Women's soccer coach experiencing growing
pains in teamís second season
By Shreya Bhakta
Daily Forty-Niner
It is only two years old, but like a mother
teaching a child to walk, 49er women's soccer Head Coach Julie Cochran
is carefully over seeing the programís first steps.
Long Beach State launched its second season
of Division I play about a month ago.
Although Cochran said she believes her
team is improving, the 49ersí record still stands at only two wins and
seven losses.
Last year, Cochran took the 49ers to a
9-11 record in their first season of Division I play, proving that Long
Beach is a place where immediate success is achievable.
"Long Beach State has an affordable education,
attractive campus, and the weather is always great year round,î Cochran
said. "It's sitting in a hotbed of talented athletes and coaches."
Cochran took the challenge of building
a Division I program from scratch because she believes she is capable of
achieving goals no matter the obstacles.
"I am the type of person that can set very
high goals and will do whatever it takes to achieve them,î Cochran said.
"The greatest challenge I've faced so far is literally creating something
out of nothing."
That nothing she refers to is the lack
of tradition and shortage of financial support for her program. Her team
has only four scholarship players, while they compete against teams that
have as many as twelve.
"Financially, in order to be competitive
with other Division I teams, scholarships are always a concern," Cochran
said. "Although we don't have the money and it would be nice to have, we
work with what we have."
Cochran brings eleven years of playing
experience and over ten years of coaching experience in high school, college
and semi-pro leagues to help meet the challenge.
Cochran received the job at LBSU after
serving as an assistant at Fresno State under Head Coach Peter Reynaud.
He also coached Cochran as a player at Sonoma State from 1988-91.
As a player, Cochran led Sonoma State to
the NCAA Division II title in 1990 and helped return her team to the championship
game where they lost the following year. During those two years, she served
as team captain and was honored as Sonoma Stateís Athlete of the Year in
1991.
"Education didn't come easy to me, but
I worked hard," Cochran said. "Athletics definitely didn't come easy
to me, but I continued to work hard at my physical fitness."
After graduating with a degree in kinesiology,
Cochran played three years for the Olympic Development Western Region Select
Team that won the gold medal at the U.S. Olympic Festival.
Cochran also played for a semi-pro team,
the Sacramento Storm, which won two national titles.
Meanwhile, Cochran had also begun coaching
Santa Rosa and Clovis junior soccer clubs.
She was hired at Ursuline High School
and led them to the California Interscholastic Federation North Coast Finals
in 1992 and 1994.
Cochran then re-joined her former coach
at Fresno State where she helped coach the Bulldogs to back-to-back 9-11-1
seasons in 1995 and 1996. In 1997, she helped improve the teamís record
to 12-9.
When she took the head coaching job at
LBSU, her goals were clear from the start.
"It's to set this women's soccer program
into the top 25 in five years," Cochran said.
Junior defender Amber Glende thinks Cochranís
plan is achievable.
"This year, I think sheís (Cochran) a
lot more daring in a sense that we have the capabilities of being really
good," Glende said.
Coach Cochran wants the team to be competitive
athletically and emotionally. That is why she has scheduled tougher teams
this year.
Freshman goalkeeper Jihan Elgazzarn said,
"with the Division I program being more built in (this year), weíre being
recognized by more schools as a competitive match-up than last year."
Junior Middle forward Jennifer Reott was
a player who transferred to LBSU after being coached by Cochran at Fresno
State. She described last year as a learning year because everyone was
getting to know the coach.
"This year, everyone is just comfortable
and more mature," Reott said. |
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