Coach Wants Goalkeeper Roy to Pump Up the Volume
There may be no odder match than Kirsten Roy and Marine Cano. Yet, there may not be a better one.
Roy, UC Irvine’s freshman goalkeeper, wouldn’t say boo on Halloween. Her coaches, from the youth sports to high school to club teams, have pleaded--even demanded--that Roy make her presence known on the field.
Then there’s Cano, the Anteaters’ coach who has little use for punctuation when he talks.
In this immovable object vs. irresistible voice struggle, the team may benefit.
Roy was a top goalkeeper in Southern California club circles. She was good enough to be invited to the Olympic Development Program’s Western Regional camp each of the last two years. Cano is a former professional goalkeeper who last played for the Los Angeles Heat in 1990.
So, despite the decibel difference, the blending of Roy’s skills and Cano’s expertise has worked.
“He is very vocal,” Roy said, “and he teaches a lot.”
That’s about as close to a filibuster as Roy gets.
Roy, playing on a tender knee, has stepped into the Anteater goalkeeper slot, replacing the graduated Stephanie Boes. Roy has started all five games, giving up five goals--four were by third-ranked Portland--and Irvine is 4-1.
“There are a lot of coaches who think starting a freshman at keeper is a gamble,” Cano said. “I firmly believe she is one of the best recruits in the country. I’ve seen the others who were rated higher and there is no comparison.”
Except in one area. If silence is golden, Roy is 14-karat.
It is unusual for a keeper, whose clear vision of the field requires almost constant communication with teammates, to be so reserved. Roy, though, has been known to hold her tongue. One former coach even went so far as to make Roy shout, “Keeper,” over and over during an entire practice in an attempt to break her out of her shell.
“She gives the correct instructions, but she’s just too quiet,” Cano said.
Cano has fixed this problem before. He has just finished four years of therapy with Boes, who went from a shrinking violet to a shrieking one.
“It’s a dead heat right now which one was more quiet at this stage,” Cano said. “I’ll step in the goal for a sequence [during practice] and give the correct words at the correct volume. Then I have her go in for me and do it the same way.”
Said Roy: “Actually, he doesn’t do anything new. He just tells me to talk more. Actually, it’s kind of an order.”
She only has three-plus seasons to go.
“She’s going to have to get used to me,”’ Cano said. “I’m very demanding.”
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Cano has no complaints with Roy’s grit. She had practiced and played little during the summer because of a knee injury. In fact, she sat out for a month and wasn’t cleared to play until two days before the Anteaters’ opener.
“It was hard going into the first game, because I hadn’t practiced very much,” said Roy, who attended Aliso Niguel High. “I hadn’t really worked on crossing shots or diving or even touching a ball. I wasn’t in playing shape. It was kind of scary.”
Still, Roy made four saves in a 3-0 shutout against Oregon State.
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Striker Nicole Bucciarelli scored two goals in the Anteaters’ 4-1 victory over Cal State Northridge Sunday, making her the all-time leading scorer in the women’s soccer program. Bucciarelli, a junior, has 33 goals and eight assists, giving her 74 points, one more than Shawna Berke (1991-94).
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Ryan Bailey, the water polo team’s leading scorer last season, will redshirt this year, leaving him one year of eligibility.
Why sit a player who was a second-team All-American last season and has 158 points in three seasons?
“I like keeping a player around for five years,” Coach Ted Newland said. “They are much nicer to deal with when they’re 22. They’re more mature and stronger and they work better. Mainly, they are nicer.”
You can’t argue with success. Newland, in his 32 seasons as the Anteater coach, has a 605-242-5 record. He also has redshirt seniors Greg Finley and Robert Allaire in the lineup. Both served their “Newland mission” last season. Also returning is goalkeeper Tom Davis, a second-team All-American.
The good news for Irvine is the Anteaters were ranked sixth in the coaches’ preseason poll. The bad news is that the five teams ahead of them are also in the Mountain Pacific Conference.
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If nothing else, the resumes around the Anteater basketball coaching office look good. There are five national championship rings among the four coaches.
First-year head Coach Pat Douglass won three at Division II Cal State Bakersfield. Assistant coach Todd Lee won one as Douglass’ assistant last season. And assistant coach Cameron Dollar won one as a player at UCLA in 1994-95.
The only one empty-handed is Len Stevens, a former head coach at Nevada.
“Hey, someone has to pull the wagon around here,” Stevens said.
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The men’s basketball team caught its first break, and will not face former Anteater Kevin Simmons in the Dec. 23 game against Nevada Las Vegas. Simmons, a 6-foot-7 forward, was suspended for the Rebels’ first 14 games last week because he received benefits from a sports agent.
Keon Clark, the Rebels’ 6-11 center, was suspended for the first 11 games for the same violation.
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Coming Attractions
Here’s a look at key games this week for UC Irvine:
* Men’s and women’s cross-country host 15 teams in UC Irvine Invitational, 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Central Park in Huntington Beach.
* Men’s soccer plays at Oregon State at 2:30 p.m. Friday and at Gonzaga at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
* Women’s soccer plays UCLA at El Camino College at 7 p.m. Wednesday and hosts San Jose State at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Bruins feature Rhi Tanaka (Marina High) and Sommer Hammoud (Los Alamitos High).
* Women’s volleyball hosts the University of San Diego at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
* Water polo plays its season opener against NCAA runner-up USC at noon Saturday at Heritage Park.
