On Campus: Cary-Grove grad Rebecca Koch earns starting role for South Carolina soccer team

Regular-season losses are a rare occurrence for South Carolina’s women’s soccer team.

The 10th-ranked Gamecocks, who advanced to the NCAA College Cup semifinals last fall, have lost once in the past two years in the regular season.

But when the team lost, 2-1, last weekend to North Carolina State, there was no panic.

“The team we start off as in August is not the team we’re going to end the season with,” said Cary-Grove graduate Rebecca Koch. “We will have grown a lot by then.”

As a junior defender who has moved into the starting lineup this season, Koch sees plenty of promise on a team with one senior and 13 freshmen.

“We’ve had two great seasons, so it’s definitely going to be different,” she said. “We are going to lose some games. It’s how we learn and grow.”

Despite playing in only six games last season because of injury, Koch’s own growth was the result of a busy offseason and two strong examples the past two seasons.

“It’s definitely been a transition getting a lot more minutes,” Koch said. “In the summer, I did a really good job coming in fit and ready to go.”

Koch said South Carolina’s players all return to campus to work out and play pickup games together beginning July 1. The workouts build camaraderie and trust with new members of the team.

“By the time preseason comes around, we’ve already been together for a month and build that team chemistry,” she said.

Koch said two seniors on last season’s team, midfielders Lindsey Lane and Dominique Babbitt, were important factors in guiding her career in a positive direction.

With Lane and Babbitt as key contributors, South Carolina went 40-5-2 the past two seasons.

“Getting to play with them brought me into the college game easier,” she said. “It helped me adjust to the game faster. If I had a question, they were more than willing to help. And seeing their work ethic was helpful. Even if practices were short, they made sure that we were sharp and efficient.”

This offseason, Koch worked on sharpening her skills to fit South Carolina’s style of play.

“Unlike other teams, who play longer balls for their forwards to run on to, we possess the ball and play out of the back,” she said. “So I’m really working on possessing the ball, only taking one or two touches, quickly playing and getting it out of my feet. The last few games, I’ve done that really well.”

Koch credits the team’s depth and willingness to learn as reasons they can make another postseason run.

“When we sub, our level of play doesn’t go down,” Koch said. “I’m still learning a lot. I learn every practice and every game. It’s been great to play a bigger role on the team.”

Shining at SEMO: Huntley grad Ally Dion, a sophomore defensive specialist at D-I Southeast Missouri, posted a team-high 26 digs last weekend to help the Redhawks (3-0) to the championship of the Troy (Alabama) Invitational.

Dion had a season-best 11 digs in a 3-0 win against the host school to lock up the title. SEMO, which won only 11 matches last season, swept all three opponents at Troy, including Southern University and Southeastern Louisiana.

Sunny start in Miami: In her debut last weekend for Miami, junior middle blocker Bridget Wallenberger (Jacobs) had 19 kills and a team-leading 14 blocks for the Hurricanes (2-1) in the Sunshine State Challenge.

Wallenberger, a transfer from UW-Milwaukee, is one of four new starters for Miami, which finished 22-6 last season. She had nine kills and six blocks in a season-opening 3-1 win against Florida Atlantic.

Bahl on target: In his debut as the starting quarterback Thursday at NCAA Division II Ashland (Ohio) University, Billy Bahl complete 71 percent of his passes in the No. 15 Eagles' 21-17 loss to fourth-ranked Indiana (Pennsylvania) Bahl finished 15-for-21 passing for 115 yards.

Ashland finished 11-2 last season and advanced to the second round of the D-II playoffs.

On par at Augustana: Crystal Lake Central grad Rylie Schurter has the second-best scoring average (84) this season for the D-III Augustana College women's golf team. Schurter finished second at the Carl Sandburg Invitational with a score of 85 and placed fifth at the Monmouth Triangular with a round of 83.

• Barry Bottino writes a weekly column about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at barryoncampus@hotmail.com and follow @BarryOnCampus on Twitter.