During a time when most students are enjoying vacations at the beach or sitting at home, The University of Memphis women's soccer team rarely takes a break.
While coach Brooks Monaghan was out recruiting everywhere from New York to California this summer, the Lady Tigers were still playing, though not together.
Conference-USA Midfielder of the Year Vendula Strnadova spent the earlier part of May with her native Czech Republic national team, as they played a two-match home and away set against Poland.
Born in Liberec, Czech Republic, Strnadova and her older sister, Veronika, a midfielder at the University of New Mexico, left the United States to compete in the try-out for the Czech Republic World Cup qualifying team.
"As a player you don't get a lot of chances to prove yourself, and I don't know how many opportunities I will have to see the field and showcase what I can do, but I will try to do what I do best," Strnadova said.
What she does best is command the midfield, notching eight goals and four assists for the Lady Tigers last year. Strnadova was second on the team in scoring and tied for the lead in assists.
But she's not the only soccer player representing a foreign country on The U of M team.
Rising sophomore midfielder Julia Ignacio recently played for the Under-20 Canadian National Team.
The Edmonton, Alberta, Canada native appeared in nine games for the Lady Tigers last season and had one assist. Although she didn't score, Ignacio had the second-highest shots-on-goal percentage on the team, as 53 percent of her shots were on goal.
"This is a huge opportunity for the kids individually," Monaghan said of his players, "It's also a great thing for them to play on the highest level in the world and represent both their home country and The University."
Though the Lady Tigers lost all-time leading goal scorer Kylie Hayes to graduation, Monaghan said the work his players put in during the offseason, especially competing internationally, will help put them back towards the top of C-USA once again.
"It's a big confidence boost for them," he said. "But for all of our kids - they're all working out with strength and conditioning in the offseason. A few are playing in women's leagues around the country. They're all hard workers."
Monaghan pointed to the fact that, in addition to back-to-back conference championships, 24 of the 26 members of the team were recently recognized for having 3.0 or higher grade point averages.
They finished the spring semester with a 3.576 team GPA, which set a new team record.
Thirteen Lady Tigers were named to the C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal List. The University was the only program to have double-digit honorees.
"Like I tell the girls, it's about balance," Monaghan said. "It speaks volumes of this team's character to do it both on the field and in the classroom. They're the true representation of what it means to be a student-athlete."
Former player Kate Murphy and Strnadova were both named to the C-USA All-Academic First Team. Senior midfielder Laura Laufenberg and junior defender Kelsey Bakker were named to the Second Team.
While the team played individually over the summer, they are back for official practice and will play an exhibition match against Samford at Mike Rose Soccer Complex on Aug. 15.
That's when Monaghan said he hopes to begin another quest for the conference title.
"We have the right pieces to the puzzle; we just have to make them fit," he said. "The character is this team is that they're winners. Winning twice in a row is tough enough. We know the third one isn't going to be easy."
Though he'll return key players such as Strnadova and Laufenberg to the field, Monaghan said he wouldn't limit his team's success to just a few players.
"That's what's so special about this team - it's not just about one or two players," he said. "It's exciting, because we've got a long list of players that can do so much."
One player Monaghan said he's looking forward to seeing on the field is rising junior forward Melissa Smith, who was hampered most of last season after recovering from an ACL tear in 2007.
With the pieces to the puzzle coming into place, Monaghan said he's hopeful for a C-USA three-peat.
"I can't promise a championship," he said. "But I can promise we'll compete every match all season long."
