For Shorter University Women's Soccer, pies will fly

ROME – As strange as it may seem, Shorter University head women’s soccer coach Jen Colley is already starting to worry about the Lady Hawks’ 2011 season next fall.

Her concern isn’t about on-field performance – Colley is highly optimistic about how the team will fare when it takes the pitch in August with a strong core of returners from a 2010 squad whose 10 wins marked the most productive season in eight years.

Colley is stressing about getting a pie in the face – a lot of them.

As Colley gets set to begin her second season at the helm, odds are that an academic incentive she initiated last year, one that allows players who meet a high grade standard to throw a pie in her face – will send many more just desserts her way this year.

“It looks like we will need more whipped cream this year,” Colley, who is currently putting the Lady Hawks through their spring workouts, said about potentially having double the numbers of pies she endured last year coming her way at the end of the team’s summer preseason drills in a few months.

She was pied seven times this past summer.

Players who earn a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher during the 2010-11 academic year will be granted the opportunity to throw a pie at their coach.

One look at what the Lady Hawks did off the field in 2010 backs up the coach’s concern.

While Shorter produced a banner season between the lines, including posting a school-record six straight wins at one point during the season, the Lady Hawks also started lining up to throw pies by scoring high grades.

Three Lady Hawks led the way by earning NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors – junior team captain Mary Kate Lollar, senior captain Lynde Pas, who ended her career as a two-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete, and junior Adrian Hicks.

The fall season also saw eight Lady Hawks earned SSAC All-Academic recognition: Lollar, Pas, Hicks, Taylor Hays, Kayla Bell, Emily Hanson, Samantha Stephens and Alex Yancy.

“About 20 of them could throw pies and that’s a lot of pies in your face,” said Colley. “It’s all about time management and being responsible and it carries over in all walks of life.

“If you can do those things, you can be successful.”

Especially when it comes to pie throwing.