By Jim Hague
It’s safe to say that Whitney Huber’s life, both as an athlete and as a college student, has taken a turn for the better and that she’s definitely enjoying her new lease on that life.
A year ago, the former Morris Knolls High School soccer standout was really battling some serious demons as she tried to play for the Rutgers-Newark women’s soccer program.
Huber wasn’t getting the playing time that she thought she deserved. She also didn’t like the direction the program was headed at R-N. She was seriously considering transferring to another school.
“Sure, I got frustrated and thought about leaving,” Huber said. “I was thinking whether I should leave or stick it out.”
Huber thought that maybe things would change for the better, once the school hired Wojtek Krakowiak to be the new women’s soccer coach. The former Clemson University standout and one-time recipient of the Herrmann Award as the nation’s best overall soccer player, Krakowiak was brought on to take over the women’s program at R-N after spending one year as an assistant with the men’s program.
“We all knew that he was a very capable coach,” Huber said. “You respect what he has to say. As players, we knew we had someone we could rely on and respect. If we wanted to take the sport seriously, we needed to change things from both sides, the players and the coaches. It was rough for me, because I came from a high school where we competed like a college program. The first two years here weren’t what I expected.”
Krakowiak knew that he was inheriting a program that had very little leadership and more than a dozen freshmen on his roster. So he needed someone like Huber to step forward and provide leadership.
“She has a good understanding of the game and I could see right away that she played for a good high school program,” Krakowiak said. “She does all the little things you need to make your team better. I could see that she was anxious to play and to practice and that the freshmen would look up to her.”
But Krakowiak had to make a dramatic change in Huber’s style of play _ namely give her a new position, moving her from forward, where she played last season, to midfield, where she currently roams for the Scarlet Raiders.
“She wasn’t playing in the right position,” Krakowiak said. “She’s better when she can use her speed and her ability with crossing passes. I thought she would be more efficient on the side. She can see the goal more and she’s good with her cutting and crossing. I learned that you have to play the player where they’re most comfortable. I thought Whitney would be better off in the midfield.”
The change has been dramatic. Huber, who had scored only four goals in her first two seasons at R-N, already has four goals and four assists this season in just six games. She had her best game to date last Wednesday, when she scored two goals in the Scarlet Raiders’ 7-0 whitewash of CCNY.
The Scarlet Raiders, who won just five times in all of the entire 2007 season, already have four wins this year, thanks in part to the improvement of Huber.
“I think it has a lot to do with the girls,” Huber said. “They’re all willing to help each other out. No one is selfish and we’re all sharing in the success.”
As for her individual improvement?
“I’m getting a lot more playing time and that helps me out a lot,” Huber said. “I think I have a lot more confidence now than I had in the past. I had an idea that my role would be increased, but I didn’t think I’d be playing this much. We’ve had a rough past, but we’re starting to click now.”
Huber said that she doesn’t mind having the responsibility of being a leader.
“I think because we have such a young team with so many freshmen, that the older players had to step it up,” Huber said. “I think I can speak for the rest of the team that we’ve gone above and beyond what anyone expected. We already have a better record than we had last year and I know I’m doing better. I think a lot of that goes hand in hand.”
Krakowiak would have to agree.
“It’s always different when the team is playing well,” Krakowiak said. “You’re more aggressive and looking to score when you have a chance to win. You’re not always on the defensive. Whitney has definitely flourished since last year. You can see she’s more confident and that confidence level just continues to grow. She’s doing a great job for us and doing a lot of different things. She’s really picked up her game this year.”
“It’s much more rewarding to feel needed,” Huber said. “It’s definitely made the game fun again. You can see the results. Things have really changed and for the better.”
Huber has also changed her academic standing at the school. She is now taking a double major in marketing and finance, with the ultimate goal finding a good-paying position in the world of finance.
“Once I start looking at internships that I should begin in the spring, then I’ll know better about what I want to do,” said Huber, who has already started lining up interviews for those internships.
Needless to say, things are really looking up for Huber. She now has no thoughts of leaving R-N.
“I guess I made the good decision to stick it out,” Huber said. “This is only the beginning of the good things to happen for me.”
And hopefully, for the rest of the Rutgers-Newark women’s soccer program.
