WHAT CAN YOU DO IN SIX SECONDS?
9-24-04
by: Greg Stephenson
It shouldn’t have been this easy. Six seconds into the game, Solfrid Andersen has scored. In the time it takes most people to roll over in bed and hit the snooze button, Andersen has managed to run halfway down the field and put the ball in the back of the net. She also did this three other times during that same game against Charlotte, her fourth collegiate game ever. Setting the bar so high for herself so early in the season may be hard to top, scoring a goal that soon in the game is a feat rarely accomplished, but once you get to know her, it becomes apparent that this was just another day for Andersen.
The 22-year old sophomore has been in America for more than a month now. She hails from Norway, a country renowned for its women’s soccer team (throughout the 90’s they were America’s chief rivals for international supremacy). She played for the country’s junior national team, which lost to Germany in the finals of the 2001 European Cup. Last year, she participated for Norway’s top women’s club team.
Knowing Andersen’s background, it becomes clear why she has been so successful this early in the season, which is exactly what co-head coaches Denise Schilte-Brown and Chris Brown needed from her.
“The biggest thing after preseason for us, was that we said to her, ‘Listen, we don’t have time for you to get settled in, we need you to impact the team now,’” said Schilte-Brown. “The very next day she showed up and said, “O.K., I’m not going to wait around to fit in, I’m just going to stand out now,’ and that was just really great for our team as a whole.”
Andersen, who has already earned one CAA player-of-the-week honor, possessed all of the physical tools to make her stand out immediately. “She’s extremely talented,” said Schilte-Brown. “You can’t bring in just any player and ask her to check back to the ball and hold it back-to-goal with players running up your back. She can hold off four players at a time and keep possession for us. She can also shoot right and left-footed. Her right-footed shot is probably harder than many male soccer players we have here.”
Most of these skills were sharpened during her experiences playing for her country and for her Norwegian club team, levels that are considered by most to be above those played by American colleges. According to Andersen, those games were both faster and more physical than the game played here. Still, though, Andersen was the youngest player on her team and didn’t receive much playing time. She thought to herself that she might need some sort of change.
The VCU coaches regularly ask their current international players if they know any players from their respective homes that may be interested in coming to America to play collegiate soccer. Solveig Haaland, a junior defender for the Rams and a former teammate of Andersen’s for Norway’s Junior National Team, commented that Andersen was looking for something different.
Schilte-Brown then flew over to Norway to watch Andersen and another potential recruit play against each other. Andersen never got in the game, but that did not discourage the coach. “It was a risk (to sign her) because I didn’t get to see her play, but a minor one considering she was on the national U-21 team,” said Schilte-Brown.
The 5-10 forward also had other reasons for coming to the States. “I wanted to play soccer, but also learn the language, experience the culture and meet new people,” said Andersen. All of which account for what may seem like a tough adjustment.
“She’s adjusted amazingly, probably faster than any international player we’ve had, but I think that’s partly due to having Solveig and Hedda (Gardsjord, another member of the team from Norway) here,” said Schilte-Brown.
She hasn’t adjusted fully, however. When asked what she thinks of American food, she simply smiled and said, “Umm …yeah.”
Most important, though, it seems she has adjusted on the soccer field, which is great for the Rams, who begin their always-tough CAA schedule this weekend against Hofstra. “The CAA games can be emotional with the history we have with those teams,” said Schilte-Brown, “but freshmen and newcomers don’t really relate to that, so they just come in and do the best they can and I think that’s what Solfrid does every day.”
Added Andersen, “I just want to have fun and play soccer.”
For all of the early successes she has accomplished and the adjustments she has made, none of it would make much difference if it weren’t for her strong relationship with her teammates. “I really enjoy it and I love my teammates. They’re really nice girls.”
Added Schilte-Brown, “To come in and right away be able to give so much of herself to a team she just met is awesome.” Having a trait like that may be even more awesome than scoring a goal in the time it took Babe Ruth to run from home plate to first base.
