July 27, 2009
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
When you talk to Kit Vela about being a new mother, the University of New Mexico Lobos women’s soccer coach might not be sure if you are referring to the bouncing baby boy added to the Vela family or the 15 freshmen on her 2009 Lobos roster.
Yeah, Vela has some challenges ahead of her in blending 11 true freshmen and four redshirt freshmen into a team featuring nine sophomores, seven juniors and two seniors.
But Vela doesn’t necessary look at this blending as a harsh task. Her freshman are talented and eager, but the experience and top-shelf talent above those Lobo pups means Vela doesn’t have to throw her young Lobos into the fire too soon.
She hasn’t always had this luxury.
“We have so much talent and depth now in our program,” said Vela. “In 2005 and 2006, we were very talented on the field, but we weren’t very deep on our bench. If we lost a player, it was tough to sub and not drop our level of play.
“Last year, we had depth, but we were young and inexperienced. This year we have seniors, juniors and sophomores who are good and have experience and we have talented freshmen to give us more depth. But we don’t have to depend on the freshmen like last year.”
Vela’s Lobos took to the soccer field in 2008 leaning heavily on freshmen and sophomores and the program posted its fourth consecutive winning season. This season Vela has a total of 16 juniors and sophomores to go with her two seniors: Jess Quador and Veronika Strnadova.
UNM also returns its leading scorer from the past two seasons in junior Alexis Ball. A major challenge for UNM will be to replace Shannon Adragna, the starting keeper in 2008 who graduated.
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2009 UNM ROSTER Juniors Sophomores Freshmen |
The Lobos might be looking at a strong run at the Mountain West Conference title in 2010, but this 2009 squad is more than capable of playing with the top programs in the MWC right now.
“The depth and the talent of the depth makes a huge difference,” said Vela. “This depth creates the competitive environment that the North Carolinas, the Stanfords, the USCs have.
“When you only have 12 players who can compete at this level on a day-to-day basis, you are in trouble. When you can look to your No. 22 player off the bench and they come on the field and they change nothing, you are in a pretty good situation.
“Now, we have enough players to make changes and keep fresh legs out there and we won’t lose anything. If anything, we might gain a different personality or gain a slightly different skill.”
Talented depth not only helps a team in live action. It helps you on the practice field because players are competing against quality talent and being pushed by that quality talent. And let’s face it: none of Vela’s freshmen came to New Mexico planning to ride the pine.
“These girls want to play. Everyone wants to play,” said Vela. “We are telling them to go out and prove in practice that they deserve to be on the field. What this depth does is put responsibility on everyone’s shoulders to do the things necessary to make it onto the field.
“Our captains want the best players on the field because they want to win. Our captains can go to a player and say, “Hey, if you want to play, you need to start doing these things.”
Vela has hauled in two huge freshmen classes back-to-back. She has 13 Lobos on the 2009 roster who were first-year Lobos in 2008. She has her 11 bouncing true freshmen this season. The program’s emphasis in 2008 was to beef up the talent level up front. This season’s crop of freshmen was brought it to shore up the back line.
“This year’s freshmen class is just as deep, just as talented, but a more defensive-minded class,” said Vela. “We are now stronger and deeper at the back end of our game. And these girls are good. They are coming from the top clubs in the area including the top clubs in California, Colorado and New Mexico.
“This class gives us more dynamics as a team, more variety across the field. Last year we went heavier on the attacking side. We are in a nice situation right now with all this young talent. They are hard working, blue-collar girls who are dying to get on the field and contribute.
“The nice thing is that we have freshmen talented enough to be out there, but it’s not something we necessarily need. Last year, we had to ask some freshmen to do it for us right away. We will be asking them to be a part of it, to come off the bench and contribute, but we don’t have to ask this group to go out and be an immediate impact.
“We still have to build experience, but these girls are so talented and so hungry to play. This team, from No. 1 to No. 33, all love to play soccer and all want to be out there so much. We didn’t always have that before. This group is going to be fun to watch.”
New Mexico starts its fall practice on August 5. Vela lost only five starters from the 2008 season. She returns 15 letter winners.
The season kicks off with a friendly exhibition with the Cherry-Silver Intersquad game on Aug. 16. The Lobos will welcome Idaho State to Albuquerque on Aug 21 for the season opener at 7:00 p.m. MT.