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Lucas meeting her goals at OSU By Tim Trower The first thing Stephanie Lucas hoped to accomplish as a soccer player at Oregon State, the first goal she set for herself, seems so modest now. Her goal had nothing to do with actually scoring goals. The freshman from Eagle Point yearned only to make the traveling team, be one of the top 18 players on a 23-woman squad. Few objectives are so easily met. Maybe she could have aimed for making it to practice on time or putting her cleats on the right feet. "I thought going into this year, it would just be a learning year to catch up with everyone else," says Lucas, the Southern Oregon Conference player of the year the past two seasons. "I didn�t think at all that I�d be playing this much." Not only did she make the traveling squad and achieve her second goal of earning playing time, but the athletic striker with a tremendous drive to succeed has broken into the starting lineup. In her first start last week against Portland State, she fueled a 2-1 victory with a goal � the first of her career � and an assist. Three days later, against 21st-ranked Florida State, Lucas scored OSU�s lone goal in a 2-1 loss. The Beavers, who begin Pac-10 Conference play today with a home match against Arizona, are 6-6. It�s understandable that Lucas didn�t swagger onto the Corvallis campus with great expectations. She would be tossed into the mix with veteran major-college players and newcomers who hailed from far more successful high school teams. At Eagle Point, Lucas was a beacon. At OSU, she started out as just another bulb on the string. "No, to be honest," says Beaver coach Steve Fennah, when asked if he foresaw such a rapid emergence. "Her background of playing competitive games is not as high as many of the kids playing at the Pac-10 level. I thought that would be a hindrance, but she seems to have dealt with the lack of experience and overcome it with hard work." Not being the star is not hard on Lucas, who last year led the Eagles to their first winning season by scoring 37 goals and being named to the all-state first team. She tallied 98 goals and 25 assists in her prep career. "I�ve enjoyed just being a regular player," she says, "and not having all the pressure on my shoulders that I had at Eagle Point. It�s nice knowing that I can improve because there are so many people up here who are so much better than I am." As her original goal was understated, Lucas might be overstating her shortcomings. She is among the four fastest women on the team, says Fennah, and "has the ability to just get out and run and beat people." An aggressive mind-set serves as fuel for her physical talents. Lucas� road to the staring lineup was short, if not uneventful. She played about half of most games in a reserve role, and missed a couple of games after getting whacked in the head against San Jose State and suffering a concussion. She went up for a header with an opposing player behind her. They collided, and Lucas got the worst of it. "We banged heads or elbows or something," she says. "It made me really dizzy." She sat out the rest of that game and the following contest against St. Mary�s. After one more game as a sub, she started against Portland State and scored her first goal. "I�m just starting to feel comfortable," she says. "It�s taken me a while to realize I can play at this level. My first goal helped a lot." On it, she received a pass and broke away, leaving just her and the keeper. "I�ve been in that position a lot," says Lucas, "and just felt comfortable." The keeper came out, and Lucas shot to the right, rocketing the ball past her. "I felt relieved," she says. "I really wanted to score. It took a lot of pressure off me." And, in keeping with her original goal, she�s traveling in the right direction. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.