Women’s soccer: Quest for WAC domination
Armed with an underdog mentality and plenty of confidence, the USU women’s soccer team heads to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the top-seeded team, and they’re hungry for a title.
“We’re a blue-collar team. We work hard every day at practice,” said senior defender and team captain Alyssa Lowry. “We know what’s at stake and so we’re going to work hard for it. We’re not gloating about anything. We still believe that we’re the underdog and we’re going to have the underdog mentality going into the tournament.”
What’s at stake is the first-ever conference title for the Aggies and a chance to make their first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Standing in their way are two games, starting with Friday’s 3 p.m. match against Boise State, who beat San Jose State 2-1 Thursday in the first round of the WAC tournament. The match will be held in Reno, Nev., at Mackay Stadium.
USU head coach Heather Cairns and her program are no rookies to the conference tournament, this being their fourth straight appearance, and they know that anything can happen, which is why, once again, Cairns is looking at things one day at a time.
And it won’t be easy. Going 7-0 in conference play, every conference team has felt defeat at the hands of the Aggies, which paints a giant target on the back of those blue and white jerseys.
“It is more scary to know we have that bull’s-eye on, so we need to live up to that standard and play our best so that we do win and prove to these people that we should be respected and that we are a great team,” said senior defender Jessie Malaska.
At the beginning of the season, the Aggies looked anything but a championship team. Every time USU faced a challenging opponent – be it BYU, Utah, Long Beach State or Oregon – they folded, unable to compete the full 90 minutes.
“It was frustrating, but at the same time, that’s what non-conference season is for,” Malaska said. “That’s what you do, you figure out what’s not working, what’s not clicking.”
Following a devastating 0-2 loss to BYU, the Aggies entered WAC play with a 5-7-1 record. But, as in years past, USU kicked it in gear for conference play and rattled off seven consecutive wins, setting school records for win streaks, conference wins, most wins in a season and a first-ever WAC regular season title.
“Close to half the people in our top 18 are new players and it did take us a while to gel,” Cairns said. “Obviously its paid off. The talent that we’ve added has really boosted to what we had. I think it can only be a good thing in the long run, and by the long run I mean Friday.”
With the success of the conference schedule came confidence, something Cairns said is an advantage the Aggies didn’t necessarily have going into the tournament in previous years.
“We feel like we can score on anybody, we feel like we can keep anybody off the board,” Cairns said. “We feel confident with any of the match-ups that we would get.”
While she is confident in her team, Cairns said she knows it will be no easy ride to claim the title and it doesn’t help that their first game is against Boise State, a heated rival for the Aggies.
When they met up during the regular season, USU beat Boise State 2-0 on the road, but it was a brutal match in which six players received yellow cards and 50 fouls were committed.
While it may be a tough semifinal game, Cairns said the Aggies’ first-round bye could be an advantage.
Last season, the Aggies played back-to-back matches in the tournament and fell in overtime to Hawaii, who went on to win the tournament. Cairns said part of the reason they lost was the Aggies ran out of energy.
However, Cairns said the bye could also be a disadvantage, as Boise State is in a rhythm from recently having played.
Either way, Cairns said she is ready.
“The disadvantage will keep us hungry and the advantage will keep us confident,” Cairns said.
WAC Honors
On the eve of the WAC Tournament, the USU soccer team received more accolades from the conference, as Cairns was named the WAC Coach of the Year and freshman forward Shantel Flanary received the WAC Freshman of the Year award.
Cairns joins volleyball coach Grayson DuBose and cross country/track coach Gregg Gensel as the only USU coaches to receive WAC Coach of the Year honors. Cairns is also the only soccer coach in USU history to be named WAC Coach of the Year.
Flanary’s award was no less prestigious, as she becomes the second Aggie soccer player to win the WAC Freshman of the Year award. Junior midfielder Lindsey Smart received the award in 2006.
Flanary was second in scoring for the Aggies this season, with five goals and two assists.
As if those two awards weren’t enough, seven Aggie soccer players received all-WAC honors – the most ever for USU.
Smart, senior forward Candice Clark and freshman midfielder Chandra Salmon were named First-Team All-WAC, while Flanary, Lowry, sophomore forward Lauren Hansen and senior goalkeeper Ali Griffin were named Second-Team All-WAC.
-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu