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Nanda McCormick; Women's Soccer's X Faxtor
Oct. 17, 2005 From the Emerald City to the hardwood floors of Gonzaga University's Martin Centre and finally to the grass of Martin Field, sophomore striker Nanda McCormick has had quite a journey through her first three years of college. McCormick, who lettered in basketball, soccer and track and field at Seattle's Shorewood High, was recruited to play basketball at Gonzaga in 2003 and arrived on the Spokane campus to help the Bulldogs continue to build a winning women's basketball program. Little did she know, two years later she would be the starting center forward of the women's soccer team. "I came here because I wanted to play basketball," said McCormick. "Gonzaga was not too far from home, I loved the size of the school and it just seemed like a great fit for me." McCormick redshirted her freshman season at GU and shortly into her second year she realized how much she missed playing soccer. With the blessing of Gonzaga head women's basketball coach Kelly Graves, she left the basketball team and joined the women's soccer team in the spring of 2005. "Nanda approached me and asked me if I would be open to letting her try out for our team," said head women's soccer coach Shannon Stiles. "I had known about her in high school through Kelly Graves, and knew of some other schools that were interested in her for soccer. I knew she was tall, athletic and a good student and had a good high school career, so I was interested in seeing her in action." McCormick impressed the coaching staff with her play in the spring, earning her a spot on the 2005 roster. Prior to GU opening the season at Utah State University, Stiles and assistant coach Kieran Barton were trying to determine their travel roster as not all the positions were solidified. "In our opening match we were still a new team, had three returning upperclassmen starters and were uncertain on who was going to break out for us in the other spots," said Stiles. Stiles then approached Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth and asked for permission to allow the team to travel all 19 players for the first weekend so they didn't have to make a decision on who got to travel and who stayed home. At this point McCormick was "on the bubble," according to Stiles. Roth approved Stiles' proposal, and with that came one of the biggest surprises for the Zags. In the opening match, McCormick got some playing time as a substitute and she made the most of her opportunity. Late in the match with the scored knotted at one, McCormick found herself in the middle of a scramble inside the Utah State goal box. McCormick was able to redirect a lose ball with her head over the head of the USU goalkeeper, lifting the Bulldogs to the win. "It wasn't an earth-shattering goal that made you think, wow she is a goal scorer. It was more of she was in the right place at the right time. Since then she has been on a scoring frenzy," said Stiles. McCormick has in fact been on a scoring frenzy for the Bulldogs as she has tallied a team-leading eight goals and added three assists for a total of 19 points. McCormick's eight goals place her sixth on the Gonzaga single-season goals scored list and her 19 points ties her for sixth at Gonzaga in single-season points. Despite McCormick's team-leading stats she is more concerned with helping the team improve and "just doing my job the best I can," said McCormick. "I am not a stat person and never really pay attention to my stats," said McCormick. "I just seem go in there and find a way to be involved in the action. I try to work hard and help improve myself and the team. I have had to learn a lot because I am the center forward and because of that I am a distributor and have had to learn how to distribute the ball better." Stiles has been impressed mostly with McCormick's work ethic and attitude not only in matches but in practice as well. "Nanda has been extremely effective for us and she has a great work ethic," said Stiles. "If a bad ball is hit to her, she doesn't glare at the person who sent her the ball like `what are you doing?' She accepts whatever happens and does what she can to make the play work in favor for the team. Everyone likes to have that kind of a personality on a team." This season the Bulldogs have been on a tear, setting a program-best seven-match win streak, having broken into the West Regional rankings for the first time in program history and getting off to the best start in program history at 10-3-2. GU's only three losses have come to the defending national champion and seventh-ranked University of Notre Dame, No. 24 Cal State Fullerton and to the No. 1 Pilots of the University of Portland. During GU's seven-match win streak the Bulldogs recorded some program firsts. The Zags recorded back-to-back shutouts of the then 20th ranked Oregon State Beavers and the University of Washington. In those matches McCormick scored the insurance goal in the 2-0 win over OSU and because the first Gonzaga women's soccer player in the history of the program to register a goal against the Huskies in the 1-0 decision. "She was a player that we didn't expect anything from initially, and then she surprised us and started to score a lot of goals," said Stiles. "It just goes to show you that people need time and confidence to come around and I would say that she has kind of been the X-factor for us this season."
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