A fearsome foursome
While none of the forwards on the USU soccer team are studying science, there’s plenty of chemistry going on.
Most soccer teams have one or two strikers that create scoring opportunities for their team. The USU soccer team has four: senior Candice Clark, junior Erin Salmon, sophomore Lauren Hansen and freshman Shantel Flanary—all with the ability to score on a moment’s notice, said USU head coach Heather Cairns.
“Not only do we have three people at the field at any one time that are capable of scoring, but we’ve got a fourth coming off the bench that’s going to give us a different dimension,” Cairns said. “Just to be that deep in a forward position, to know we have that much talent in terms of people who can put the ball in the back of the net, it’s going to win us games.”
While all four forwards have their own style of play and have played together for very little time, Cairns said they are starting to come together as a dangerous scoring unit and are building a chemistry between each other.
“You cannot underestimate the chemistry when it comes to pairs of forwards,” Cairns said. “They have to be able to have confidence in each other, know what things each other like to do, how they like their services, things like that.”
When it comes to pairs of forwards, few rival the pair Clark and Hansen made in the 2007 season. Though Clark struggled with health concerns early in the season, by the time Western Athletic Conference play came around she was running on all cylinders and connecting with Hansen to score goals, Hansen said.
The two combined for 16 goals and Clark added four assists, a result of the chemistry they created with one another, Clark said.
“I knew I had someone to go to, kind of a go-to person,” Clark said.
This season, Clark is healthy and is joined by Salmon, who played minimal time in 2007 due to a knee injury. While only scoring two goals last season, Salmon was an immediate asset to the Aggies her freshman season, scoring three goals and two assists.
Now at full health, Salmon is back, and wasted no time in scoring the first goal of the season against Idaho State. And while Salmon wasn’t part of the Clark-Hansen chemistry, she has already fit in and made her mark, but it wasn’t without some early-season growing pains.
“I think that was part of the problem in the first part of the season was everyone was doing everything individually,” Salmon said. “We’ve really figured out how to combine and not take all the glory for ourselves. If we work together, with how deep our forwards are, we’ll be good.”
The final component to the Aggies’ dangerous attack is the introduction of Flanary. In high school, Flanary scored 87 career goals and led her Lone Peak squad to three 5A state finals. But how would she fare in collegiate soccer?
Flanary answered that question in the season home opener against Seattle University, when she scored the game-winning goal with minutes left in the match. Since then, she has continued to add to that start by scoring a goal and adding an assist against Northern Colorado, making her the team points leader.
Flanary said she was a little intimidated when she came on board and knew Cairns expected her to score, and it wasn’t until that first goal that she knew it was going to work out.
“Getting that first goal calmed me down, like, OK, I can score on the college level. I’ll be OK,” Flanary said.
Her fellow forwards are complimentary of Flanary, even if it does mean one of them doesn’t start.
“She’s really quick,” Clark said of Flanary. “She’s jumped in and done really well for us, so it hasn’t been really hard to play with her.”
Cairns said she is thrilled with the options four talented forwards provide for the offense, including consistent performance when one forward comes out of the game, a sentiment Clark echoed.
“Instead of just having the two of us, we’ve all kind of combined really well together, making it really easy to play off of each other,” Clark said. “It’s really good for us because we don’t have a letdown even if we have a sub in. We know that other person is going to keep it going like it is when the other person comes out.”
While none of the forwards break 5-foot-7-inches, they provide an intimidating offense that makes it difficult for even the most seasoned defenders to guard, Hansen said. Especially difficult for defenders is the varied offensive styles each forward employs.
Cairns characterized Clark as a veteran player who is equally talented at passing and scoring, with “the best vision out of the four.”
Salmon’s quick footwork and her ability to turn on a dime, make her a tremendous goal scorer, Cairns said, adding, “she just needs a blink of an eye to release a shot.”
Hansen has one focus in mind, Cairns said–scoring goals.
“Lauren has a goal-scorer’s mentality,” Cairns said. “It’s goal or bust the way (Hansen) goes with it. She’s strong as a target, wins balls off backs, creates her own chances as much as others do for her too. You just love a player that looks to shoot and looks to score.”
Much like Clark in her comfort with passing and shooting the ball, Cairns said Flanary adds a new dimension to the attack by “being a great crosser of the ball,” combined with her speed.
“You love a player that has speed and a work rate with it,” Cairns said.
With their potent four-pronged attack, Clark said this combination of forwards and the chemistry they have developed will make this the year the Aggies claim the WAC title that has long eluded them.
Besides claiming a title, Clark said she has one wish– for other teams to be scared, real scared.
“I hope that they’re scared because that’s what we come in for,” she said. “We’re here to score goals, that’s what we’re there to scare them with. If we can keep this up, every team in the whole country is going to get their butt kicked.”
–seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu
Junior forward Erin Salmon (Debra Hawkins)
Sophomore forward Lauren Hansen (Debra Hawkins)
Fresman forward Shantel Flanary (Debra Hawkins)