Aug. 22, 2005

By Elliot Olshansky

CSTV.com

For someone who's considered to be one of the top recruits in the country, Christine Suggs had a rough introduction to the game of field hockey.

"The first game that she ever played, in intramurals, she got hit in the mouth," recalled Judy Chandler, who taught and coached Suggs at Durham Academy. "She told her mother that she was never going to play field hockey again."

Chandler, of course, had other ideas. "Her mother's a very good friend of mine, and I said, `You put that stick right back in her hand.' She went back for the next intramural and was just fine, loved it from that moment on."

Now, Suggs is off to share that love with a new group of teammates. Suggs is one of six freshmen joining Wake Forest this season, as the Demon Deacons chase a fourth consecutive NCAA championship.  While Chandler is proud to see her star go on to bigger and better things, she can't help but be just a little bit disappointed.  "I had hoped she'd go closer," Chandler said, "someplace I could see her more often."

One person who'll be thrilled to see Suggs every day is Demon Deacons coach Jennifer Averill, who hit the jackpot when she landed two members of the U-21 National Team in Suggs and Michelle Kasold, who made her name a few short miles away from Suggs at East Chapel Hill High School.

"I got Christmas a little bit early this year," Averill said. "Those were two great gifts. They're just two incredibly talented individuals, who had the opportunity to attend any number of institutions. I was hoping to get one, and we landed both, so that's just awesome."

Adding to the surprise was the fact that both Deacons-to-be grew up in the shadow of Wake's major ACC rivals, Duke and North Carolina.  For Kasold, though, it was a shadow that she was ready to escape.  "I grew up watching the Heels play," Kasold said in a recent interview, "but I wanted to go somewhere else and try something new."

Suggs, meanwhile, had her sights set on heading for Winston-Salem earlier on. "She's loved Wake for a long time," Chandler said, "so it wasn't a surprise."

Surprise or not, the arrivals of Suggs, Kasold, and their classmates couldn't come at a better time for the Demon Deacons, who, in addition to graduating leading scorer and National Player of the Year Kelly Dostal this spring, also saw number two scorer Tamar Meijer leave the team.  In addition, the graduation of top back Claire Laubach leaves some big shoes to fill at the defensive end as well.

Enter Suggs - a forward/midfielder who left Durham Academy with four state championships and the school's all-time scoring record under her belt - and Kasold - who led East Chapel Hill to four state titles in the public school ranks while breaking the Wildcats' scoring records - and the Deacons' problems are solved, right?

Not so fast.

"I don't care how decorated a freshman is coming into the college game," Averill said. "It takes them a while to adjust.  First of all, they're in this unbelievably demanding academic arena, and that plays havoc on any athlete.  I don't care who they are, how talented, or how well educated they are.  Then, just get your feet wet and competing on a consistent basis." 

"These kids are playing internationally, sure, but they're not doing that day in and day out, so their bells will get rung a little bit.  We're real conscious as a staff that we're not expecting them to fill Claire Laubach or Kelly Dostal's position. They're one of eighteen players on the squad, and we're expecting great things from them, but we also understand that there's a maturity level to all of this, and it takes a lot of experience and patience with themselves, and we as a staff need to be patient with them as well."

Of course, as patient as Averill and her staff will be, signs point to a quick transition for Suggs and Kasold, particularly because the environment Averill creates as a coach. "She'd be able to take a great recruiting class and have them feel comfortable and ready to play at that level," CSTV field hockey analyst Siri Lindley said of Averill, "just because she's just a great coach.  Plus, the support of the team, where everybody really is all about the team, your chances of being able to have freshmen come in and really play well are very great."

Those chances get even better with seasoned international players like Suggs and Kasold.  For Suggs, Chandler sees the elevated level of play in the collegiate game making things easier for the Durham record-holder. "She sees the field very well," Chandler said of Suggs. "She sees what the next pass is, or the next two passes are, even.  She's able to lead the team onward.  One of the thing that, maybe, has held her back in high school is that other kids around her don't have the vision that she does, and so, aren't necessarily in the right place.  But, when she goes to international play, and hopefully the same will be true with college, she is able to know where to be, and where to put that pass."

What's more, Chandler predicts that the transition from high school grass to college turf will also lead to instant improvement for her former star. According to Chandler, grass "limits her some.  She can do it on any surface, but she's got that quickness to a ball, and to an open space, where it's going to be fun to watch her on turf.  I don't know how good she's going to be.  I don't think we've seen it yet."

For Kasold, her playing style and attitude also make a quick adjustment very likely.  "Kasold is a continual work horse," Averill said when announcing Kasold's commitment. "She always wants to learn, she sees the field well and she is an aggressive player. She is quick on her feet and she has a great release on the ball."

As aggressive as she is on the field, though, Kasold isn't getting ahead of herself when it comes to sizing up her place on the team, not even with the graduation of top players like Dostal and Laubach.  "I don't really feel the pressure," Kasold said. "If I'm starting, I'm starting."

Still, with the talent that Kasold and Suggs bring to the Wake program, Demon Deacon fans can expect to see them starting before long. "I've seen them play over the last five years," Averill said, "and they just have a tremendous amount of potential."

Potential that could be turned into results very, very soon.