College Sports
Email
Print
Getting Close: Hutchinson nears scoring records for Wake Forest women's soccer
Journal File Photo
Jill Hutchinson has scored 32 goals in her Wake Forest soccer career.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 14, 2009
At this time of the year, Jill Hutchinson isn't always prompt about returning phone calls and e-mails. Instead, she's preoccupied with the Philadelphia Phillies and their bid for another World Series title.
Still, soccer comes first.
"Yeah, I've missed a couple of the playoff games because we've had practice or games," said Hutchinson, a senior striker on the Wake Forest women's team.
Hutchinson, from Wayne, Pa., has been a baseball fan for as long as she can remember, thanks to her father's influence. She also worked an internship last summer with the independent-league Camden (N.J.) Riversharks.
As an athlete, she has made her mark in soccer and will leave Wake Forest as one of the top goal-scorers in school history, if not the career leader. Heading into Thursday's ACC match at N.C. State, she has 32 goals -- she needs three to pass Sarah Kozey for the record.
Hutchinson finished each of the past two seasons with 10 goals and already has 10 this season for the Deacons. Coach Tony da Luz moved Kaley Fountain, another senior, to the front line, and that opened up things even more for Hutchinson.
"She just has a really good soccer brain which helps with her overall game," da Luz said of Hutchinson. "And she's as good a passer as a goal-scorer."
Helped by seven seniors who all see significant playing time, the Deacons (10-2-1) are having their best season since 2006, when they went 16-6-1 with Fountain and Hutchinson as freshmen. Hutchinson struggled that year, making two starts but scoring just twice.
"In her freshman year I had my doubts," da Luz said. "She didn't seem super motivated or super fit, so I don't know what it was. But after that fall semester, she came back in the spring a different person."
In addition to the career-goals record, Hutchinson will end up among Wake Forest's all-time leaders in points. She's currently tied for fourth with 76 (32 goals, 12 assists) and is 10 points away from the record. She also has a chance to break the record for goals in a season (12).
"It would be a great achievement, but there's so much more that's important than breaking records and that's getting wins," Hutchinson said. "We are a pretty complete team this year."
Hutchinson, a business major, also has matured off the field. During her internship with the Riversharks, she did all that was asked, including a stint as the team's mascot. She showed teammates pictures of her in the shark suit. As could be expected, they gave her grief in return, but she was good-natured enough to laugh it off.
"It was pretty gross inside that thing, especially when others had to wear it right before me," Hutchinson said.
She laughed about it being a life experience but said she has no desire to be the Phillie Phanatic or the Demon Deacon.
"The drunks at the games were kind of hard to deal with," Hutchinson said of her experience. "And one night when I was the mascot, it was dog night, and I'm here to tell you that dogs do not like mascots."
jdell@wsjournal.com.
727-4081
Email
Print
