Women Return With League Title

a player to do. She finishes plays; she scores the goals."

Right next to St. Louis in both position and number of goals scored in 1978 is Brynteson, a team captain for the second year in a row.

Brynteson's excellent skills and strength came together last year in the final game of the Ivy League Women's Soccer Championships when she tallied all three goals against a helpless Brown team and boosted the Crimson to a first-place finish. The performance earned her the tournament's MVP award.

Hart, who also is known for her marathon running, is a steady player who works well snder pressure.

The female D'Artagnan of the four Musketeers is sophomore Cat Ferrante. She broke into the lineup as a freshman and has remained there ever since.

Ferrante's speed is exceptional--in practice this fall she broke the record of a dribbling drill by 20 seconds--but Scalise was quick to point out recently that "all the girls are fast."

Although the forward line looks solid, "there are always people trying to move in," Scalise said. These "people" include 1978 in-and-out starter Marcia Hamelin and any walk-ons or freshmen.

The departure of starters Kathy Batter and Wendy Sands have left some openings in the defense, but Stephie Baum will provide a strong base upon which to build.

Last year's defense allowed just nine goals during the season, and star goalie Barb Mahan will continue to frustrate other teams this year.

Other players to watch are Rian Smith and Natalie Roe--both of whom started on the team two years ago and are rejoining the squad this season--and Wendy Carle and Wendy Sonabend.

With the booters sporting a high return rate and better now than they did during preseason last year, it seems logical that the Crimson will continue to dominate New England soccer this season. Scalise, however, is taking nothing for granted.

"What we did last year was great, but this is a completely new year," he said. "The status of women's soccer changes so rapidly that we just don't know how good the other teams are going to be, so all we can do is work to be as good as possible. And that's all we can ask for."

Scalise said Brown won't be the chief threat to swipe the Ivy League crown. The Bruins' program has grown steadily over the years. After Brown, Yale--which lost to Harvard in a 1-0 nailbiter--Princeton and Dartmouth all look strong.

But if Scalise is correct in believing that hard work will make or break a team, the Crimson should be playing the Cosmos in the Meadowlands.

For about the past two weeks, Scalise has been holding triple sessions to improve the team's skills and speed as well as work on game strategies.

This year we are working more on the concept of team play and less on individual skills," Baum said.

In this regard, Scalise is using last year as a stepping stone to raise the level of the Crimson's play this season.

"Players learn the fundamentals through experience, and then you continue to build," Scalise said.

Since women are starting to play soccer at earlier ages now, they have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals when they are younger.

Little by little, collegiate women's soccer is expanding to meet the boom; and this year, for the first time, there will be a New England tournament to be held at Brown. (The Ivies will be at Harvard.)

While Scalise's training schedule would turn the average person away from sports for the rest of his life, the Booters are actually enjoying practice and getting excited about the upcoming season.

"The psyche of the team is really good," Scalise said. "As far as teams go, this is an unusually hard-working group of people."

And as far as teams go, this team certainly will go far.