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Women's Soccer:
Anteater Spring Season Recaps
March 7, 2008
IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's soccer head coach Scott Juniper reflects on the team's first three spring matches.
"Our first game of the spring season was against the U18 National Team at the Home Depot Center in Carson on February 21st. This was the first time we had played in an 11v11 format since November and unfortunately it showed. While our defensive shape was solid, when we had possession of the ball we looked as though we lacked ideas. We spoke about a couple of key areas at the half time interval and made some improvements in the second half. We kept the ball a lot better and started to develop some good soccer. We finished the game strongly and that was a credit to the work the team has put in on their conditioning since January. Tanya Taylor and Gilly Acedo started as our two forwards and they looked as though they are developing a good understanding. Both players are dynamic freshmen, they like to run at defenders with the ball and are both hungry to score goals. It was particularly pleasing to see Gilly score our goal which developed out of her own determination to pressure their defenders and goalkeeper in the final third. Milana Shabestari and Alyssa Humphrey are two more stand-out freshmen who started in the heart of our midfield. These two have improved considerably this spring. Their work ethic in practice has been outstanding and they are both seeing their hard work pay off. They are competing hard for the ball, connecting the game for us and getting forward in support of our front line. Our ability to develop our attacking play will continue to be a focus and having Kellie Murphy and Glynnis McDonnell available again can only help. Although we lost the game 4-1 we can be pleased with many elements of the game."
"On Sunday February 24th we traveled to the University of San Diego to compete in their spring tournament. Our first opponents were USC who are the current National Champions and we can be pleased with the 0-0 score line. The team started the game well and we imposed ourselves on the game early. Eight freshmen started for us in that game and each of them stepped up to the challenge and refused to back down for any ball. It was a close game and our goalkeeper Erin Henry with the back four comprised of Kat Lemieux, Rachel Flemming, Sarah Busby and Nikki Forrest did a fine job establishing a foundation for the team. Both teams carved out a couple of chances but the best chance of the game fell to Tanya Taylor who broke clear of the USC back line only to see her shot go agonizingly wide. Tanya had a very good game and gave USC a lot of problems in the final third."
"Our second game of the weekend was against West Coast Conference opponents Pepperdine. Again we kept the ball well, possessed through our midfield players consistently and established good possession high up the field. Raylean Robles and Elle Gjerde played significant minutes and contributed to a solid team performance. Kate Berrini was rotated into the forward line and showed some exciting qualities. Having played almost exclusively as a central midfield player in the fall it is exciting to see Kate provide us with more options up front. Danielle de Seriere made some fine saves but we conceded in the second half through an own goal which turned out to be the only goal of the game."
UCI's next game will be at the Toyota Classic Tournament in Temecula on April 5th. Details for this game are yet to be confirmed.
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