Wake Forest Athletics
Gold Rush Feature: The Difference Maker
12/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Dec. 19, 2011
This article was originally published in the Dec. 2011 edition of Gold Rush.
By Jay Reddick
It often takes only one recruiting class to bring a program from good to great.
At Wake Forest alone, you can point to the class of 2003 which, as juniors, led the football team into the Orange Bowl. In basketball, the recruitment of Rodney Rogers or, a generation later, Chris Paul sparked resurgences.
In women's soccer, we may look back on the incoming class of 2010 as the turning point -- specifically, the arrival of forward Katie Stengel in Winston-Salem.
Coach Tony da Luz has brought in national-level recruits before, but he knew Stengel could be a difference-maker.
"The most difficult players to recruit are always the goal-scorers," da Luz said. "Your top-5 programs are always going to go after that kid. I feel like she's probably the missing piece -- we've had a lot of consistently good players, but not the 14-15-16-goal scorer, the All-American up front."
That's the role Stengel has filled perfectly. She has cracked the 15-goal barrier in each of her two seasons, but more importantly, she has helped the Deacons grab their first ACC championship and NCAA No. 1 seed.
Stengel already had the right moves during high school in Melbourne, Fla. She scored 170 goals in 72 games for Viera High School and was good enough to qualify for an under-18 national team. Back then, her footwork and finishing ability were what attracted attention, but other positive attributes have risen up to join them in her repertoire.
"In high school you could get away with just having one good trait or being faster than everybody else," Stengel said. "When I got here, the speed was so much faster, everybody's good, and the play is that much smarter."
So even as she was having an All-American freshman year, with 16 goals and five assists, she was working to make sure the coming years would be even better.
That started in the weight room, where Stengel said she does a lot of plyometrics to develop explosive movements, as well as weightlifting for stronger shotmaking and holding off defenders.
The work began to show on the practice field, where she has been challenged and inspired to do even better by her Wake Forest teammates.
"Seeing how hard individuals work at this level -- it's a lot more than people really see," Stengel said. "Having people around you who want to push you is a lot different than back home, where I often had to train by myself."
She'll still play alone, though. Once practice and workouts are over and her official team duties are done for the day, though, Stengel sometimes unwinds by -- playing soccer.
"If I can go out without coaches there or any stress, just have normal practice games or drills, I can have fun and do whatever I want," Stengel said. "So I'll go out at night, turn the lights on. Those are the times, alone or with just a couple of other people, that remind me to have fun playing the game."
Put it all together, and Stengel said she has gotten a lot stronger and a lot quicker, while keeping her skills top-notch. She has virtually matched last year's scoring numbers despite the added attention from opponents.
"She's just a different kind of person," da Luz said. "She trains super hard -- she does more extra work outside of practice than anybody else."
Others are noticing, too. Stengel and WFU goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe were two of 24 players invited to a training camp for the U.S. under-23 national team in October, joining some of the nation's best college and young professional players under the tutelage of national team coach Pia Sundhage. That's when all her skills work came in handy.
"It made me realize I have to do better in certain aspects to make my game more sophisticated," Stengel said. "Things like not making the obvious pass if you see something else, better dribbling techniques -- the little details. It was a great experience, and it really pushed me to do better when I got back here."
She did that, winning the ACC's Offensive Player of the Year award for 2011. All part of being a complete player.
Name: Katie Stengel
Class: Sophomore
Major: Health and Exercise Science
Position: Forward
Hometown: Melbourne, Fla.
Why she chose Wake Forest: "They had the academics, which was a big deal for me. I wanted to stay in the ACC, and move a little north of Florida so I could get a season change."
Favorite book: Oh, the Places You'll Go!, by Dr. Seuss
Favorite sports movie: Hard Ball
Favorite food: Spaghetti
Athlete you admire most: Lionel Messi. "He's incredible ... his composure and balance on the ball in any situation. He's so comfortable, so quick when he moves, with or without the ball. When he has the ball, you have no idea where he's going, but he already has an idea, gets in behind defenders and creates something out of nothing at such a quick pace."
Any pregame superstitions: Listening to my iPod
What item tops your bucket list: Learn to dance
If you could have dinner with any one person, living or dead, who would it be? "Patrick Dempsey, because he is one of the most attractive men on the planet."
