Adams is getting her kicks

A desire to learn, practice and improve over four seasons has made Christina Adams, a senior forward on the Westminster College women’s soccer team from Hubbard High, the top scorer in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

“That has been a big plus for her,” said Westminster’s seventh-year coach, Girish Thakar. “Every year she has gotten better. She will put in extra time to practice. She is the type of player we are looking for.”

He said another asset for Adams “is her willingness to play 100 percent when she plays. She has the talent and work ethic that puts her in the next level.”

A four-year starter, Adams has a team- and PAC-high 16 goals and 39 points entering tonight’s PAC home match against Washington & Jefferson at 8, to lead Westminster (11-2-1, 2-0 Presidents’ Athletic Conference).

She was named Presidents’ Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Player of the Week for recording her third hat trick of the season while scoring five of her team’s seven goals last week, in wins over PAC rivals Saint Vincent (3-1) and Geneva (4-0).

She achieved her third three-goal game against Geneva.

Adams challenges Newell for No. 2 in career scoring

The daughter of James and Dawn Adams of Hubbard, Christina also has become Westminster’s No. 3 career scoring leader, with a chance to become No. 2 in the five remaining games.

She scored two goals in Westminster’s 8-0 win over Thiel Wednesday to give her 45 for her career, which lifted her into the No. 3 spot replacing Katie Krone, a 2002 graduate, who has 44 goals.

Adams needs eight more goals to take over the No. 2 spot held by Tammy Newell (2002), another Hubbard High graduate, who has 52 goals.

Westminster’s all-time career scoring leader is Ashley Pyle (2001) with 80 goals.

Adams also had five points (two goals and one assist) against Thiel to move into No. 2 in career points at Westminster with 117.

Preparation, teammates help Adams succeed

A first-team All-PAC pick last season as a junior, Adams said that preparation and her teammates have helped her to become a better player each year.

“I work really hard in the offseason. The team works together. We lift weights, run and play soccer together in the offseason. We are really united and play well together,” Adams said. “We lost a lot of juniors and seniors, [but] the freshmen coming in have done a good job.”

She credits a lot of her scoring to being able to move and play well in the open field as an outside forward or striker on either side of the field near the opponent’s goal.

“I make a lot of runs on the outside which gives me open space to run. By playing on the outside, I have more space so I can make more runs and get [shots],” Adams said. “Mainly, once I get the ball, as my coach tells me, [I try to] take players on one-on-one, to isolate on one player and try to beat [her]. That makes it easier.”

Adams also said she uses her “midfielder or center striker on a give-and-go passing [play]” by passing the ball and “then getting a pass back [to] try for a score.”

Her other honors last season were making the d3kicks.com all-region second team and the NSCAA/adidas all-region third team. She led the PAC in assists (11), ranked second in points (37) and shots (95) and third in goals (13). Her 95 shots in 2007 were fifth-most in school history.

Adams is majoring in elementary education with a. 3.2 grade-point average, and plans to graduate next spring. She wants to teach and coach soccer.

XJohn Kovach writes about college athletes for The Vindicator. Write him at kovach at vindy.com.