Kristin Luckenbill Soccer

Today Kristin Luckenbill is one of the top goalkeepers in the premier women’s soccer league in the world. She had no idea it would turn out this way.

Two years ago, the 23-year Paoli, Pa. native was happy for the chance to play soccer anywhere. She had finished a stellar career at Dartmouth, one which saw her named first team All-Ivy three times and All-American twice. She was the Ivy League Player if the Year as a sophomore.

After college, Luckenbill played for the Boston franchise in the W-League, a minor women’s pro circuit, but her life changed drastically on December 10, 2000 when the Carolina Courage of the WUSA called her name in the 10^th round of the league’s inaugural draft.

"Even in my senior year in college, even after people said there's going to be this league, I still didn't think it was true until after I got drafted," Luckenbill recalled. "I was still thinking, "It's not going to happen. (But) it’s the second year now and everything's been going really, really well. It’s something I never expected to be here and I'm very, very happy that it is."

The WUSA, of course, became a viable concept in the aftermath of the United States victory at the 1999 Women’s World Cup, an event which caused millions of Americans to pay attention to women’s soccer for the first time.

"It gives me chills to think how many people watched every one of their games," Luckenbill said, especially the final game. That was brand new for women’s sports; that had never happened before. So I really think we’re starting something great here and I hope it can continue, not only in soccer, but in other sports too."

As her sport has matured and grown, so has Luckenbill’s game. She took over as Carolina’s starting keeper midway through the 2001 season and played well, allowing just 1,8 goals per game in 11 appearances, despite her team’s dismal last place finish.

This year things have been quite different and Luckenbill has emerged as one of the best keepers in the league.

"Its a lot harder to start out halfway through the year," Luckenbill said. "The team was kind of disjointed, we had lost almost all our games, we had no confidence, we would change formations every week. It was really hard for me to step in and take a commanding role from the beginning. But this year, in the starting role from Day One of preseason and knowing it in the offseason, it just let me prepare for it mentally a lot better from the beginning.

Luckenbill isn’t the type of goalkeeper who will admonish her defenders when things aren’t going well, but she believes in constant communication in the back. "I think everyone makes mistakes," she said, "so yelling at them isn’t going to help it. All the defenders and myself are usually holding an ongoing conversation, telling each other where we should be, what we should be doing, what we’re doing, so that everyone’s kind of on the same page. For that reason we’re doing a lot better this year. Even if we’re doing the wrong thing, at least everyone knows what everyone’s doing."

Luckenbill is aware of the social impact the WUSA is making, on and off the field, and is proud to be a 21^st-century pioneer. "I think it’s great for all women," she said, "just having strong women as role models, whether or not they’re athletes. We’re out in the public, we’re out on the field, we’re out at different events all the time.

"I don’t want to say I didn’t have strong women to look up to, but there just weren’t as many of them, they weren’t as visible…It’s really amazing to feel like such a part of it and be there when the first legitimate league starts up in the entire world. That is such an amazing feeling. I’m just lucky to be 23 years old and a good soccer player."