Junior Kelly Stevens, renowned for her speed, has made the switch from forward to midfield. "Last year when I was asked to trade positions, I was at first a little upset, but then I realized, 'Hey, this is for the team,' and just played. You're still just playing soccer." Just playing soccer is what forward-turned-midfielder-turned-forward-again Kelly Stevens has done for the Penn women's soccer team. Currently a junior, Stevens has spent much of this season getting acclimated to the midfield position after playing much of her prior two seasons at forward. The speedy Stevens and the Quakers (10-5) meet Monmouth this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at Rhodes Field. Part of the adjustment was due to the second of two concussions suffered during last year's campaign. The depth of talent on this year's roster made the switch inevitable. "With the concussions, I wasn't allowed to head the ball, out of fear that I would get another concussion. The second one was due to heading goal kicks and punts, so he moved me to outside midfield," Stevens said. "It also had a lot to do with the Callaghans (twin sophomore forwards Andrea and Jill) because they are more effective up front, so he wanted someone with speed out wide." Despite adding speed and experience to the midfield, Stevens split a lot of playing time with other midfielders due to the strength of the roster from top to bottom. The Penn freshmen who account for 32 percent of the team's goals and 52 percent of assists make up only about a quarter of the roster. Meanwhile, Stevens has only managed one goal and two assists. Things changed when Penn visited Harvard. In an attempt to divert attention away from the Callaghans, the Quakers played Stevens at forward. "It was just a matter of me learning the position, and it ended up that it wasn't working for me," Stevens said. "I wasn't being as effective as I could have been, and there were freshmen that were getting the job done at outside midfield better than I was. So that's when [Penn coach Patrick Baker] decided to put me back at forward, and he knew that's a position that I'm a lot more comfortable with." Recent injuries, including one to Jill Callaghan, led to several more lineup changes, including a start for Stevens at forward against Yale. "A team player understands what's best for the team, and knows that she's going to get her playing time, and her chances to score up front," Baker said prior to the game against the Elis. "With Jill's untimely injury, it provided an opportunity and Kelly has made the most of it." Stevens made the most of her limited opportunities last year. Despite the concussion and not playing at forward for the latter part of the 1996 season, Stevens still earned All-Ivy honors for the second straight year. Coming into this year, she also held team records for most assists in one game (three), most consecutive games with assists (three) and most consecutive games with points (six). "A lot of people think of Kelly Stevens as just being super-fast and our speediest player, but there's a lot more to Kelly," Baker said. "She scored over 100 goals in high school, and was an unbelievable basketball player and track runner, so she's got natural athleticism. "We are thankful a) to have her, and b) glad she chose soccer to play in college because she's been a great addition to our program." As for the team's showing this year, the beginning of the turnaround happened long before this fall. "We had a fantastic spring season," Stevens said. "It was basically everyone except the seniors, and we had small numbers but we just played fantastic." "This year, we had a great group of freshmen come in, and I think we all knew that we were going to be successful, but for myself, I never imagined that we would be this successful." As for leaders on the team, Stevens said she does not consider herself one, and that leadership is quietly shown on the field. "There isn't anyone on our team that will just step out and tell people what to do," Stevens said. "I think everyone on their own is a leader on the team because everyone keeps track of everyone else and there isn't one person that can be like, 'This is the leader of the team'." Even though this week is the final one of the year for the Quakers, Stevens sees a bright future for the team. "We're losing Darah [Ross, senior], which is going to be a great loss," Stevens said. "But, when you look at it numbers-wise, we're not losing that many people. "So I think if we have the same people and can improve that with new recruits, I don't see why we cannot go and win the league next year and go to the [NCAA] Tournament, and do well. We should improve upon this year. I don't think we should settle." As for personal goals, the formula seems to be clear-cut. "I don't think that, for myself, this year I have been as effective as I would have liked to have been," Stevens said. "So, I'd like to improve upon that next year and be a lot more confident when I'm on the field."
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