DUAL DEBUTS: THIELE, WOMEN'S SOCCER FIND SE

The inception of a women's soccer program at Southeast Missouri State University was perfect timing as far as Nichole Thiele is concerned.

Thiele was one of Missouri's top high school female athletes at Cape Girardeau Central a few years ago, earning all-state honors in basketball and track while also starring in soccer.

After graduating from Central in 1997, Thiele took her basketball skills to John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., where she was a key guard for two seasons.

But Thiele, after a two-year break from the sport, really missed playing soccer. And, having always liked Cape Girardeau, she was thinking about coming back to her home town to complete her college education.

So last year's announcement that Southeast would be fielding a women's soccer team for the first time in 1999 couldn't have come at a better time for Thiele.

"The timing was perfect. It couldn't have worked out any better for me," she said. "I like it here and I wanted to come back. I hadn't played (soccer) for a while and I missed it. I knew when I was playing basketball that, if they ever got a women's team here, that might be an opportunity for me."

Now, Thiele is once again putting her soccer skills to use. She and the Otahkians started practicing Wednesday as they gear up for the school's inaugural women's soccer season.

The squad's official first game will be Aug. 27, but the Otahkians will have three exhibition contests to get tuned up, including Tuesday's 4 p.m. home match against the St. Louis Busch Soccer Club at the Sprigg Street Field. The other two exhibitions will be on the road.

"I can't wait for the season to get here," said an obviously excited Thiele. "I think it's going to be interesting to see how well we're going to do, because a lot of people don't know what to expect. But everybody seems really enthusiastic and it looks like we have some good players. I think we'll do fine."

Thiele, a junior who figures to bring plenty of speed and quickness to the Southeast offense, is looking forward to playing in front of some of the fans who saw her tremendous exploits as one of Cape Central's top all-around female athletes of the past decade.

"I think it will be fun, not because I like the recognition, but to be a role model for the kids around here. Youth soccer is growing so much," she said. "And it's not just me, but the other local girls we have on the team."

Even though she hadn't played competitive soccer for a while, Thiele has stayed quite close to the sport, particularly in recent months.

This past spring, she was on hand for some playoff games cheering on her alma mater, Cape Central, during its drive to the school's first-ever Class 4A Final Four berth in girls soccer.

"That was awesome," she said of the Lady Tigers' performance. "They did a great job."

Thiele also got to witness first-hand some of the excitement generated by the United States women's soccer team on its march to the World Cup title earlier this summer.

"I got to go to the game in Chicago when they played Nigeria and that was something," she said. "It was so exciting."

Thiele figures what the World Cup did to generate interest for women's soccer in America can't help but aid the Otahkians as they try to build a fan base during their first season.

"I know it's going to help us," she said. "Just talking to people who really had no idea about soccer, they learned so much just by watching on TV.

"I don't think people realized how much effort it took to play soccer. I think a lot of people just thought it was some girls out there kicking the ball who couldn't play any other sport. But they got to see how tremendous those athletes were and how hard they worked."