From today's Marietta Daily Journal:

Quote:KSU women s soccer team gets up to speed

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 3:05 AM EDT

By David Friedlander
Marietta Daily Journal Sports Writer

For Kennesaw State women's soccer coach Rob King, this week is almost like the opening week of preseason practice.

That's because it has been about that long since the Owls (2-1-1) have had their entire roster intact, as injuries and other issues have kept the Owls shorthanded.

But when the Owls travel to Panthersville Field to participate in the Georgia State/Marriott Invitational - where they will take on the host Lady Panthers on Friday at 4 p.m. and Tennessee Tech at 2 p.m. on Sunday - they will be at full strength.

Last season's leading scorer, Laura Tucker, will be making her 2005 debut Friday after suffering a concussion early in preseason practice. One of the defensive stalwarts, junior Rebecca Hall, will play in her second game since finishing a summer semester class to gain her eligibility.

Add in several other players limited by bumps and bruises, and King is just happy to have a winning record.

"I'm real pleased where we are," King said. "We've had to throw some players into positions where they haven't played before or practiced before. To a great degree, we've changed our formats as little."

The moves have worked, at least since a season-opening 4-0 loss Aug. 28 at Clemson. The Owls have since defeated defending Conference USA champion Alabama-Birmingham and fellow CUSA member Tulane by identical 2-0 scores, and pushed Big East member Pittsburgh to a 0-0 tie.

Defense has been the key, with goalkeeper Jessica Marek being the main focal point.

The 6-foot senior from Huntsville, Ala., has posted three straight shutouts covering more than 311 minutes, since the opening loss despite recovering from a rib injury suffered in KSU's exhibition opener against Auburn on Aug. 19.

That performance earned Marek the Atlantic Sun Conference's Defensive Player of the Week award the last two weeks. But she says the main credit belongs to her defenders, who have limited opponents scoring opportunities and allowed her ribs a chance to heal. 

"It was pretty bad at first," Marek said of playing injured. "I'm much better than I was at that point, but the girls always play really well in front of me. Really, I don't think I deserve the awards. It was all them."

King also had high praise for the Owls defenders' performance with Marek playing injured and with Hall out.

While senior, and former Sprayberry standout, Trina Hirsch has given her usual steady performance along the back line, she has gotten help from younger and less-heralded sources.

"We've started two freshmen on defense," King said. "Jessica Kalonji and Beth Meadors have really helped us, and they've cemented themselves in our lineup.

"We've played very well defensively. We played good team defense against Pittsburgh. They had only two shots on goal, and they were very weak efforts."

And with the return of Tucker to a lineup that also includes high-scoring midfielder Jenae Gzehoviak, another ex-Sprayberry star, King is optimistic the offense should begin to improve.

However, the Owls will have their hands full against a Georgia State (4-2) team that has a strong goalkeeper of its own in former Pope standout Alexa Pasquarelli, who has 24 saves and a 1.93 goals against average so far.

And Marek believes Friday's game will be a good tune-up as KSU's opens up Atlantic Sun play at North Florida and Jacksonville next weekend, especially considering GSU played in the Atlantic Sun last season before moving to the Colonial Athletic Association.

"We've always had a rivalry with Georgia State since we played them (in spring exhibition games)," Marek said. "And they've got some physical players. So, it ought to be good."

dfriedlander@mdjonline.com