GU looks good again
Coach Shannon Stiles waited seven years before her Gonzaga women’s soccer team reached the NCAA national tournament.
She hopes a return trip doesn’t test her patience quite so much.
“Our team last year sort of defined itself by hard play and was relentless in the way it defended,” Stiles said. “As a team, we’re very strong. Coming into this season has been amazing because we only lost two players last year, so in the starting lineup we only made two changes.
“It’s been encouraging going into the fall season with a fairly veteran group despite actually being young.”
After finishing 12-4-4 overall and third in the West Coast Conference in 2005, Stiles has an established program in position to contend annually for a national tournament berth. Southern Cal’s 1-0 victory over Gonzaga in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament confirmed that the Bulldogs are on the cusp of breaking through on a national level.
Gonzaga has more immediate concerns within its conference, however, with titans Portland and Santa Clara dominating their WCC rivals since the late 1980s.
“They are established tradition,” Stiles said. “Those two teams are the ones in the late ‘80s who had programs going when other schools were just starting,” Stiles said. “I feel like we have an advantage in some ways within our own conference because for years we’ve had (Portland and Santa Clara), who sort of set the standard and raised the bar for women’s soccer.”
To duplicate or ascend beyond what it accomplished last year, Gonzaga must acclimate freshman goalkeeper Jessie Thalman to the talent, speed and pressure of Division I soccer. Stiles awarded Thalman the first opportunity to replace former keeper Ashley Haugen, who allowed only 0.72 goals per game as a senior a year ago.
“During the preseason period, (Thalman) continues to show she hasn’t had a hard time making the transition,” Stiles said. “She’s a very competent and very intelligent girl who’s done a great job for us in training and scrimmages.”
Nanda McCormack returns for her redshirt junior season after leading the Zags with nine goals last year. On defense, Stiles credited center fullback Lori Conrad and left back Sarah Hall. In fact, Hall was inserted into the starting lineup after she returned to school as what Stiles described as “the fittest player on the team.”
Not unlike its in-state neighbors to the north, Washington State is trying to overtake established powers within its conference and qualify for postseason play. Coach Matt Potter has 13 newcomers on this year’s club, though, so improving on last year’s fifth-place finish in the Pacific-10 will be a test.
“We obviously recognize this as a big challenge coming into this season,” he said. “But I’ve been absolutely delighted by the response of our returners and the attitude of our incoming players. It’s been a very positive attitude for the incoming players. … They’ve been competitive with each other, which should only improve us as a soccer team.”
Sophomore forward Megan Hyte is the Cougars’ leading returning scorer with five goals in 2005. Potter expects freshmen forwards Kirsten Dallstream and Caitlyn Bersing to add quality depth behind Hyte and juniors Brooke Bemis and Kim Bonnes up front.
WSU finished 2-2-1 against ranked foes in 2005, but nine teams on the Cougars’ schedule this year qualified for last year’s national tournament.
“If we’re going to be one of the elite teams, we have put ourselves in that environment consistently,” said Potter.
Idaho and Eastern Washington face long roads back to contention in the Western Athletic Conference and Big Sky, respectively. Idaho coach Peter Showler has recruited 11 newcomers, including five transfers, to provide a boost to a team that generated just 10 goals last season. Eastern coach George Hageage has 22 newcomers to complement 20 returnees.
North Idaho, meanwhile, is set to defend its Scenic West Athletic Conference championship. CC Spokane placed third in last year’s NWAACC tournament and is primed to return to postseason play with midfielder Alexis DeLeo, who finished among the top six scorers in the conference as a freshman.