 "Photo: Loyola College Athletics")
By Pete Theis Staff Writer
With the start of the 2009 fall sports schedule, the Loyola women's soccer team will embark on a quest to reach new limits. After three successful years at the helm of the program, the Greyhounds found head coach John Byford's successor in another experienced coach with high expectations for a special regime of her own.
"Loyola is a fantastic school with a great academic reputation," new head coach Katherine Vettori said. "I have been waiting for a while for this position to open up. This is a tradition that I wanted to become apart of."
Vettori comes to Loyola after spending eight seasons as the Women's Director for the Soccer Association of Columbia. Vettori was in charge of more than 3,200 female soccer players as she led training sessions, travel teams, and educational programs for the coaches in the SAC. To say that Vettori had her hands full would be a gross understatement.
Vettori's prestigious on-field experience includes a stellar career at Duke University from 1992-96, including All-American honors from Soccer News and making the Atlantic Coast Conference first team in 1993. She was named to the All-ACC tournament team from 1992-94, and was voted the Most Valuable Player of her Blue Devil squad in each of those seasons.
"She was actually on the field so much at such a high level that she knows what we have to get done to be that much better," said senior co-captain Sara Moller. "She knows the game very well being at a Division 1 level at Duke," added senior co-captain Amanda Piccirilli.
Upon completion of her playing career at Duke, Vettori was hired as an assistant head coach at the University of Pennsylvania from 1996-98. In her second season in Philadelphia, the Quakers won their first ever ECAC championship in addition to recording a school record 14 victories.
After her time with Penn, she moved on to an assistant coaching job for the University of Maryland from 1998-2001. During her time, the Terrapins reached the College Cup in all four seasons with two of her players earning All-America honors.
It is clear that her high-caliber experience prepared her well for a lengthy stay in Baltimore. "From playing on a certain level, I understand the hard work, sacrifice and competitive nature that are necessary," Vettori said. "The support of the women's soccer program from the athletic department is fantastic. I want to build upon the success that Loyola has had, and make it that much further at the end of the season."
Part of Vettori's excitement for her future at Loyola stems from her own personal attitude, something she will instill in her players. "I am extremely competitive. I want to hold the players to higher standards and expectations both on and off the field."
Since the start of preseason, the players have noticed a change of pace on the field. "She's definitely made it a change for us. A good change. She's pushed us harder than ever before, but in the end all the hard work will hopefully pay off," stated Moller. "She demands the best of us both on and off the field."
All of these characteristics pieced together made Vettori a perfect fit for the Evergreen Campus. "Katherine was unique in that she had already had coaching success at a college level," said Assistant Athletic Director Bill Wnek. "We were very impressed with her work at Soccer Association of Columbia, and everywhere and everyone we talked to kept saying how much of a positive impression she gave. The combination of character, being a great person both on and off the field, her playing ability from playing in arguably the toughest conference in the country, and her coaching ability at SAC, UPenn, and Maryland that made us really want her to coach at Loyola," stated Wnek. "She is great role model for our student-athletes."
In the future Wnek expressed his hope for the Greyhounds to go even farther in the College Cup. "We want this program to not take a step backwards. We are in the mix every year for the NCAA and if we can get a better seed for our first round matchups then we will have the opportunity to continue deeper in the tournament."
Vettori has already gotten the players to believe that they can go farther. "As a whole, with our team we expect better now. We know we can go farther," Piccirilli said.
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