Melissa McBean, Scoring Machine

Late in a 0-0 nailbiter against U-Mass, it was time for striker Melissa McBean to make her move

To that point it had been a season of frustration for the five-eight, 120-pound junior from Madison, Connecticut. After making second-team NCAA AilAmerican as a freshman, McBean had sprained the medial collateral ligament of her right knee in tryouts for the National team in August, causing her to miss the first five games of the '94 season and to wear a brace thereafter. UMass one of the toughest opponents of the year was her sixth game back. And the clock was ticking down.

In a dazzling combination of moves, McBean took a pass from the left side, drove to the middle of the field about 30 yards from the opposing goal. As a defender bore down on her, she faked a shot, juked her way around the Minutewoman, setup about 25 yards out, and in the split-second before three UMass defenders converged on her fired a rope into the top right corner of the net.

In a rare display of emotion, McBean did a cartwheel. "That's just not her at all," says her father, Carl. "It was totally out of character." Melissa was more herself four days later, in a second overtime period against Cornell, when McBean headed in a cornerkick to beat the Big Red 1-0. "She had no expression on her face at all," says Carl, "and her teammates were wondering whether it went in the goal or not."

"She's the most humble kid," says women's coach Steve Swanson. "She really doesn't like the attention."

"When she says something, it's said," agrees Carl.

"If she says anything."

That personality shows inMcßean's coolness and grace as a field general. "She tries to stay within herself," says Swanson. "She plays within the framework of our team. She has an eye for the field and an ability to control the pace of the game, put together non-roshed plays, and dish off to teammates. But when the game is on the line, she takes it on herself. That's when you see that fire, that hunger for the goal."

It's like what Vince Lombardi used to say about Paul Hornung inside the 20: In the clutch Melissa McBean is among the most potent scoring threats in women's soccer. "She's done it so many times," marvels Swanson. "Last year it was UMass and Cornell. The year before she had game-winners against Vermont and Harvard. She just comes through."

McBean is exceptionally fluid with the ball. She has quick starts, quick stops, and devastating speed (she ran a 27-second 200 in high school). "And she's one of the rare players who's just as fast with the ball as without," says Swanson. "That tells you a lot about her ballhandling skills."

Melissa grew up as the only girl among boy cousins and especially had to keep up with her older brother, Jason '95, who played soccer and ran track in high school and ran the 200 and 400 at Dartmouth. Ahigh school All-American at Madison's Daniel Hand High, Melissa honed her skills on an Olympic Development Program team at Southern Connecticut Community College and on a team, Connecticut Oman, that won the National Under-17 championship in 1993 and was runner-up for the under-18 title in 1994.

McBean hasn't decided on a major, but she's leaning toward psychology. And she's toying with the idea of playing soccer overseas after graduation. For now, though, she is the last person to get excited about her playing. "I just do whatever works," says McBean. "It's instinctive, And it's trying to keep from getting my ankles bashed."

Melissa McBean '97 may go national this year.

WILL TO EXCEL UPDATE IS GOAL: $500 MILLION TIME AMOUNT TO RAISE: 1063 MILLION FIGURES CURRENT AS OF AUGUST 31, 1995