Forward Hannah Lichtenstein ’13 is the captain of the girls’ soccer team. She is the team’s leading scorer along with Rina Gores ’15. The Swarthmore commit is the team’s only starting senior.
What was your most memorable goal of the season?
The second goal in the game against El Camino. We were down 3-1 and I felt the momentum shift. I had to run and get the ball from the net and bring it back up to midfield. Obviously, Quinn Frankel ’16 tied it up for us in the last two minutes, which was really exciting.
How do you feel the new players complement your style of play?
We have really fast outside mids this year, like Mackenzie Howe ’14 and Quinn Frankel, which helps because they can get to the line and cross the ball, putting the forwards into great positions to score. Our midfielders are really young and creative — they have the potential to be like Danielle Duhl ’12, but are just not at that maturity yet. So it’s a little bit of an adjustment.
As captain do you feel you have a greater pressure to play well?
I do, not only being a senior, but also one of the oldest on the team and having played soccer for so long. But everyone else on the team takes a lot of the pressure off. Other people are scoring goals, creating chances and playing well, so I don’t feel that I have to do everything. We have a talented team that can perform well no matter what.
Why do you think the new 4-4-2 system is more successful?
I completely understand why we played a 4-3-3, having incredibly talented midfielders like Courtney Corrin ’16, Chloe Castaneda ’15 and Courtney O’Brien ’15, but in the outside areas, we didn’t really know what to do. In addition, Catherina Gores ’15 and I have a similar style of play, so it is easier for us to both play in the center, moving across their defensive line as opposed to one playing on outside and the other playing inside like we did in the 4-3-3.
What made you choose Swarthmore?
Soccer’s been a huge part of my life for a while and I knew that I wanted to play in college. I got looks from a lot of Division I schools, but honestly the type of environment I wanted was a small liberal arts school. The idea of going to a large school and sitting on the bench for two years before getting a look from the coach really frustrated me. I felt at a Division III school I would get to play more and showcase my abilities … I fell in love with Swarthmore immediately, I love the coach and they needed a forward, so it all fell into place.
How will you beat San Clemente since they knocked you out of CIF last year?
Honestly, I am not over that loss, as creepy as that sounds. I hate them and I hate the Orange County style of play. I think it is extremely frustrating and unskilled. It’s just power over finesse. We are going to have to play their game and beat them at their game, meaning we cannot possess the ball as much as we tried to do last year against them. This year, we are going to have to launch the ball from defense and muscle them up front, which Mackenzie Howe and Brianna Gazmarian ’15 are really good at. So it’s going to be a rough and ugly game.
