LOBO WOMEN’S SOCCER
Exhibition: Vs. Fort Lewis College
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Lobo Soccer Complex
Admission: Free
At first glance, spring practice for a University of New Mexico women’s soccer team that lost just one senior from its 2014 squad would seem to be just a time to fine-tune things for 2015.
Because of a new coaching staff, however, the Lobos have been a bit on edge, starting over with new schemes on offense and defense, and not knowing what to expect.
That’s been a good thing for the team.
As UNM prepares for its second home exhibition of the spring against Fort Lewis College at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the Lobo Soccer Complex, its players say that going through these current offseason workouts have put all of them – from seniors to freshmen – have put them all at the same starting point entering 2015.
“I’ve been here for four years and was used to the way things were run,” said forward Madisyn Olguin, who will be a senior in the fall. “So for me, every day I have to try something new, and I have to work harder to please my new coaches and I want to work harder for the team and we have new girls so we’re all trying to work harder.
“We’re not comfortable, and that’s very good for us; I’m trying new things that maybe I wouldn’t have tried because I was too scared or I was comfortable and didn’t have to try, so it’s just been really good and we’re all working really hard.”
The Lobos are coming off a 2-1 victory over Denver University last Saturday, in which the Lobos outshot the Pioneers 17-6 and hit the DU goal posts four times. Olguin and 2015 sophomore midfielder Claire Lynch provided the scoring for the home team. Senior Cassie Ulrich served as goalkeeper in the victory.
The match was a good litmus test for the new offensive and defensive schemes first-year coach Heather Dyche is installing.
“I wouldn’t say I was nervous (going into the home game),” Olguin said. “I was so excited that I had nerves in me — because of the new defensive style and new attacking style. I was excited to see how we were going to do and I thought we did pretty well.”
Especially with Olguin scoring.
“That was pretty great, I must admit,” Olguin gushed.
The victory was, perhaps, more impressive because during spring practice, the goal is just to get better in exhibition matches. With the scheme changes, spring is even more important this year for the Lobos.
“We’re all competitors so we’re going to want to win every match we play,” senior forward Dylann O’Connor said. “But we know we have to use these opportunities primarily to get better. We went into last game knowing that it was going to be a learning experience, so to get the win was an added bonus.”
Olguin said that the team still is in the process of figuring out the coaching staff’s expectations, but a benefit of the transition is both coaching staff and team have entered spring practice without preconceived notions.
“They don’t put limits on us, and I think that’s helped us,” Olguin said of the staff that includes Dyche and assistants Missy Strasburg and Karley Nelson. “They’re setting a standard and we all want to reach that standard. “We want to prove ourselves to our coaches and that’s helping us prove ourselves to ourselves. It’s made us push ourselves and that’s brought out the best in everybody.”
For motivational purposes, the team is still hanging on to the way 2014 finished as it prepares for 2015. After a 1-4 start, the Lobos went 9-3-2 the rest of the way. They were 25 minutes away from advancing to the Mountain West Tournament championship game in November when they appeared to run out of gas and fell 2-1 to Wyoming in overtime in the semifinals.
“Last year definitely counts and we still talk about it and it motivates us to get better,” O’Connor said, “but we’re going to hit opponents with something new this year so instead of doing what they’ve seen for the past however many years, we’re going to come out with a completely new style of play and hopefully shock them and beat them this time.”