Haislip Returns to a Different Game With a Big Challenge

When former CCBC-Catonsville women's soccer coach James Haislip left the school in 2007 he went out on top, but this year he returned in the opposite position.

In 2007, Haislip had just coached the women's soccer team to a national championship. After 17 years as an assistant and head coach with the program, he was ready to hang up his whistle and spend more time with his family in Pennsylvania.

But when Haislip moved to the Catonsville area earlier this year, he told Brian Farrell, CCBC administrator of athletics, to let him know if any coaching positions opened up.

What Farrell offered was quite different than what Haislip left behind three years ago. The coach was handed the reins of a men's soccer team that had just struggled through a one-win season in 2009.

After going out on top, Haislip found himself at the bottom, challenged to rebuild a program from the ground up.

"I had two, three kids from last year's team," Haislip said. "When I first got hired I didn't think anyone was returning."

Farrell said he hired Haislip because it was such a difficult situation; he had confidence the former coach could get the program back on track.

Haislip knew the job would be a struggle, too, but took it knowing he could get the players in to fill out a roster. The team regularly starts 11 freshmen, but Haislip has already reversed the program's fortunes; the Cardinals are 5-5-1 after beating Cecil College Tuesday night.

The Cardinals can no longer be thought of as the doormat of the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference, Haislip said.

Haislip's experience and success with the women's team for 17 years made him confident he could turn the team around.

"I know what it takes, what the kids need to do to academically as well as athletically," Haislip said.

He also knows how to recruit, as exhibited by his ability to quickly construct a roster of 18 players starting in January 2010 when he received the job. Many college players have already committed to schools at the point in the offseason.

Haislip said recruiting comes easy to him, and was quick to credit his assistant coaches – Larry Sancomb and Jim Dey – for helping him rebuild the roster. The three have known each other for years, he said, and even play together in a men's soccer league in Anne Arundel County.

Through better recruiting, Haislip said he can rebuild the program over the next couple years. This season, he said, is just about "putting Catonsville back on the map."

"Hopefully we'll stay a little bit above .500," he said, "then make some noise in the Region 20 Tournament."

Other teams playing well, too

The sports success in Catonsville doesn't stop with Haislip breathing life into the soccer team.

The volleyball team is 14-5 after defeating Cecil College 3-2 on Tuesday and have multiple players ranked in the top 10 in several major statistical categories in the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference.

Audrey Gerlach ranks inside the top ten in three categories: kills per set (second, 3.13), hitting efficiency (fourth, .400) and blocks per set (fourth, 0.77).

Abigail Williams' .417 hitting efficiency ranks second in the conference, and she averages the fourth-most assists with 7.09 per set.

Samantha Morris ranks sixth in the conference in blocks. Katherine Bennett ranks fourth in the conference with 2.88 kills per set.

Through Wednesday, the women's soccer team was 5-2-3, paced by an offense that has scored five or more goals in a game five separate times in 2010.

Dana Weidel has done most of the damage, and ranks seventh in the conference in goals scored with eight. Goalkeeper Nicole Chupka has allowed the fourth fewest scores in the conference, 1.13 per game.