Jersey Sky Blue News Release - www.skybluesoccer.com
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
BEDMINSTER, NJ -- Jersey Sky Blue retained another key piece to its W-League leading defense with Sky Blue Soccer announcing today that Bonnie Young will return for the 2008 season. Young started 10 games for Jersey Sky Blue in 2007 when the team led the W-League with just six goals allowed in 14 regular season games.
The former Penn State University standout is heading into her fifth season in the W-League. She played for the New Jersey Wildcats from 2004 to 2006 after playing professionally with the New York Power of the former WUSA. Young won a W-League championship with the Wildcats in 2005 before joining Sky Blue in 2007.
“Bonnie is a veteran pro who contributes experience and stability to our defense,” said Jersey Sky Blue head coach Denise Reddy. “She is a great defender with the ability to strike a ball over fifty yards with accuracy. Every time the ball is at her feet, she becomes an offensive threat.”
In her 10 appearances with Sky Blue in 2007, Young collected one goal and four assists while helping the team to 10 shutouts and a 12-2 mark in the regular season. She joins returning goalkeeper Jillian Loyden and defender Fanta Cooper as key defensive pieces on the 2008 roster.
With the New Jersey Wildcats, Young made 32 regular season appearances over three seasons with five goals and six assists helping that team to a 41-1 regular season mark and a 6-1-1 playoff record during her tenure with the club.
On the college level, Young was a standout and four-year starter at Penn State University from 1998 to 2001. She led the Nittany Lions to four NCAA Tournament quarterfinal round appearances including a trip to the NCAA College Cup semifinals in 1999. She ranks seventh in the all-time PSU record books in points (82), seventh in goals (31), ninth in assists (20), and seventh in game-winning goals (11). She also currently ranks second all-time in the NCAA women’s soccer record book with 104 career games played. Following her career at Penn State, Young was drafted 14th overall in the 2002 WUSA Draft by the New York Power and signed as a reserve player.
In the coaching realm, Young has put together three successful seasons as an assistant coach on the Division I level. She has served the past two seasons at Monmouth University after working at the University of Rhode Island in 2005. In all three seasons, the head coach at each respective program was named the Coach of the Year by that school’s conference with Zac Shaw taking Atlantic 10 honors in 2005 and Krissy Turner earning NEC honors in 2006 and 2007.
Season tickets and group packages are available now through the Sky Blue Soccer website for Jersey Sky Blue’s second season in the W-League. Sky Blue will open the season on May 10 when it travels to Framingham, MA to face the Boston Renegades. Jersey Sky Blue opens its home schedule on May 31 when it hosts Boston in a return match at 7:30 pm at Drew University's Ranger Stadium in Madison, NJ.
SKY BLUE PROFILE: Bonnie Young
• Hometown: Spring, TX
• Birthdate: July 21, 1980
• Returns to Jersey Sky Blue after posting one goal and four assists in 10 appearances in 2007 helping the team to a 12-2 mark
• Played for the New Jersey Wildcats in the W-League from 2004 to 2006 making 32 W-League regular season appearances collecting five goals and six assists
• Her most successful W-League season came in 2006 when she posted three goals and four assists in 13 games as the Wildcats went 14-0
• Appeared as a reserve in the 2004 W-League Championship game
• Currently serves as an assistant coach at Monmouth University, which posted a 12-5-4 mark last fall including an NEC Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament as Krissy Turner earned her second straight NEC Coach of the Year award
• Worked as an assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island for the 2005 season under Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Zac Shaw helping the Rams to an 11-6-2 mark
• Drafted 14th overall in the 2002 WUSA Draft by the New York Power and signed as a reserve player
• Four-year starter at Penn State University from 1998 to 2001
• Ranks seventh in the all-time PSU record books in points (82), seventh in goals (31), ninth in assists (20), and seventh in game-winning goals (11)
• Led PSU to four NCAA Tournament quarterfinal round appearances including the Final Four in 1999
• Selected to play in the Umbro Select College All-Star Game in 2002
• Soccer Buzz Honorable Mention All-America in 2001
• Soccer Buzz Third Team Freshmen All-America in 1998
• First Team All-Big Ten in 2000 and 2001
• All-Big 10 Tournament Team in 2000
• Currently ranks second all-time in the NCAA women’s soccer record book with 104 career games played
• Recorded the first hat trick in PSU women’s soccer history as a freshman in 1998 in a 3-0 victory over Maryland
• Starred at Klein (TX) High School and was named the 1997 Houston Chronicle Player of the Year
• Played for Challenge Soccer Club of Texas
