Waiting Her Turn

The star soccer player is not ready to put the cleats away just yet.

Melissa McBean has gone the coaching route - at least temporarily - since her graduation from Dartmouth College in 1997. But you can tell the urge is still there to get back on the field as a player. And why not ... McBean is one of only 10 women in Ivy League womens soccer history to be named first team all-League all four years of their careers.

McBean majored in psychology at Dartmouth, and it sounds like she has plans to go further in her schooling at some point. For right now, however, she is busy teaching the game she loves as an assistant coach at Central Connecticut State University.

"Maybe within the next year, I might try to get a job that gives me a little bit more hands-on experience in the field [of psychology]," said the soft-spoken McBean. But a bit later on, she hints at what really would make her happy. "I'd much rather be out there playing, and thats still an option. Im thinking about playing overseas, probably in Sweden."

It's no coincidence that her best friend from Dartmouth, former teammate Megan Owens, is doing just that. If she could find a job that could support her while playing, McBean could be on her way to Scandinavia.

And then there's the prospect of a women's professional league here in the United States, perhaps as soon as the year 2000. "If there's going to be a professional league here, I want to be playing in it," she said with determination. "I've been keeping in shape, and I'll keep kicking the ball around until that happens."

McBean has been kicking the ball around for a long time. She started playing the game at age six in her hometown of Madison, Connecticut. Madison is a small town on the shoreline, about a half-hour east of New Haven. "Even though I might have been the best in my town, I thought theres got to be people better than I was, and there were," McBean said of her self-evaluation in high school. "But I think I was short-changing myself a little bit."

Steve Swanson, now the head coach at Stanford University, was the head coach at Dartmouth back then, and he, too, thinks McBean was short-changing herself ... a lot. "There's no doubt that Melissa was a big-time recruit," said Swanson. "But times are so much different now. If she were a senior today, she'd get so much more interest. Still, she was one of the top players in the country," he added.

The transition to college freshman? Well, if being chosen first team All-Ivy, the Leagues Rookie of the Year and All-America were an indication of success, then McBean succeeded. "I was playing well, I knew that, but I didnt think I had such a phenomenal year until I look back now."

The next three weren't too bad, either, with first team All-Ivy selections every season and NCAA team appearances in 1993, 94 and 96. She ranks fourth all-time at the school with 22 career goals, sixth in career assists with 13, and fourth in career points with 57.

"Until that class," recalled Swanson, "we were a solid team, we worked hard, but we were never able to get over the hump. We played the UMasses and the Hartfords, and wed hang in there. But those teams would have the run of play."

"What made Melissa so special was her ability to hold the ball up front, and the fact that she was able to score goals out of nothing," Swanson said. He noted, in particular, a goal she scored to beat UMass as a sophomore. "She made this incredible run down the field, and Melissa normally shows very little emotion," laughed Swanson. "But after that one she did this flip, and it was just great to see."

McBean also recalled the UMass goal - though she did so with that trademark humility - and lots of other specific things about her Dartmouth career: the Harvard-Dartmouth rivarly; games against always-tough Brown; and the Ivy League's earning an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

She also looked back fondly on her experience as an African-American student and athlete at the school, but she does think her alma mater and the League can do a better job of getting more minorities on campus.

"I had a very positive experience at Dartmouth," McBean said. "I felt like any other athlete at the school. It was a special feeling for me to be honored by the Afro-American Society at the school with an award as a senior [Best Female Athlete]. But there have got to be more black athletes out there who could come to a school like Dartmouth, not just in soccer, but in general."

When the interviewer told Swanson, the ex-coach, of McBean's future hopes and plans, he was not surprised. "She's always going to be a player. Under that kind and soft-spoken exterior," continued Swanson, "is a strong and passionate kid who loves the game. I will say this ... it's going to be hard for Dartmouth to find a kid who can have the kind of impact that Melissa did."

Strength. Passion. Talent. Melissa McBean isn't too keen on talking about the traits herself. Trust the people who know her best ... all those traits are there in abundance.

-- Charles Yrigoyen III

***Please note, this story was written for a previous Ivy League Black History Month celebration. It is reproduced here for archival purposes and has not been updated.***