Women's Soccer Southern Conference

Furman's Turgeon Copes With Loss

Emily Turgeon led the SoCon
in Points (63) and
goals (23) in 2001.
For more information, check out CollegeSoccer.Com

GREENVILLE, S.C. 29 August 2001 - Emily Turgeon should be the happiest player in the Southern Conference. The Furman sophomore is coming off a dream freshman season where she led the NCAA in scoring with 63 points.

Anyone who talks to Turgeon discovers that she is equally adept on the field as she is in conversation. She can spin a yarn about her friends or family as quick as she can spin past a defender in the penalty area. Her impressions are legendary, and her down-home Southern wit can charm the most surly expression off anyone.

"The way she plays reflects her personality - just full of energy and a great enthusiasm for the game, a willingness to run at players for 90 minutes," said Furman head coach Brian Lee.

Now that she is back from a 10-day training trip to Europe with her team, the Paladins will be looking to defend their Southern Conference title, and go farther in the Women's College Cup this year when they kick off their season against La Salle on Friday.

Furman are coming off their second straight Southern Conference title and 20-win season, and they are favored for a third.

"Everybody is watching to see how we do and how we fend against some bigger named opponents like Clemson, Vanderbilt, and Baylor. It's going to make the season a little tougher with more pressure on the team, but I think our team can withstand that pressure and show everybody what we have had all along which is a team that can compete against the beat teams in the country and
in the Southeast," said Turgeon.

Furman returns four of their top five scorers in Turgeon, Melissa Turner, Danielle Petro, and Kaye Brownlee to help themselves on the field in 2001.
That will help Turgeon achieve her goals on the field.

"I want Furman to be recognized as a team and as good as we are, I want everyone to be recognized as a whole," said Turgeon, "You want to play well
for yourself, but even on a larger scale, you want to play even better for the team, and you want the team to have success."

Sadly, Turgeon is missing the most important person in her life off the field after losing her father. Roy Turgeon Jr died of a heart attack on
March 29 at the age of 55. The second of three children, Emily, was rocked by the news last Spring.

"He did not have a gray hair on his head. He was always busy, and he was always working out so it was a big shock to my family. My grandfather died
of a heart attack. It was pretty much in the Turgeon family on that side. It just came out of the blue. No one expected it," said Turgeon.

Her father was an educator and a celebrated war hero, and he served in Vietnam as an Airborne Ranger. For his service to the country, he was
awarded two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, and a Meritorious Service medal with oak leaf clusters and the CIB.

Though he played baseball in college, Roy Turgeon started to engender a love for the game in his girls when they lived in South Bend, Indiana where
Emily was born and he was the commandant of Notre Dame's ROTC.

It is why the Turgeons always root for the Fighting Irish and despite growing up in the backyard of the legendary North Carolina soccer program why Emily's favorite player was Notre Dame's Monica Gerardo.

After a stay at the Pentagon in Northern Virginia where Emily began to play soccer, Roy Turgeon retired after 24 years from the Army and moved his
family to Raleigh in 1991 where he became principal at St. Therese Elementary School.

"They had a little grassy field where he would go out at lunch and his break and play soccer with the kids. They loved it, and he loved being out there with him," said Turgeon.

After her 94-goal high school career, she had to make a choice on where to go to school. She looked past Notre Dame to Furman where she would get more immediate playing time and be closer to home.

"(Notre Dame) told me I could walk on, but that I would not get a lot of playing time until my sophomore or junior year, but towards the end, I
wanted to go somewhere where I could get a little more playing time and where I could be more of a player. I didn't really want to be a tackling
dummy at Notre Dame," said Turgeon.

Instead of just practicing with the team, Turgeon starred for the Paladins by lighting up the scoreboard 23 times en route to being the first player named Southern Conference Freshman and Player of the Year.

More importantly, she always had her own cheering section at every match. Roy and his wife, Marilyn attended nearly every game last year that Emily
or her youngest sister Natalie played last year, frequently driving the four hours from Raleigh, N.C to Greenville, S.C.

In fact, the last time Emily saw her father was March 25 when the Turgeons were visiting family in Georgia. After the Paladins beat Georgia 2-1 in a spring scrimmage, Emily got to drive back to school with her father.

"He drove eight hours to see us play a spring scrimmage," said Emily.

Coach Lee could not remember a parent more dedicated to seeing his child play at Furman.

"He was the perfect soccer parent, very positive, and really, the perfect parent. The type of person who did not say a lot but when he did, it was very spot-on because it was very reflective. He was a great guy," said Lee.

That is how dedicated her father was to his three daughters who all grew up playing soccer. Kate, the eldest, played soccer at Randolph Macon while
17-year old Natalie is about to have her pick of Division I schools to attend.

Emily has her strong family bonds and the game to keep her going.

"Given Emily's personality - she is so gregarious and so happy all the time. I think to have such a loss, it is even tougher on Emily. Soccer can be a
great tonic to get her through the process," said Lee.

While it has been six months since his passing, Turgeon has played very few college games without one of her parents on the sidelines. The Turgeons are a very close knit family, and Emily will be using that strength to endure this season without her biggest cheerleader.

"Even if he knew I had the worst game of my life, he would not make me feel like it. So he was there every step of the way. He was a huge part for all my sisters. He is a big part and he still is," said Turgeon.

When she first returned to Greenville, she found it hard to keep herself focused on school and soccer. To her credit, Turgeon, with her undeniable spirit, is coping with the loss and concentrating on her bright future.

"Nothing would have made it easier. It was really tough getting back into school and soccer and the whole swing of things because stuff like that doesn't happen every day and it is always things that you hear about happening to other people, never to your own family."

"It was very tough and it still is. You kind of have to keep going because you can't just stop everything just because something bad happens. I know my dad left me and my two sisters in very good hands. I know he would not want any of us to stop what we were doing before and you just have to keep him alive. I keep him alive. I keep him with me in my heart in everything I do."