Her life is on hold
Tuesday, May 12, 1998
By Michael Muldoon
Tracy Ducar won't even allow herself to consider it.
What if, after putting her life on hold for four years, the 24-year-old North Andover native doesn't make the USA Olympic women's soccer team for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney?
''I don't think about it frankly,'' said Ducar, whose maiden name is Noonan. ''I think about making it. I think of how cool it would be to play in front of a packed house at the Rose Bowl (in the 1999 World Cup). Starting for that team. Those are the thoughts I have.''
Ducar was an alternate for the gold medal-winning 1996 USA Olympic team. While that's quite an honor, only the 16 members of the team received gold medals. She wasn't even in Atlanta for the Games.
''It was very frustrating,'' admitted Ducar, a Phi Beta Kappa University of North Carolina graduate with a degree in biology.
''I had spent six months with the team preparing. I was the No. 3 goalie. I wasn't the best one there. There is not much I can be upset about. It is a process of paying dues.''
The way Ducar views it, the dues are now paid in full.
She has been with the U.S. National team since the Games. Since Mary Harvey retired, she has moved up to the No. 2 goalie position behind UMass grad Brianne Scurry.
The Olympic team will be picked from the National team but not everybody on the National team will make it, as Ducar found out. As always, there will be younger talent coming up from the college ranks, too.
''I'm more concerned with who's ahead of me than who's behind me,'' said Ducar confidently.
If the 5-7 Ducar doesn't make it, it won't be from a lack of hard work.
More than a few local soccer fans questioned her decision to attend vaunted North Carolina instead of attending her second choice, Dartmouth.
But as a non-scholarship player, she eventually beat out first team high school All-American Shelley Finger to become a third-team All-American as a junior and one of 12 finalists for National Player of the Year honors as a senior.
Legendary Tar Heel coach Anson Dorrance, arguably the most successful coach in any sport in college history, says Tracy may be the most determined player he has ever encountered.
''I wasn't expecting her to compete with a first-team All-American,'' said Dorrance, who has won 15 national titles in 17 years. ''What stunned me was how well Tracy competed from the first day of practice. She worked herself to death.''
Ducar eventually changed the way Dorrance used his goaltenders. Historically, he played the No. 1 keeper nearly all the time. That wasn't good for team morale or for preparing the No. 2 keeper in case of injury.
Now, he alternates by the half.
''I credit her completely (for the change),'' said Dorrance. ''It is a wonderful system.''
Back injuries have plagued Ducar in recent years. A bulging disk, a direct result of cracked vertebra she suffered in high school, is a daily struggle.
''It's an ongoing nightmare,'' said Ducar. ''It is a matter of what degree the pain is.''
As the World Cup and Olympics get closer, the schedule gets more grueling for National Team members.
''There are too many miles,'' the 1991 North Andover High graduate said warily.
''I'm tiring and it is only May. (This year) I've already been to China, Portugal, across the United States a couple times. I'll be leaving for Japan Wednesday. Then to D.C. then to New York. Then to Germany in the third week of June. Then for the Goodwill Games in Long Island. Then in Florida.''
In addition to the National Team, Ducar plays with the Raleigh (N.C.) Wings of the women's professional league.
Tracy and her husband of one year, Chris Ducar, one of the top goalie coaches in the country, are in the process of moving into a house in Durham, N.C.
When not playing, Tracy trains about 5-6 hours a day, including sprinting, distance running, weight-lifting, pliometrics and goalie drills.
She supplements her small National Team salary -- ''I don't even call it a salary'' -- by working clinics and tutoring young goalies in the Chapel Hill area.
She no longer feels out of place on the National Team.
''Initially, it was like, 'Oh, my God!,' she laughed. ''I was in a state of awe. (Teammate) Michelle Akers was one of my idols growing up. I was at the level I was dreaming about for years. Now it is more of a pride thing.''