Women's DC Purple and Gold Classic Preview
DC PURPLE AND GOLD CLASSIC SITE
DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Lady Jackets soccer season kicks off this weekend at Defiance College, where the Jackets will host the College of Brockport Golden Eagles and the Greenville College Panthers in the annual DC Purple and Gold Classic. The classic runs from Friday, August 31 through Sunday, September 2, with each team slated for two matches.
The Yellow Jackets fought through a tough 2011 campaign as the squad played with a lot of youth on the field. But third-year head coach Alex Van der Sluijs will aim to take that experience gained and use it to his advantage in the 2012 season. DC returns 15 letterwinners, seven starters and the top-five points scorer's, including Second-Team All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference player Katie Heitkamp.
The Golden Eagles are led by head coach Joan Schockow, who has been with Brockport since 1988. Schockow's 255-160-33 record makes her the all-time winningest coach in school history. The team has not suffered a season record below .500 since 1992 and looks to build off its 2011 season where it finished 11-7-1, but fell in the first round of the State University of New York Athletic Conference Tournament.
Jeff Wardlaw takes over the Panthers women's soccer program for the 2012 season after two years as the associate head coach with the both the men's and women's squads. The Panther's are coming off a 2011 campaign in which they finished 14-8, but fell in the Saint Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Game. However, the club returns its top two points scorer's in juniors Natalie Hanneberry (42) and Kayla Panzau (38).
The classic begins on Friday, August 31st at 5:00 p.m., when Defiance hosts Greenville College in the opening women's match. Preceding the women's game, the Yellow Jacket men's team takes on Greenville College at 3:00 p.m. All DC Classic games will be played on Winsper-Knobel Memorial Field.
