It is a new start and a new season, Idaho coach Pete Showler said about the upcoming match on Sunday. With a 0-6 record, Showler and the Vandal soccer team is looking forward to a fresh start as they begin WAC play on Sunday.
WAC competition starts for Idaho against the Grand Canyon Antelopes who boast a similar record. The Antelopes have one win so far this season.
On paper the teams look like they are evenly matched. Idaho struggled with scoring goals early in the season as the team went through its first three games without a goal. Like the Vandals, Grand Canyon has also struggled with offensive gameplay. So far this season, the Antelopes have only managed to score one goal, giving them their one victory in a shutout against Colorado State.
The Vandal offense has picked up its momentum in the past two weeks losing to a solid UNLV team in double overtime. The Vandals gave up only one goal in almost 110 minutes of play.
“The way we played and the possession we had was exciting –huge strides, there were a lot of positives,” Showler said. “The girls gained a lot of confidence and they are going to build on that.”
Showler has been emphasizing the need for every player to give 100 percent of their individual effort at all times, keeping the ball on the ground and in control. The team has also changed up their formation.
“We started to actually play as a team — offensive and defense together, it made everything work out all together,” senior Nitalia Zuniga said.
Zuniga is one of 13 returners that clinched a WAC Tournament bid last year. For the third year consecutive season, the Vandals went 3-4-1 in WAC play. The success that the Vandal team had last year earned them a vote by the WAC Coaches Poll to finish second this year in WAC play.
Going into this weekend’s game, the team is looking at this as the start of a new phase in their season.
“We split regular season into three phases,” Showler said. “The exhibition game then a review, and then non-conference and we reviewed where we are at as a team, then we look for the conference and beyond that for the fourth in the NCAAs.”
NCAA hopes may be months away but the road to success for the young team starts this week. Conference play alone determines whether a team goes onto the tournament or not.
In non-conference play the Vandals played the nationally ranked WSU Cougars and the UNLV Rebels, both of whom are arguably better than any team in the WAC. The biggest threat to Vandal success from now on is the No. 1 ranked WAC team, Seattle U.
Curtis Ginnetti can be reached at [email protected]