Gitlin chooses UMBC

Northern High School graduate on her way to Division I level

Friday, July 3, 2009

"I'm really excited and glad I get to play soccer for four more years," said the 17-year-old Gitlin. "And I'm excited for the challenges that I'll have at the Division I level."

"Absolutely, any time you can play soccer after high school is a good thing for these girls," Northern head girls soccer coach Jay Loveless said. "If they love soccer and they want to play, I think it's great."

Gitlin perused offers from Wright State (Ohio) University and Duquesne (Pa.) University before settling on UMBC.

"Academically and athletically and then [UMBC is also] a very good science school," said Gitlin, who will major in biology and pre-med. "And they have a really high degree of their students getting into medical school. And they're a rising team with a new coach and a very young team so we'll be a very close-knit group."

At Northern, Gitlin played center midfielder her freshman year before making the switch to defense before her sophomore campaign.

"I was pretty nervous when [Loveless] told me I was going to play defense, but he said he was confident in what I could do and that boosted my confidence level," said Gitlin, who added the transformation was made easier by the fact she was paired alongside Megan Bicevskis, her teammate on the Freestate Phoenix travel team. "I love defense now."

Gitlin helped Northern to a 49-17-1 record during her four-year varsity career, including a 14-2 mark and a Class 3A South regional championship last fall. Gitlin's presence on the back line was key as Northern allowed a stingy 0.25 goals against and 12 shutouts.

"She was tenacious, a great defender and was probably the mainstay of our defense for the four years," Loveless said of Gitlin, a two-year team captain. "And she was a guidance for some of the [newer] girls that came in."

Gitlin's also been a winner on her Freestate team, having won a State Cup championship in 2008. Gitlin was in Winston-Salem, N.C., this week for the U.S. Club Soccer regionals and her team played in the championship game Tuesday. A win would secure a nationals berth.

The Retrievers could use some of Gitlin's winning ways. Last season, UMBC endured losing streaks of four, five and seven games before a season-ending 4-3 win over Albany.

UMBC finished the campaign 3-16 (2-6 America East Conference) under first-year head coach Alyssa Radu.

Gitlin will try to crack a lineup that in 2008 had 10 defenders, five of whom were upperclassmen. Gitlin was the only back of the seven players Radu signed in the offseason. She will play alongside former conference opponent LeAnne Edgar of Chopticon, who will begin her sophomore season in the fall.

"I think [Radu] will have a positive impact and that we'll be able to win a lot of games," Gitlin said. "Hopefully we won't have a lot of losing but if we do, then we'll just have to see what we did wrong and then try and fix it for the next game."

Gitlin said good old-fashioned hard work will be key to cracking a lineup that in 2008 had five of 10 defenders as underclassmen.

"I need to work hard and stay focused on my grades and on my play and just have fun with it," she said. "I'm good at anticipating where the ball is going to go and I'm pretty technically sound with playing either right or left foot."

"She needs to listen and work hard and prove to the coach that she's worthy," Loveless said. "She's going to have a good career, I think, at UMBC."

Gitlin said one reason she signed with UMBC was that the team reminded her of her Northern squad in a lot of ways.

"I met a lot of the team and they're pretty cool; they remind me a lot of Northern," she said. "I'm excited they remind me of Northern because I had a good four years there so maybe I'll have a good four years here."

mreid@somdnews.com