VANCOUVER - Though they lose just two starters from last year's talented squad that went 8-2-2 and narrowly missed out on a trip to nationals, the Thunderbirds women's soccer team has had plenty of work to do over the summer and lots more still ahead as they complete the transition to new head coach
Andrea Neil.
"Any time a coach takes over a program, it is a rebuild because each coach has a different methodology they want to implement," said Neil. "Different applications of different philosophies mean a lot of change, which is not an easy process. Each coach has a different style, and it's not just about what you do on the field, but also how you function day-to-day with training and the sense of team you try to instill. It's very much about building a leadership group and asking all our players to step up into different roles."
Rebuilding that leadership group will be crucial as the team moves forward without last year's vocal captain
Kelly Cook, as well as
Rachel Ramsden and keeper
Leah Peric. But Neil is adamant that the leadership responsibilities on her team will be shared not just by a few seniors or top players, but by everyone on the roster.
"It's really a game where you need to release players from dependency because they have to be independent on the field even as they work together," said Neil. "It's the ultimate team sport in that way where there has to be that non-verbal understanding between players that must be worked on over time. And it can't just be a few players doing that."
Fortunately for Neil, she is taking over a team with more than a few highly skilled and experienced players who will help implement her style. Fifth-years like defender
Jordan Kitagawa, midfielder
Christina Donnelly and forwards
Taryn Lim and
Rachael Sawer are all well-established and accomplished players, and each will have a key part to play this season.
"It becomes more powerful when you have responsibility spread amongst everyone. Not just one player of influence, but many. So we're looking for players to have those qualities of solid decision making but also bringing energy to the team and the ability to energize others."
That ability to energize will be particularly important, as Neil is emphasizing the importance of maximizing the abilities of every player on the roster, including the large crop of young players being developed in the program.
"One of my methodologies is to bring up the ability of all 25 players," says Neil. "It's about trying to develop everyone to have that capability to have a bigger role. There were eight first-year players last year, so those players need to be developed. But even for the players who have been around here, it's a lot of change for them. It's a short season and a tremendous amount of learning to do in that time."
The team also returns Canada West MVP and the program's all-time leading scorer
Janine Frazao, who will form one of the more formidable attacking groups in the country alongside fellow fifth-years Lim and Sawer. Last year that group accounted for 29 of the team's 46 goals. The year before that, it was 22 of 29.
But as impressive as those numbers are from her senior striker trio, Neil wants her team to be able to generate offence from many sources, and to be less reliant on their top scorers for production.
"Janine is obviously a player with a great deal of accomplishment on a personal level, but we also need to make sure theres less reliance on one or two players and that we can score from different aspects," Neil said. "The key will be if we can still score against tougher competition. Historically, the team has been very good scoring against less organized opponents but challenged against the more organized teams, so continuing to create that space against those tougher opponents will be key."
Things in the middle of the park are less certain with such a large group of first and second-year players, but along with Donnelly the 'Birds have third-year veteran
Taylor Shannik, who scored five goals last year. Third-year
Krista Whittaker and second-years
Tamara Roughead,
Madison Guy and Kym Van Duynhoven will also be battling for time at midfield.
At the back,
Alisha Penev will help Kitagawa anchor things as she enters her fourth season as a full-time starter. Other veterans like
Sydney Morrison,
Katherine Caverly and Meghan Pasternak will also figure into the mix with the fullback group.
In goal, third year
Alyssa Williamson is the incumbent, having started 10 games last season sharing time with Peric. Second-year keeper
Emily Wilson will be ready to step up into a larger role with Peric gone.
As for the new class of recruits, Neil has a talented crop coming in that includes three players fresh off helping the Vancouver Whitecaps to a World Youth Cup title.
Aman Shergill will suit up along the defensive line for the 'Birds this year, while Jasmine Dhanda, who was the 2012 BC Youth Player of the Year, joins the vaunted attacking group. Jasmine Mander, a midfielder with provincial and national team experience, was the third member of that group, but she is lost for the upcoming season with a torn ACL.
Rounding out the recruiting class is keeper
Marlee Maracle of the Oakville U-21 Soccer Club.
Two forward,
Janna Speed from the Vancouver Fusion FC of the BC Premier Soccer League and
Georgia Grzybowski from the Vancouver Island Wave, earned their way on to the team through a walk-on selection process.
"I've been excited to see everybody grow," Neil says. "Our desire is to build and support both individual and team growth. As the players adapt to our methodology, it's been great to see everyone grow and fall down as well, because it has to be a safe place to fail. Any time you ask for skill acquisition from someone, they're going to fall down at times, but how does that player adapt when they fall, and rise to a new challenge and start over? It's been a constant thing to let them know this is a safe place to fail because that's how you end up growing."
UBC's first three regular season games will take place at home, starting with the opener on Saturday, Sept. 7 against No. 1-ranked Trinity Western University. Kickoff on David Sidoo Field at Thunderbird Stadium is slated for 5 p.m.
Ticket information can be found at:Â
http://www.gothunderbirds.ca/tickets
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