Author: Alex Graves
This fall there was a tremendous amount of excitement for the women’s soccer season. Coming of last season’s impressive 11-5-2 record, expectations for the program were high. On Saturday, Nov. 1, however, the team’s season came to an end here at Oxy with a 1-0 lose to Cal Lutheran. The loss capped a disappointing final week of the season, in which the team also lost to conference foes Redlands and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) and finished the season in sixth place in the SCIAC.
Players on the team had various ideas as to what went wrong this year. “We couldn’t find that spark we had last year,” commented forward Jesi Sasaki (sophomore).
Corinne Winkler (sophomore) pointed out that the team was also very young this year. Of the 11 starters, Winkler said that generally seven or eight were underclassmen.
The combination of a young team and high expectations is an understandably difficult situation. As Sasaki commented, “I think also coming off from last year, we had a lot of pressure to do as well.”
Despite these challenges, the team showed flashes of its potential. The team defeated the top two teams in the conference (Redlands and CMS). However, they struggled against the other teams in the conference.
Both Winkler and Sasaki attributed this to a lack of constant mental focus. Sasaki believes the team had unquestioned talent, and that moving forward is “a matter of being in the right mental state to play to our potential.”
Although the team was obviously disappointed it did not continue its season, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future of the program. With only one senior member this year, the team will retain most of its roster-which the players believe is an already deep and talented one.
With a season of experience under their belts, many of these young players will be expected to step up next year. Winkler identified the need for players to be more confident and assertive on the field next year, something she believed this year’s experience would help foster.
Despite a disappointing season, the team is confident that their season was no fluke. Winkler was optimistic about the future of the program, as she confidently stated “there is a ton of potential for our program in the next few years. I think we can do really well next year.”
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