Plenty Of New Faces Dot The Falcon Roster

Courtesy of Matt Stewart - Sentinel & Enterprise

FITCHBURG -- A winning season, thanks to nine seniors, made for a good 2014-15 campaign, but last season is in the past.

Fitchburg State University's women's basketball team will have a completely new look this season, and will hope to strive for success.

FSU women's basketball preview

"I don't think that it's necessarily a rebuilding," Fitchburg State University head coach Brooke Freeburg said. "We lost nine seniors, and whenever you lose a large class you're going to have a relatively new group coming in. We need to establish a team type of play, get to know each other, making sure we're all on the same page, because it's kind of starting a new team from scratch."

An injury sidelined Erika Schneider to only nine games last season, but the 5-foot-8 forward is off to a good start this season, already posting a 13-point performance in the season opener. Shabeli Villa returns for her junior season, after seeing action in five games last year.

Stephanie Leveillee comes back as one of the most experienced veterans, having played in almost every game last season. Tori Cyrus will start the year recovering from an injury, but should provide a boost in the backcourt when she returns in the spring semester. Catherine Loney is another injured player who should be back on the court soon.

"Schneider and Leveillee will be two of our primary post players," Freeburg said. "Villa will be heading up the guard front.

The team features three junior college transfers, with Melissa Guglielmello and Leveillee coming from Quinsagmond Community College, while Briana Pelton is a first-year transfer from Bristol Community College.

"The transfers help us fill out that junior class," Freeburg said. "We don't have a lot of kids in right now, I think that will help into next season, and gives us a little maturity that we need heading into the season."

The Falcons will look to some true freshmen to step into more prominent roles than what their age would indicate. True freshman Kerry Brodbeck is a 5-foot-11 forward who figures to contribute. Lunenburg High grad and true freshman Hannah Keohan is a little late coming into the season after playing soccer in the fall, but should add some depth in the backcourt.

Michaela McTomney is a Southern New Hampshire University transfer looking for minutes, while Samantha Holey is a guard that plays more like a forward, tallying toughness points for rebounds.

"We have high expectations for our five returning players, who will have to take on new roles," Freeburg said. "For our eight new players they're looking to pick up minutes and experience quickly. The players really have to work on playing together, because out of the nine seniors we lost last season, they all took the majority of the minutes.

"Schneider, Cyrus and Leveillee come back with the most minutes, but I don't think the volume of minutes was enough to put them at a really experienced upperclassmen level.

The first couple of contests will serve as experimental games, where Freeburg will change lineups and groupings to try and figure out what matchup works the best. Iit is an open audition for playing time.

"We're looking at a pretty even keel team, as far as who will be getting minutes, and impact players," Freeburg said. "Everyone is on the same level and have the same opportunities to make a big impact."