Anderson women's soccer a great underdog story

There’s nothing like a good underdog story, especially in sports.

When an athlete or team faces long odds and overcomes them, even the most casual fan takes notice. At the very least it brings a smile to our faces. Sometimes, it even inspires us to work a little harder or go that extra mile in our own endeavors.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Anderson Lady Trojans soccer team, a club that leads Conference Carolinas in inspiration.

On Monday AU defeated Erskine 1-0 in double overtime, a victory that advanced the team in the league tournament. That’s impressive as a stand-alone event, but you can’t fully appreciate how the far the Trojans have come unless you look at how far back they started.

Just before the 2009 season began I met up with coach Jason Dowiak and two sets of freshmen twins on the roster — Jessica and Ashley Kleinberg and Kathryn and Joelle Purinton. The players are four of eight neophytes on a squad that has just six seniors.

Teams that young can’t really be expected to be a factor, so when the Lady Trojans lost their first four matches by a combined score of 13-4 and dropped six of their first seven, well, it was no surprise.

But Dowiak said from the start this was a special bunch, and he had faith that they could turn some heads — and not just because of the head-turning appearance of two pairs of twins.

Turns out the coach was right.

A 1-6 record soon improved to 3-6, then a 3-8 record jumped to 11-8.

A team that seemed on the fast track to nowhere found itself the third seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, and following Monday’s victory the Lady Trojans are one more “W” away from playing for the league crown and a berth in the NCAA Regionals.

The turnaround has been a combination of outstanding senior leadership and a bunch of freshmen playing beyond their years.

And the coaching hasn’t been bad, either.

AU enters Thursday’s home match against Limestone as the hottest team in the league, with three consecutive shutouts on its resume.

There probably won’t be any movies made about the 2009 Lady Trojans. Teams looking for motivation prior to a big game will likely still watch “Rocky” or “Hoosiers.”

But that’s OK. The Anderson University women’s soccer team has found inspiration in each other, realizing as long as they believed in themselves it made no difference whether others believed in them or not.

These women have made their school proud and authored a feel-good tale that’s still being written.

Yep, there’s nothing like a good underdog story.

And even if this team doesn’t wind up as top dog in Conference Carolinas, there’s no doubt it has the heart of a champion.