Women's Soccer Coaches Corner
by Aron Bassoff
Updated: 08/27/06

Just in case this is your first time visiting the Coach’s Corner, I will give you an idea of what to expect. Each week, I will write an update on how the team did the past week with my personal feelings and thoughts and give you a more in depth view. For this Coach’s Corner, I will give everyone an idea of how everything has gone from the time the players reported to training camp on August 12 until now. The players arrived on August 12 with very high expectations. The returning players knew that this was a talented recruiting class coming in and were anxious to see how everything would come together. The returning players really turned the corner over the spring with their attitudes, and I felt that we could do something very special this season. We conducted the dreaded fitness test on the 12th and were pleased with the results. More players passed it then last year and more were closer to passing then last year. On Sunday, we practiced once in the evening then on Monday-Wednesday we practiced three times a day. We knew that we really stretching the players with 3 practices a day, but they held up well during them. We were making progress with each passing day. I anticipated more of a steady progress then a quick start out of the gate because of the amount of new players. For Thursday through Saturday, we practiced twice a day then tapered back to once a day on Sunday and Monday. On Saturday, we scrimmaged the boy’s reserve team. We were dodging the weather and only got 30 minutes of play which meant I only got to take a look at mostly starters. However, I was very pleased with what I saw. We were able to execute things that we could not do last year and further along in some areas now then at the same last year. It was a very positive outing despite the fact we only could play for 30 minutes.

On Tuesday, we traveled to Thomas Moore to play them in a scrimmage. Everyone was anxious to see how we would do although I knew that we would not have a complete picture because of injuries. Going into the game, we were missing 3 starters and one key player who comes off the bench. I had to shuffle some things around, and some players had to play in positions they were not accustomed to. And we got off to an ominous start by conceding a goal in the first 2 minutes off an innocent cross. However, we relaxed after that and began to carry the play and finally were rewarded after a great series of passes that culminated with an excellent cross from Rebecca Rube to Nery Saucedo both who are Sophomores. Nery did a great job of heading the ball at the ground and by the keeper. Then things started going south for us. Within 2 minutes we lost two players to injuries which meant I had to move things around more. We did get one of those players back in the 2 nd half which certainly helped. The 2 nd half proved to be a question of whether we could avoid making too many mistakes in our defending half. We struggled in the first part of the 2 nd half with this and were fortunate that they did not take advantage. Once we began to eliminate mistakes, we began to carry the play and I liked our attitude which was very committed to winning the game. We were the stronger team the last 20 minutes but just could not find the net. So we settled for a tie and were finding out more about the team.

I knew that we needed to be more physical especially in the midfield and in the back. We did a great job of pressuring their defenders and forcing them to just send the ball down the field but just did not win enough 50/50 balls. We needed to be stronger in our 1v1 defending. It was too easy to get around us, and we needed eliminate mistakes off our touches, dribbling and passes out of the back. In preparation for our 1 st regular season game on Friday, we set to address some of those things in training. And while we were able to do this, our injury situation was starting to grow concerning. When we came back to training on Wednesday the players who came back in the scrimmage was now not able to walk which left us with 4 injured starters and 1 key player off the bench. It looked like the best case scenario that we would get two of them back. Then in practice on Thursday, we lost another starter to an injury, and one that would keep her out of the game on Friday. We did a player back from injury but were still down 4 starters for Friday’s season opener. I also realized the home opener would be a very strong test. Alabama-Huntsville is a solid Division II team and would be tough to play them without an depth on our bench. Players would have to go the full 90 minutes who were not physically ready so I was hoping for the best. And things started brightly with us carrying the play for the first 15 minutes of the game and nearly scoring several times. However at the 18 th minute, they were able to break down the center of the field and score on a breakaway. Little did I know that would be the story of the game. Within two minutes, they had broken down the field again and scored on another breakaway. We settled down after that and began to regain our composure. However at the 30 th minute mark, a player dribbled by one of our players from the sideline to the middle of the field, no one stepped up to pressure her, and she buried a shot from 18 yards out. They would score one more time before half on a yet another breakaway. I think all of our players were stunned walking off the field at halftime. I knew that I was. I just could not figure out how this team had just scored 4 goals on us. And I knew the 2 nd half would be tougher then the 1 st because of our fitness. I was hoping for the best to help our current mental state. However, things went from bad to worse. A player who had just returned from an injury could not play in the 2 nd half, and we lost another player in the 2 nd half to an injury. I will save some of the details of the 2 nd half, but we ended up losing 9-0 and were wondering how did this all happen. Certainly, this team was not this good, and we are not that bad but on that particular day many things went wrong for us, and many things went right for them. Despite this, I felt that there were aspects of our game that we did well. And we actually improved in some of the areas from the last scrimmage, but they exposed some of our weaknesses. They had tremendous athleticism and a solid 1 st touch. First and foremost, I hope that we can get healthy quickly because that will help us. Then we need to start looking at some different things in training to make sure we are using everyone where they should be used. Last but not least, our defense needs to not concede breakaways. Those are too easy of opportunities, and they ended up with at least 6 goals off of them. I am hoping the girls put this game behind them and now work that much harder with so many games left to play. We shall see what we are made of as the season progresses.

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