Boston College Athletics
Caroline Walden Talks About Women's Soccer
September 03, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 3, 2008
Friday night is the home opener for women's soccer. It's your final season, what are your thoughts going into this game?
I'm very confident in the team. I think we learned a lot from playing Stanford and Oregon State last week. We need to come out hard in the first 15 minutes and continue throughout the whole game. Monday we were off and yesterday we practiced a little bit. Today we will start to work on the Brown system of play.
How different is it dealing with your teammates now that you were named a team captain?
It's a challenge for me. It's a good challenge and it forces me to do something I'm not comfortable with. I'm not known for being the loudest person in a group. I have been under the radar and done my job quietly. Now I have to step out from being under the radar.
There are five consecutive home games on the schedule. How important are these games before you enter the ACC schedule?
We need to win all five of these games. We must stay focused and prepare for the tougher games that are coming along. We can't dog it or we will lose.
What do you tell the eight freshmen about the upcoming ACC action?
I think they got a taste of it during the Oregon State and Stanford games. They realized how different the speed of play is and how hard teams will play. I think when we played Oregon State we didn't come out fast or focused and got away with it. Against Stanford, we came out slow and ended up paying for it. It was awful and but we learned a lesson.
Looking ahead to the ACC schedule, what are the challenges?
Every game in the ACC is a challenge but at the same time we just need to get wins. I can't say it any other way. We are always in the game and then the games we lose, it's by one goal. We never really get blown out. We just need to grind it out and come away with wins.
Since I have been here we have had some big games against Florida State, Duke and North Carolina. We have never beat Florida State or North Carolina. It would be nice to come out with a win.
The team is 2-1-0 and playing well. What do you attribute the success to?
A lot of hard work. We make sure during games and practices to continue to support each other. Or when we do fitness some of the under classmen will struggle. We (upperclassmen) will hop in and run with them.
There are five seniors, have you all set a goal for this season?
When we met last year at the end of the season our goal was to focus on getting to the Final 4, something that has never been done here.
What are your plans for after your graduate from BC?
I have not set any plans but I would love to continue to play soccer in some way.
