The women’s soccer team has historically been one of the best teams in the West Coast Conference. They’ve been conference champions 13 times and national champions twice, once in 2002 and again in 2005. Several past players have gone onto successful professional careers, such as Megan Rapinoe and Christine Sinclair.
Their past success is part of why the position they find themselves in now is a foreign one. The Pilots finished sixth in the WCC last year and haven’t finished higher than fifth in the last three years.
“No one wants to finish sixth in anything really,” said Hannah Griffiths Boston, a senior forward and leading scorer for the Pilots. “We obviously had higher expectations for ourselves (last) season.”
Despite the tumultuous past years and the tough lineup they’ll face this season, the goal hasn’t changed for the Pilots — reach the playoffs. “We want to finish top three in our conference this year,” Boston said.
Sophomore defender Natalie Muth agrees.
“I think that our main focus is to just look past last year and realize this is a new year,” Muth said. “Top three would be great.”
The team is young this year, with seven freshmen and eight sophomores to only six eligible upperclassmen. There is always a transitional period when a team is young, especially in college athletics, but according to returning players and coaches, they have come in ready to contribute.
“They all came in really fit, which has been a problem in previous years,” Boston said. “A lot of them are making significant contributions minute-wise and they’re doing really well.”
“We’ve had five of our seven freshmen this year playing valuable minutes for us,” said Garrett Smith, head coach of the women’s team.
The Pilots will look to have a more aggressive play style, pressing opponents more this year, putting the pressure on other teams’ offense by defending higher up the field and forcing the ball from them.
“I think the team’s done a great job of adapting to it,” said Smith while talking about the transition to a more aggressive playing style.
“Last year we were too passive,” said Smith, who has coached the Pilots the past 23 years and has been named WCC coach of the year six times. “We dropped off a little too much.”
“I think we’re learning to absorb the pressure of another team,” Muth noted. “Just being able to keep the ball and keep it moving.”
The Pilots have started the season in a tough spot. They have played on the road more than at home and have faced some stiff competition. So far they have only played two home games — a 2-1 victory over a tough Portland State team and a 0-1 loss to North Carolina State University which made the sweet 16 last year in the playoffs.
They also played a tough game against No. 2 Florida up in Seattle for the Husky Nike Invitational, eventually losing 0-1.
Despite the rough start, there have been bright spots from the opening games. The team has done a better job closing down and winning the ball higher up the field, giving themselves more opportunities to score.
They’ve shown more resilience and competitiveness, especially in bouncing back from being down at the half against PSU only to come back and win, something last year’s Pilots struggled with more.
But there are still some things this young Pilots squad will have to adjust to. They’ll keep working on “building a team culture that can be a pathway for success” according to Smith, something they consider a strength.
Only time will tell if this young Pilots team can claw its way back into the playoffs. Right now it seems like an uphill climb, but this team doesn’t seem too worried.
It’s all part of the learning curve.
