Coro: New look enthuses 2019 team

8/22/2019 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer, Paul Coro

GCU women's soccer improves depth, versatility

By: <a href="http://gculopes.com/index.aspx?path=coro">Paul Coro</a>

When the Grand Canyon women's soccer team readied for a scrimmage at UC Riverside earlier this month, Lopes head coach Derek Leader could sense how his players' nerves exceeded the gravity of an exhibition.

Individually and collectively, it meant more to them. Ten GCU freshmen were playing their first college games. Four transfers were playing their first games as Lopes. Several returnees were playing their first games after missing some or all of last season because of injuries.

Leader weaved through the sideline with comforting pats on the shoulders and settling words for their ears.

GCU's performance that day and outlook for the season, which starts Thursday at Stetson, is just as encouraging. The Lopes' optimism for last season was upended by a deluge of early season injuries and one-goal margins in their first eight losses.

"We've got a much deeper team," said Leader, beginning his fourth season as the team's coach. "We've got more people at virtually every position. Our speed of play should be quicker. We should be able to attack a lot more, and we've got a lot more players who could play up top."

Until the eve of the season opener, the Lopes' lineup remained undecided because the staff has options for who its plays and what style it chooses to play this season. Andrea Martinez is the only senior on a team also led by juniors Hannah Edwards, Camryn Larson (top returning scorer), Mikaela McGee and Hannah Nichols, each of whom started 17 or more games last season.

"All of the returners are excited to start off on a new slate with new people," said Martinez, a forward who started six games last season. "We all have this better mentality and we're all focused on winning.

"It's going to take a few games for us to gel together. It's going to take some cohesiveness. Other than that, I think once we get the ball rolling and start winning and scoring goals, we're going to be unstoppable."

That would be a surprise to the WAC, whose coaches do not seem sure what to make of a team with no players on the All-WAC Preseason Team. They tabbed the Lopes to finish fifth after they went 3-3-2 in conference play for fourth place last season.

Opponents have not seen this version of GCU because the majority of the roster is either new or missed last season because of injury.

"People can say it's a really young team and that can be put as a negative thing, but I see that as there's a lot of potential and room to grow," Edwards said. "It's been fun to see what everyone can do and how everyone plays off each other."

Freshmen like midfielder Emma Anderson, forward Ellie Busik and defenders Tyler Ferguson and Raquel Hagar are making immediate impacts, while redshirt freshman forward Jaycee Iranshad and sophomore midfielder Jessica Wong returned strongly from 2018 injuries with redshirt freshman forward Dani Babb's comeback not far behind them.

The upside of last season's injuries was the unexpected experience it provided for sophomores such as defender Perri Belzer (11 starts) and forward Remmi Deutsch (six starts).

Transfers boosted the talent pool with the arrival of midfielder Haley Bostard from Azusa Pacific, goalkeeper Katie King from Tennessee, forward Kiara Parker from San Jose State and midfielder Alexis Worley from Arizona State.

"We didn't have it (confidence) at first but I think we're growing," Edwards said. "We're working on being really positive this year and being there for each other. We want to be encouraging but also holding each other accountable. We're keeping a mutual respect between everyone and being ready to learn and grow."

Leader empowered the players by creating committees that make decisions for the team on everything from attire to travel entertainment.

"The vibe is phenomenal," Leader said. "They've taken on a much bigger leadership role than ever before. We've told them the expectation: 'This is your team. Take over. Be in charge. Don't let things happen without a reason.'

"I'm excited with the flashes we've seen already."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.