The Lady Volunteers soccer team will travel to Madison, Wisconsin on Aug. 21 to kick off the 2014 season. For 12 team members, the trip also signifies the beginning of their four year journey as collegiate athletes.
While these 12 freshmen have yet to play a regular season college match, there are already high expectations for a particular freshman to immediately perform at a high level.
Then again, high expectations are natural when you are one of three freshmen to compete on the U.S under-20 women’s national team.
Despite all the pressure that comes with being a highly-touted freshman, Carlyn Baldwin insists she faces the same amount of pressure as the rest of the freshmen class and remains focused on doing her best for her team.
“I think there is pressure on the entire freshmen class to come in and make an impact,” Baldwin said. “We want to do better than the season last year and that is the same for any year. I wouldn’t say there is anything specific on me. I am just trying to do the best I can for the team whenever I get out there.”
Baldwin is not only striving to give her all for Tennessee, but she has also set ambitious goals for herself during her time in Knoxville.
“I think we would all love to win an SEC championship and a national championship,” Baldwin said. “Shorter-term goals: just getting off to a good start, starting off the conference well, playing good soccer, just doing our best.”
The Oakton, Virginia native, however, is not the only freshman who hopes to make an impact on the Lady Vols soccer team this season. Freshmen Colleen Gawkins and Meghan Flynn are also looking to contribute in any way they can to help the team get back to the NCAA tournament, which they missed out on last season following two consecutive appearances.
“I think contributing and working hard at practice everyday is going to make a difference because the more competition we have just at practice is obviously going to build the competitiveness and the drive that we have going into the actual season,” Gawkins said. “So I think that is a big role that we play as freshmen.”
Gawkins said she believes being a freshman at a large program like the UT’s helps motivate her and her fellow freshmen to become better players.
“It is a little tricky and a little scary at first (being a freshmen),” Gawkins said. “I think that is what drives us to work harder. Because we know we are freshmen, we know that there is so many lines ahead of us and so many great players to look up to. So we are working to set that example for the incoming freshmen next year.”
Both Gawkins and Flynn had a wide array of reasons to play soccer at UT. These reasons include academics and the quality of competition in the SEC.
Flynn was quick to cite the atmosphere as a major influence in her choice to spend her next four years at UT.
“I really like the atmosphere here because I think there is so much support for athletics, especially women’s athletics and you don’t really find that everywhere,” she said.
The three freshman will get their first opportunity to showcase their talents Aug. 22 when the Lady Vols face off against Milwaukee on Laura Moynihan Field at 5 p.m.
