Athlete of the Week

Chandra King, TD '03 Women's Soccer Favorite TV show: Anything on the Game Show Network! Role Model: Her mom Favorite pro-sports team: San Francisco '49ers Pre-game superstition "I have to have the same sport in our warm-up lines." Age when she started playing: Seven

Army must have been a little shell-shocked when Chandra King, TD '03, exploded for three goals, two in a span of a minute and eight seconds on Sun., Sept. 23. But King took it right in stride. "I've played forward all my life," she said. "It happened a lot when I was younger."

King's hat trick gave her five goals and 14 points after eight games, in which the Bulldogs have gone 4-3-1 (0-1 Ivy). The win put Yale over .500, and reestablished the Elis' faded momentum. "We had a slump the past three games where we couldn't score, so this was nice," King commented. But King says she didn't immediately realize what she'd done. "I really didn't know they were so close in time. But it's always a good time to go after the other team after you've just scored. They're back on their heels and you can take advantage of that."

It's no wonder that King is considering psychology as a possible major. But along with her killer mind-reading instinct, she can also be caring when it counts. King participates in an elementary school mentoring program every spring and during the off-season represents Timothy Dwight in intramural volleyball.

In the varsity world, King is strictly a soccer girl. "I played volleyball in high school, but I was the shortest one on the team," she laughed. "So, I didn't get much playing time."

She knows how to have fun too; she spent this past summer basking in the California sun with her friends and even surfed a little. But she can switch from laid-back beach bum to killer forward in a heartbeat. Her teammates and coaches like both sides of her personality, even if sometimes they can't get her name right. She said her coaches have taken to calling her "Shaunie", because they have so much trouble with "Chandra." They've also called her CK, not because those are her initials, but because they stand for "cone killer." King has a penchant for taking out practice cones.

The 5'7" forward thinks her team has a very good chance of competing for the Ivy title this year. The championship, she said, is "actually kind of anyone's title. We're very optimistic that we can do well." The team was only 3-2-2 in the Ivy League last year, but King thinks the Bulldogs will improve on that significantly this season. "We're a lot better than we were last year," King said. "We definitely have the potential to upset some people, with our Notre Dame game coming up." Notre Dame is one of the top teams in the country, and a win over the Fighting Irish would boost morale greatly.

There's no doubt that King is a natural leader on this team."I would like to improve as an overall player, be able to read the game more, and be a better team player," she said. "I think being a team is really important. I want to make us more of a unit, instead of individuals." Eli soccer fans need not fear a breakdown in unity; Army saw last Sunday what the Bulldogs can do as a team. And if King has her way, the Ivy League will find out that facing a team led by this Cali girl is definitely no day at the beach.

Photo by Julia Tiernan.

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