University of Northern Iowa Athletics
UNI Soccer Season Preview
8/9/2013 9:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
With a re-stocked roster the University of Northern Iowa women's soccer team is looking to continue its rise in the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Panthers finished 8-9-2 in 2012 (3-2-1 MVC) and are faced with replacing four seniors that played either the forward or midfield positions. Head Coach James Price's 2013 team will feature 18 underclassmen, eight freshman, 10 sophomores and 13 upperclassmen, eight being seniors. Replacing leadership roles and finding where the offense will come from will be two of the largest tasks in 2013, according to Price.
“It's always difficult to replace seniors," Price said. "For the most part they're usually big parts of your team. Whether that's on the field, or off the field with their leadership. We've had the spring to get used to not having them, and some players have been able to step up the roles that they (seniors) left. I think the good thing this year is we have a lot of returners. A lot of girls that played a lot of minutes last year returning.”
Defense Preview:
When the Panthers hit a tough six-game losing streak during the middle of last season it was injuries that provided a lack of consistency in the defense's back four that largely contributed to the losses. Price is optimistic that returning the four starters from last season's defense and keeping them healthy could take the Panthers to another level.
“Our entire back four return, goalkeeper's back, the players that graduated were more offensive players and for me it's a little easier to replace offensive than defensive (players). You need that stability and we've got everybody returning back from that so it gives us a good, solid base.”
Senior defender Allie Brees echoed Price's remarks and made it clear just how important it is to have consistency in the defense's back four.
“It's huge, because someone can be a great defender and if you've never played with them you have no idea what's going to happen or how they play," Brees said. "With the same back four you know each other's strengths and weaknesses, how to talk to each other and move the ball around."
Brees is set to play alongside Sam Copley, Katie Witt, Sarah McHugh and Maddie Welch in the back four. Given the injuries that crippled the back four last season there could be many other players contributing to UNI's defense in 2013. Morgan Gallagher, Larin Gordon and Morgan Bjornsen will be challenging for playing time.
Offense Preview:
Despite it being easier to replace offensive players the Panthers will still have plenty of work to do on their attack. Three of the top five shot takers for the Panthers graduated and replacing that firepower will be the challenge for Price.
“Our problem has always been scoring goals," Price said. "That's gotten better over the last two years, I'd like to think that's going to continue. We scored more goals this past spring than we ever did so those are good signs. I think we've got a good base, but really we're still going to have to rely on the team to score goals rather than individuals. We don't really have those players that are going to score a lot of goals individually, but I think there's plenty of goals in our team. We're going to have to try and work on that collectively rather than having one or two individuals.”
Senior forward Claire Clark will play a large role in scoring more of the team goals that Price wants to see. She sees herself making a concentrated effort to be a more aggressive shot taker in 2013.
“Just getting open and playing off of people," Clark said. "Reading each other. Not second guessing myself. Taking the shot even if I don't think it's the best shot, just at least trying and you never know, sometimes it can deflect off of the goalkeeper or post and people can get the rebound.”
Clark had high praise for graduated senior Melissa Hagan, stating how much she was able to learn from Hagan and how underclassmen can learn themselves from watching the seniors.
“It's really hard for any player to transition from high school to college," Clark said. "It is a completely different game. Faster tempo and a lot of girls take awhile to get used to it. I tried last year to learn as much as I could from Melissa Hagan. I really looked up to her as a player. She was on the left side and I was on the right but we switched off as much as we could. Learning from her was the biggest way I could teach myself.”
Clark fired 16 shots last season and is working toward a much higher number in 2013, comparable to Hagan's 34 shots in 2012. She will be aided by an array of contributors from the midfield and forward positions. Charlotte Jones a junior midfielder scored four goals in just 12 games played last season. Midfielders Caitlyn Fuller and Maggie Riley both had double-digit shot attempts in 2012. Other likely contributors are Annie Dale, Grace Schield, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Maddie Welch and Sarah Frerichs.
Goalkeeping Preview:
Erin Zaideman is once again set to be the opening day starter for the Panthers between the posts. The senior totalled 56 saves last season and a 1.31 goals against average in the 19 matches (13 starts) she made. Zaideman is looking to build off her eight wins and five shutouts in 2012 and help propel her team toward a conference title in 2013. Erin will lead the Panthers in net for 2013 and is backed up by fellow senior Nicole Postel who switched to goalkeeper from defense at the beginning of last season.
Freshman Preview:
With eight freshmen on the roster there will be plenty of learning taking place during both practices and games. Allie Brees' weighed in on what those freshman can do to stay ready.
“Work hard and you never know when your time is going to come to play," Brees said. "Someone could get injured, Coach could switch you into a different position. As long as you're working hard and giving it your all you are going to have a chance at playing. Working with your teammates, communicating and getting to know each other's strengths and weaknesses.”
Does Price see any freshman making an impact in 2013?
“They certainly could," Price said. "They're all good players. They are all solid players that will push and contribute, but make a big impact? You just never know. They're all great players, all great kids, I think that's going to help us tremendously. I don't know if I can pinpoint one of them and say she's going to make a big impact or not. We'll wait and see. They can all help in different areas at any time. Like I said, I'm not sure one of them for me is an obvious starter or obvious contributor.”
Wrap Up:
With another tough schedule in front of them the key to the 2013 season has been echoed by players and coaches, consistency.
“We never like to use injuries as an excuse because they happen and you have to be ready, but I don't think in those six games we had the same back four," Price said. "I think we had to change through injuries the back four and that's always going to cause problems. You can change the midfield, you can change the forwards, but if you keep chopping and changing the back, that's such a difficult thing to gel together in one game.”
Whether it's maintaining consistency in their defense, offensive attack, practice effort, mental preparation or simply their winning Price is optimistic the Panthers can improve in 2013.
“I feel like on our day we can beat anybody in our conference," Price said. "We feel like we're very competitive. But, our record proves that we are not very consistent. We win some games and we lose some games. If we want to be a winning program and a team that's competing for a championship then we've got to bring it everyday in practice and every game in the season. We can't just turn it on and off when we feel like it. A lot of that is maturity. A lot of it is experience and I feel like we have that this year. We can't say we're young, we're not young anymore. I wouldn't say we're old, but there's no excuses in those areas where we have a lot of girls that have played a lot of college soccer on our team. So it's up to us to be consistent now, if we can do that I think we can have a good season.”
Schedule:
The Panther women will kick their regular season on the road on Aug. 23 against Ball State. Two days later UNI will face off with IPFW in Fort Wayne Indiana at 1 p.m. The following weekend the Panthers will compete in the Green Bay Tournament. On Fri., Aug. 30, the Panthers will match up against Eastern Illinois at 5 p.m. The second match of the Tournament pits UNI against Western Illinois on Sun., Sept. 1. The Panthers then head back home for three games at the beginning of September. First up is a Friday night matchup at 7 p.m. vs. Nebraska-Omaha. Next in the three game home set is a Sunday afternoon matchup at 1 p.m. against Western Illinois. The final match of the homestand is at 1 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 15, vs. South Dakota State. The following week of game's will feature in-state rivals Iowa and Iowa State. On Tues., Sept. 17, UNI will travel to Iowa City for a 7 p.m. match, followed by a Friday night game against Iowa State at 7 p.m. in Waterloo. After tangling with their in-state rivals the Panthers will go back to the road for three more games; Sun., Sept. 22, at South Dakota at Noon, Friday at Missouri State at 5 p.m. and Sunday versus IUPUI in Fort Wayne that kicks at 1 p.m. UNI will welcome conference rival Evansville to begin the month of October, facing off with the Purple Aces on the 6th at 1 p.m. Next the Panthers travel to Des Moines on Sun., Oct. 13, for a 6 p.m. match up with MVC rival Drake before returning home for three more games. The homestand features two conference matchups; first on Thurs., Oct. 17 at 4 p.m. vs. Illinois State, followed by a Monday game against Indiana State at 1 p.m. To complete the homestand the Panthers face off against St. Ambrose on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Panthers will round out their regular season schedule by traveling to Chicago for a match against new conference foe Loyola on Sat., Oct. 26 at 7 p.m., then will be back home for Senior Night against Grand View on Tues., Oct. 29, at 7 p.m.
