponents at hand for WVU.

But Rushton will never shy away from expressing the confidence she has in herself as well as her teammates. The senior knows that her final straw has a chance to be a special season, and hopes to voyage beyond last year’s record-breaking season.

“Obviously as a senior I hope we have just as good if not better of a season than we had last year,” Rushton said. “It definitely is a goal of ours to go back to the Final Four and play for the national championship.”

That quest begins Friday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m.