Lancer women’s soccer reloads for fall
Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The next generation of Longwood women’s soccer talent is inbound, as head coach Todd Dyer and associate head coach Rich Stoneman announced the addition of a 13-person class for the upcoming 2022 season.
The incoming cohort includes graduate transfer defender Carolyn Lydecker from Ormond Beach, Florida/Richmond as well as a 12-person freshman class made up of midfielder and forward Hailey Baltzelle from Stafford, defender Madison Campeau from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, forward and midfielder Victoria Drake from Midlothian, forward Emma Jones from Roanoke, defender Hannah McGarvey from Bristow, forward Karleigh Minson from Virginia Beach, midfielder Savannah Noll from Concord, North Carolina, forward and outside back Sydney Robertson from Newport News, goalkeeper Olivia Rouse from Springfield, Claire Schultz from Stevensville, Maryland, goalkeeper Keely Thomas from Richmond and goalkeeper Grace Workman from Greenville, South Carolina.
“We’re very excited about this incoming class, as it addresses every single position on the field,” said Dyer, who is entering his 30th year at the helm of the program.
The class, as always, features a wealth of in-state talent with eight of the 13 newcomers hailing from the Commonwealth, and one apiece from Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
“With four seniors and two graduate students recently moving on to start that next chapter, there is a tremendous opportunity for this group to come in and immediately compete for minutes and on-field roles for us.”
Caroline Lydecker is a 5-foot-8-inch defender from Ormond Beach, Florida who comes to Longwood after playing at the University of Richmond for the past four seasons, with her junior season interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last season, Lydecker started all 18 games as a senior and was one of seven players to play more than 1,000 minutes. Her 1,341 minutes were second on the team, and she played a season-high 110 minutes against High Point in a double-overtime tie. She had a pair of shots on goal as well.
Over her first two seasons, she made 18 appearances and one start before breaking through as a steady defender in her senior year.
She graduated magna cum laude from Richmond with her degree in rhetoric and communications with a minor in journalism, and she earned a scholar-athlete award in each of her final two seasons there while also being on the Dean’s List.
Hailey Baltzelle is a 5-foot-4-inch forward and attacking midfielder from Stafford, who joins the Lancers from Mountain View High School. She lettered the past three seasons and scored 12 goals and added 15 assists over the past two years.
Baltzelle tallied seven goals and four assists through the beginning of May this season as a senior after notching five goals and 11 assists as a junior.
She was named to the first team all-region and second team all-district during her time at Mountain View, and she was a team captain as well.
She played club ball for Fredericksburg Football Club.
Baltzelle is the second in her family to come to Longwood, with her second cousin, Megan Baltzell, cementing herself as one of the best players in Longwood softball history.
Madison Campeau is a 5-foot-9-inch defender from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who comes to Longwood with a pair of conference titles under her belt from South Iredell High School.
In her junior season, she helped the team win the conference tournament while totaling two goals and five assists. As a freshman, she had four assists on a team that won the conference championship in 2019.
This season, she served as a captain while scoring a career best three goals and adding three assists from the defensive backfield. She helped power the team to 12 wins overall.
She played club soccer for the Charlotte Independence.
She is graduating from high school summa cum laude with a 4.5 GPA while being a member of the National Honor Society and the International Baccalaureate program.
Victoria Drake is a 5-foot-4-inch forward and midfielder from 6A power Cosby High School in Midlothian. She was part of a team that won the regional title in 2021.
In her senior year this year, her team was a perfect 17-0 heading into the postseason. The team advanced to the second round of the Region B playoffs before being eliminated in a tight loss.
As a junior, she was out for the season due to an injury before bouncing back this season.
Drake lettered in all four years at Cosby, and she played travel ball with the Richmond Kickers.
Emma Jones is a 5-foot-3-inch forward from Roanoke, who played as a multi-sport athlete in her four seasons. She was a four-time letterwinner at Northside in soccer while also lettering in indoor and outdoor track as well as cross country.
On the pitch, she has totaled 50 goals and 14 assists in her three seasons of soccer (her sophomore year was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). She earned First Team All-District and Second Team All-Region honors twice.
This season, she has posted 20 goals while serving her second season in a row as a team captain, and she is leading her team in goals for a third straight season. She played club ball with VBR Star.
On the track, she was named Second Team All-State in both indoor and outdoor track and placed in the top five as a junior in the 55 meter dash in indoor track. She also holds the school record in the 55 meters, and she was part of a 4×400 meter relay team that was fifth last year in outdoor track.
Hannah McGarvey is a 5-foot-7-inch defender from Bristow, who has played on the varsity team at Patriot High School for three seasons.
Last year, she helped the program accomplish a pair of program firsts as Patriot High School claimed the Class 6 Region B Championship in a thrilling shootout, the first region title in program history. In addition, the team was a Class 6 state finalist for the first time in program history.
She was named Second Team All-District while helping lead her squad secure the Cedar Run District title. She played club soccer for Braddock Road.
McGarvey was named to the principal’s honor roll in each of her first three years, with her senior season still ongoing.
Karleigh Minson is a 5-foot-4-inch forward and attacking midfielder from Virginia Beach, who has scored more than 60 goals in her time at First Colonial High School in addition to winning a state championship.
Minson, the All-Tidewater Player of the Year as a junior, led First Colonial to the 5A VHSL title in 2021 with 21 goals and 11 assists while also serving as a team captain.
She has followed it up this season with more than 25 goals amidst another run to the state tournament, with the season still ongoing.
Her sophomore season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she racked up 20 goals and five assists as a freshman while being named to the all-state second team in 2019. She has been the team’s offensive MVP in both 2019 and 2021, and she has been a team captain for each of the past two seasons. She played club soccer for Beach FC.
Savannah Noll is a 5-foot-9-inch midfielder and forward from Concord, North Carolina who comes to Longwood with a state title from her time at Cox Mill High School.
That state title came in her junior season, as she helped lead Cox Mill to the 3A state championship with 14 goals and eight assists.
She followed it up with a 20-goal campaign along with six assists this spring as her team advanced to the second round of the state tournament.
That playmaking ability has been a part of her high school career, as she finished with 41 goals and 16 assists in her three seasons of high school soccer (her sophomore season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). She earned all-conference and all-region honors, and she has been the player of the game six times. She played club soccer for Charlotte Independence.
She is graduating summa cum laude while also being a member of the National Honor Society, and she has volunteered for 80 hours of community service during her time in high school as part of the Beta Club.
Sydney Robertson is a 5-foot-7-inch forward and outside back from Newport News, who played for four seasons at Menchville High School while earning a variety of accolades during her career.
Robertson racked up 38 goals and 10 assists this season while helping lead her team to the district and region title in the regular season to earn the top seed heading into the playoffs. A team captain, she was named the district player of the year as a senior while also earning a slot on the Peninsula District First Team for the second time.
Her success this season built on a 34-goal, 14-assist campaign as a junior that saw her named First Team All-Tidewater as the team was a state finalist and the Region 4A champion.
Robertson’s goal-scoring prowess began as a freshman, when she totaled 17 goals to go with six assists while earning Peninsula District First Team honors.
She has also played on the Olympic Development Program Virginia State team as well as earning an invitation to the U.S. National Team Women’s Virginia State training camp in 2018. She played club soccer with Beach FC.
In addition, Robertson played a pair of seasons on the Menchville basketball team and helped the team win the district, region and then Class 5 Championship.
Olivia Rouse, who goes by Liv, is a 5-foot-10-inch goalkeeper from Springfield. She lettered for four seasons at West Springfield High School and was a part of the state and district Olympic Development Program (ODP) prior to coming to Longwood.
Rouse racked up 447 saves in her three full seasons of high school soccer (with her sophomore season impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
A team captain and district honorable mention, she helped her team advance to the quarterfinals in the Class 6, Region C playoffs as a senior this season. She posted 167 saves and three shutouts on the year.
As a junior, she set a career mark with 199 saves while shutting out a pair of teams, and she had 81 saves and six shutouts as a freshman.
She played club soccer for the Springfield South County Youth Club, and she advanced to the U18 national quarterfinals while also winning the Jefferson Cup in 2021. She was a part of three straight teams that won the Virginia Championship from 2018-20 at the club level, in addition to her state and district ODP experience.
Claire Schultz is a 5-foot-8-inch midfielder from Stevensville, Maryland who was a multi-sport star in both tennis and soccer at Kent Island High School.
A first team all-state selection as a senior, she tallied nine assists and seven goals while also earning first team all-conference honors while being named the Bayside Conference Player of the Year. She also was a team captain.
She totaled 13 assists and eight goals as a junior, and she was voted the most valuable player on her team in both her junior and senior season. She was also an all-conference honorable mention in her sophomore season. She played club ball with Shore FC.
As a tennis player, she was a state finalist in doubles in 2020-21 while winning the 2A regional doubles title. As a senior, she was a team captain, and she helped her tennis team earn a trio of conference titles.
Off the playing surface, she is a member of the National Honor Society.
Keely Thomas is a 5-foot-9-inch goalkeeper from Richmond, who comes to Longwood following four seasons at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School.
Thomas started in goal in all four seasons of her high school career, which includes a state championship title in her freshman season of high school.
In that freshman season, she posted three straight shutouts through the Class 2 State Finals, including in her team’s 1-0 win over Meridian to clinch the state title.
She was named to the all-region team last season, when she helped lead her team to the region quarterfinals before being knocked out by eventual runner-up Independence.
Thomas also played club soccer for Richmond United.
Off the pitch, she has volunteered for a variety of organizations, adding up to 120 hours, and she is a member of the ASL Honor Society.
Grace Workman is a 5-foot-7-inch goalkeeper from Greenville, South Carolina. She helped lead her team to multiple runs in the state tournament, including a title in 2019 while finishing as the runners up in 2021.
A team captain, she lettered all four years at J.L. Mann, and she racked up 46 shutouts in her high school career.
She was selected to the all-state team, and she also was selected for the Carolina’s Classic all-star game this spring. Workman played club ball with South Carolina United.
As a senior, she also lettered in track, and she served as the student body president. As a part of that, she helped raise $196,000 for Make-A-Wish South Carolina during spirit week earlier this year.