Midwesterners Have Immediate Impact on Women's Soccer Team

This may be Greensboro, N. C., and at the Division III level it can be difficult to recruit top-shelf talent for women’s soccer, but Guilford head coach Eric Lewis has found a way to get students to Guilford from the Midwest who otherwise might not play college soccer.

            With five students from the Midwest contributing, the team has enjoyed a seven-game unbeaten streak, and has matched its win total from last year, (6). It is apparent that looking for talent away from the Atlantic Coast is lucrative. It’s actually a funny story how it started too.

Hannah Schiltz '15

            “We’ve had several players from Anne Arundel Community College (Md.) come to Guilford and I’m friends with their coach,” said Lewis. “When they made a national tournament in Kansas I went to watch them play. Another youth soccer tournament was going on there and I went and checked it out.”

            At North Carolina youth tournaments, Lewis estimates a one percent return on his recruits. But at the Kansas event, Lewis had three students come to Guilford, about a 15 percent return.

Bri Eilman '12

            “There aren’t that many Division III schools in the Midwest,” explained Lewis. “The biggest hurdle in getting players to come here is convincing them that DIII soccer isn’t recreation league. Once you get past that and they come here, it’s very exciting.”

            In fact there are only 78 Midwest Division III schools that field women’s soccer teams, just 17 percent of the total Division III schools in the country that sponsor the sport.

            As to why players from the Great Plains would want to come to Guilford, first-year Hannah Schiltz of Ashland, Mo., said, “I just wanted to get away. I live in the middle of the country and so there’s nothing really there. I got some looks from DI and DII but I like it here.”

Bre Rolofson '15

            Schiltz is the team’s leading scorer through 11 games with eight goals and ranked second in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).

            Senior Bri Eilman of Omaha, Neb. played Division I soccer for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln but came to Guilford after a back injury. She made an instant impact, earning Second Team All-ODAC honors in her first two years and serving as a team captain as well.

            “My coach kind of gave up on me (at Nebraska),” said Eilman, whose family is good friends with Lewis. “I just came for a visit and I like it.”

            As a matter of fact, the players from the Midwestern states are assimilating well to the eastern sea board.

            “I’m from Platte City, Mo., which is a suburb of Kansas City, so it’s really big,” said first-year Bre Rolofson when asked how she liked living in Greensboro.

On the other hand, Schiltz, from Ashland, Mo., with a population of 2,000, had a much bigger adjustment to make.

            “Living here is a lot different,” said Schiltz. “There are different groups of people and I’m meeting new people, but that’s why I wanted to get out of my little town.”

            With Lewis’ success recruiting in the Midwest he plans to continue making trips to the middle of the country to find talent.
Story by Will Cloyd