Schu-making it big time

Boston University has a tradition of sending its athletes into the professional ranks. Among the school’s alumni are Olympic gold medalists, Stanley Cup champions, a Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and a number of other accomplished competitors who represented BU at the highest level available in their respective sports.

BU women’s senior soccer player Marisha Schumacher-Hodge is ready to take her spot on the list.

Schumacher-Hodge, a three-time America East All-Conference First Team honoree, has been invited to preseason camp with the Boston Breakers of the newly formed Women’s Professional Soccer league.

The WPS, comprised of seven teams, will commence its inaugural season in April, and plans to add more teams in the near future. The league is aiming to be the ‘premier women’s soccer league in the world, and the global standard by which women’s professional sports are measured,’ according to the WPS website.

The WPS is already loaded with international superstars, boasting 26 medal winners from the 2008 Olympic games, including 16 from the gold-medal U.S. squad.

Among the Breakers already guaranteed a roster spot are U.S. Women’s National Team captain Kristine Lilly, the world’s all-time leader in international appearances, and Amy Rodriguez, who assisted on Carli Lloyd’s game-winning overtime goal in the 2008 Olympic gold-medal game.

Rodriguez, who helped knock the Terriers out of the NCAA Tournament while playing for the University of Southern California this past fall, was the first overall pick in the 2009 Women’s Professional Soccer draft.

‘Even at the open tryouts, I recognized some of the players, and it was an honor just to be playing with them,’ Schumacher-Hodge said. ‘To know that I’ll get a chance to play with these international players and these Olympians is just absolutely amazing.

‘Honestly, I never really thought this would come true so quickly, so I’m just really excited for it.’

Schumacher-Hodge, the 2008 America East Fan’s Choice Player of the Year, earned a spot at the Breakers’ preseason camp after catching the eyes of evaluators at a tryout camp Feb. 9 and 10 at Harvard Stadium.

Among those on the Breakers’ evaluation team was BU women’s coach Nancy Feldman.

‘When all was said and done, I though [Schumacher-Hodge] did quite well,’ Feldman said of the Pittsburgh, Pa. native. ‘It’s a great achievement. There were over 60 players at that tryout, and they may have pulled three or four from that tryout to come into preseason.’

The tryouts took place over four sessions, with most of the time devoted to basic 8-on-8 scrimmaging ‘-‘- a tryout style Schumacher-Hodge said suited her perfectly.

‘I think it really played well into my abilities,’ Schumacher-Hodge said about the scrimmage-heavy tryouts. ‘I just like to play, and I was able to showcase my talents that way. I think progressively through the tryout I got more up to speed with the level of play. It went really well by the end I think.’

Schumacher-Hodge will be one of 28 players brought into the Breakers’ camp, and if she doesn’t make the team’s final 18-player roster, she could still be kept as one of four developmental players, who would be permitted to practice with the team.

The time on the team’s developmental squad would not only give Schumacher-Hodge valuable practice time alongside some of the world’s best players, but it would also keep her under the watchful eye of legendary coach Tony DiCicco.

DiCicco, a Springfield College graduate, spent six years at the helm of the U.S. Women’s National team, accumulating a 103-8-8 record and becoming the winningest coach in U.S. Women’s National team history. The Wethersfield, Conn., native was the coach of the memorable 1999 Women’s World Cup championship team, which won on the wings ‘-‘- or sports-bra straps, if you will ‘-‘- of Brandi Chastain’s shootout winner. DiCicco also coached the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, Ga.

‘First of all, it’s just really exciting that I will get the opportunity to work with [DiCicco],’ Schumacher-Hodge said. ‘Obviously, he’s very well-known for all of his accomplishments with the women’s national team. I think it’ll be a great experience to learn anything I can from him and to learn at a higher level.’

If the Breakers cannot find a spot for Schumacher-Hodge as either a full-time player or a developmental project, Feldman said the midfielder will likely play for the Boston Aztecs of the less prestigious Women’s Premiere Soccer League.

‘So much is up in the air,’ Feldman said about Schumacher-Hodge’s chances of cracking the Breakers’ final roster. ‘I think the first week she’s there in preseason will tell a lot about where she is developmentally, compared to the others . . . I don’t think any of us can predict, you know, if she’ll be on the team, if she’ll be a developmental player, or if she’ll end up on the Aztecs.’

Feldman said she has little doubt that Schumacher-Hodge is capable of playing alongside the world’s best players. Although it was her ball-handling talents that struck the most fear in college opponents, Schumacher-Hodge’s strength may actually be one of her greatest assets as her career continues, according to Feldman.

‘She is powerful. She’s low to the ground,’ Feldman said. ‘I think, when you first look at her, she looks pretty small, but she’s very strong, particularly with her lower half. Her legs are very strong. While she does have the technique to be able to move with her touch and do so very precisely, she also has the explosiveness, the physical dimension, that gets her out of situations if she’s getting bumped or screened.’

Still, as is the case with any 21-year-old athlete, Schumacher-Hodge’s game has a long way to go before it reaches its full potential.

‘One of the areas we’ve worked with her on the past couple years was we wanted her to be more aggressive, making the choice to go forward when it was there,’ Feldman said. ‘In the tryout, I think Marisha did a terrific job of being appropriately aggressive while not giving away the ball.

‘I think she’s had a tendency in the past to play too safe. I think she has the ability, physically, and the strength and the physicality to play more [effectively], and I think she showed that at the tryout, which was something I was proud of.’

Whether Schumacher-Hodge, who was recognized Wednesday as one of six America East Scholar-Athletes, makes the team or not, indications are that her soccer future is bright.

The midfielder’s journey isn’t near complete, but odds are favorable that at some point, alongside names like Agganis, Cochrane, Eruzione and Drury, Schumacher-Hodge will be able to pencil herself into the BU record books as a Terrier who left her paw print on the professional landscape.