Ask anyone on the University women’s club soccer team about senior Kristina Lekas and you will get a similar answer: She is a natural leader.@@http://www.oneclicksportsnow.com/ncaa/oregon-ducks/584021/Athlete-of-the-Week-Kristina-Lekas/@@
Lekas, the club team coordinator, has been playing on the team for three years and has been the coordinator for two years.@@http://clubsports.uoregon.edu/coordinators@@
According to head coach David Peterson, Lekas leads by example and has done nothing but move the team forward, all the while adjusting to the difficulties of being a player, team leader and coordinator.@@same@@
“She does a fantastic job wearing two hats,” Peterson says. “The one hat being a friend and teammate to all the girls, the other being the coordinator of the team. That is not easy for everyone to juggle.”
Soccer has always been a passion for Lekas. She played on her high school’s JV team and competed on several club teams prior to making it onto the varsity team at Lincoln High School in Portland, Ore.
Lekas played on her high school’s varsity team during her junior and senior years, helping lead the team to the state championships in both seasons.
For her senior year, the team was able to nudge out a state championship, sparking a third-place national ranking.
But Lekas hasn’t always had a leadership role on her teams.
“(On) my high school team, when I made varsity, I wasn’t a leader,” Lekas says. “There was a lot of talent … I didn’t have much of a leadership role.”
Fortunately, Lekas found the women’s club soccer team and the Ducks found her. According to Lekas, each year playing for the team has been unique in its own way as she adjusted to the rigors of playing on a more competitive stage.
“There was a lot of talent for my first year,” Lekas says. “We got a coach for our first time and that was a big turnaround for us. We ended up going to nationals and got second in the open division.”
Lekas and her fellow first-year players did not understand the significance in making it to nationals, as it was not a common position for the team to find itself in.
“The seniors were just astonished, when us newcomers did not really get it,” Lekas says. “We thought that we had a good squad and that it made sense. But in years before, we did not even make it halfway through regionals. This was a huge turnaround year for us.”
In Lekas’ junior year, the Ducks were not able to get back to where they were the season before, finishing with a loss in the semifinals to Colorado Black in the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association national tournament.
Lekas explains her team’s early exit in the tournament as part of an underachieving year for the Ducks, plagued with many barriers.
“I think that last year the team chemistry was a little different,” Lekas says. “It was a transitioning year and a developing year for us. It was definitely a lot harder. There were a lot of injuries and a lot of obstacles that we had to go through.”
Lekas sees a different team this year, one that can hopefully get the Ducks into the national tournament for the third straight year.
“I think that this year is already a lot different than our last two years because the girls got along way quicker than any other year,” Lekas says. “Everyone really likes each other off the field, which I think helps on the field.”
Junior Nicole Marsaglia, Lekas’ teammate and the gear coordinator of the Ducks, has been playing alongside Lekas for two years and has seen her blossom into the leader and player that she is now.
Marsaglia said that Lekas has stepped up immensely in being a leader, along with trying to fill a void as one of just six returning players.
“Kris’ play has become an asset,” Marsaglia says. “Kris is a well-rounded leader on and off the field … she leads by example.@@https://www.google.com/search?q=regionals&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&source=hp&q=Nicole+Marsaglia+u+of+o+club+soccer&pbx=1&oq=Nicole+Marsaglia+u+of+o+club+soccer&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=3776l3776l4l4181l1l1l0l0l0l0l208l208l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=84f6aa80a21f1eaa&biw=1680&bih=845@@
“The goal of fall term each year is to win the national tournament, so with only six returning players, someone needed to step up and get this team ready for nationals and in many ways that has been Kris.”
Lekas plays primarily as an outside defensive player, but has also netted two goals for the Ducks this year, both coming against Portland in the first game of the season.
Peterson gives credit to Lekas’ ability on the field, saying that her productivity for the Ducks has been a major reason why the team sits with a 3-1 record on the year.
“Kris is a very hard-nosed, focused and physical player,” Peterson says. “We really look to her on setting the tone for the level of physicality that we want to have in games. She is the barometer.”
This will not be the last year that Lekas plays for the team. She will finish her degree in political science and business this term, but plans on staying at the University to get another degree in sociology and a minor in psychology, which will make fall 2012 her last term.
Someone else will have to step up and be the coordinator next year, but Lekas will be returning as a player.
“I just want to come here and play one last time,” Lekas says. “I do love it but I just want to come here, show up and just play.”
For Lekas, there will be a continuum for soccer in her life as she plans on doing what she can to get involved once her years as a Duck are through.
“There is no ‘after soccer.’ I will play soccer as long as I can,” Lekas says. “I definitely want to join some sort of league and continue to play somewhere. I can’t get enough.”
The barometer: Kristina Lekas sets the tone for women’s club soccer
Daily Emerald
October 23, 2011
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