By Alex Risen

Standing 6-foot-3, Laura Novikoff is the tallest women’s soccer player in the Southeastern Conference towering over the competition game in and game out. Her physical stature is imposing as she steps onto the field — leaving many defenders wondering how they will stop the big forward.

“When they do announcements, the other team sees her come out and they have the look on their faces like ‘how are we going to mark her?’” UK women’s soccer head coach Warren Lipka said.

Lipka was excited to find Novikoff when she was a senior in high school at Christian Academy of Knoxville. Lipka noticed her height advantage when she put three goals into the back of the net off corner kicks during one of her high school games.

“I noticed her air game when I was recruiting her. She put three goals in the back of the net. She popped off one, two and three with the snap of her neck. She’s not slow either, especially for her size,” Lipka said.

Novikoff is technically sound. She works on her ability to hold the ball against defenders before practice — something she just started doing within the past couple of weeks. That ability to hold off defenders is crucial to the Cats’ success according to both Novikoff and Lipka.

“I like to work on it before practice with somebody putting the ball in to me and trying to hit it right. If I can hold the ball, we can get it back out to the sides where Giuleana (Lopez) and Katie (Fahey) or Ashley (Stack) can make the shots. If the defenders focus on me, it frees other people up,” Novikoff said.

Lipka echoed Novikoff’s importance in the center of the field near the goal.

“Every time she gets the ball in the middle, it opens up the sides for Giuleana and Katie,” Lipka said. “When Laura’s in the middle, the defending center back has to step up to her and the other backs have to fill in the middle lanes, leaving Giuleana and Katie open in the flanks. She has to understand now that we need her to get the ball then pass it back out to the sides.”

Without Novikoff in the middle, the Cats offensive attack loses that x-factor. The height and speed of Novikoff is a difficult matchup for many defenders, sometimes requiring double teams to stop her. When that happens, it is important to get the ball out from the middle to the sides, and Novikoff is the best option to get that done, according to Lipka.

In her freshman year, Novikoff scored four goals, including two game winners. Through just eight games this year, she’s put up five goals, tying her for first in the Southeastern Conference. She recorded both goals for the Cats against Oakland to tie the Golden Grizzlies 2-2, breaking a four game losing streak last weekend.

Novikoff has been around soccer for almost 20 years. Growing up in Madisonville, Tenn., a small town just outside of Knoxville, Novikoff began kicking soccer balls at age three with her older brother Chris out in the yard. She also started taking soccer to the streets with her dad, Walter, during her freshman year of high school. Mr. Novikoff helped his daughter with a series of dribbling, passing and shooting drills to improve her overall soccer ability, especially in confined spaces.

“I started playing soccer at about three and a half because my older brother played and I just picked it up early,” Novikoff said. “I’ve always loved soccer. My brother played soccer and my dad worked with him so I just worked on soccer growing up.”

Novikoff said the biggest impact of her early years in soccer was the time she spent with her dad.

“The drills with my dad taught me how to work hard,” Novikoff said. “I learned a lot of the technical stuff in club ball and high school but I loved working hard for him. It was really special working with him and he knew a lot about soccer by just watching so much of it.”

Novikoff continues to get better. With her height and steady improvement, she makes for a formidable forward at any level.

“She’s tremendously better this year than last year,” Lipka said. “I told her that she could play at another level if she keeps getting fitter and better. She could play in the new women’s pro league. I saw she could be a force on the field and that’s why I got her — I knew we could build around her.”