Depth adds layers for experienced, motivated team

Thursday, August 17

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Mississippi State

Tickets

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

8/15/2023 8:30:00 AM | Women's Soccer, Paul Coro

GCU Game Notes

GCU returns top starters for Thursday's home opener vs Mississippi State

By: Paul Coro

The Grand Canyon women's soccer team is motivated by its successes and disappointments, whether they are the uplifting memory of the regular-season and postseason championships of two seasons ago or the upsetting recollections of ending its season on a double-overtime postseason loss last year.

Both are powerful lessons that drive the Lopes for the season that starts Thursday night against Mississippi State at GCU Stadium, but the opponent pushing the Lopes already has been on campus since the spring.

T Chris Cissell

he Lopes are so much deeper and more athletic this season that even a team with seven players who started 17 or more 2022 games has seen position battles for weeks.

"The training sessions are probably the most intense and the most competitive we've ever had," GCU fourth-year head coach Chris Cissell said. "If we play 11 v. 11, no exaggeration, our second team could beat our first team on any given day, which is a new thing. In the past, if we scrimmaged starters against non-starters, it was pretty ugly. Now, we have at least 22 players who can get on the field tomorrow and really get after it."

Between what the Lopes saw in a 2021 NCAA tournament loss to USC and the 2022 ups and downs of beating Arizona but needing to rally from an 0-3-1 WAC start, the Lopes have adjusted their roster and mindsets.

They are hanging on details and banging on grittiness, following a motto of "80% plus." GCU players pledge to be at least 80% on an off-day. Their teammates promise to make up the other 20%.

"We have trust in each other," said Lopes sophomore midfielder Leah Pirro, a Preseason All-WAC honoree. "We know what it's like to win a championship, and we could've won last year. That's driving us even more to really get that grind in."

As GCU toughens, so does its schedule. Including Thursday night's season opene, the Lopes face five nonconference opponents that finished in the top 68 of NCAA Rating Percentage Index last season. The Lopes were tabbed to finish second in the WAC behind defending champion Utah Valley, which ended last season at No. 40 nationally.

"Last year, we were so new and had so many people coming together," said senior defender Sidney Roberts, who co-captains GCU with senior forward Gianna Gourley and junior midfielder Brenna Alderson. "After a whole spring together, everyone's ready to go. With how the season ended last year, everybody's ready to get back at it and take what we knew was ours last year."

That notion is strengthened by the experience in every unit that has been fortified by newcomers. Gourley headlines the returnees after tying for fourth nationally with 18 goals last season and is flanked by senior wings Lindsey Prokop, the 2021 WAC Tournament Most Valuable Player, and Bekah Valdez, who scored twice to give GCU a 2-0 lead in its season-ending, 3-2 loss in double overtime.

With 15 career goals, senior Jaycee Iranshad can bounce between the wing and midfield in the Lopes' 4-3-3 system. Senior Magdalena Schwarz has taken a big step at forward after transferring from High Point for last season, and this season's transfers creating a stir at the top are sophomores Hannah Smith (Saint Louis) and Maddie Brady (Michigan State).

"We thought we had a fast, speedy team and we knew Hannah was extremely fast when we were recruiting her, but I wasn't sure she was going to be the absolute fastest, and she is," Cissell said of Smith.

The midfield may have the most options because of a depth chart that Cissell calls "pretty outrageous."

Iranshad and Schwarz can play there, and Alderson, Pirro, sophomore AJ Loera and junior Ani Jensen return with starting experience. Then, freshman Madison Hamm came in from Roseville, California, and immediately factored into the midfield competition.

"It is just loaded with talent because we really feel like we have legitimately six or seven starters for three spots," Cissell said. "So the competition has been absolutely fierce."

What makes the Lopes' attacking style work is a reliable back line, where more defensive starters return in Roberts and juniors Destinee Duran-Wise, Aleisha Ganief and Renee Sainz.

Sidney Roberts

"We have really good cohesion," Roberts said. "We play super well together. We know each other well and play fluid back there. We have some years under us, so the experience back there really helps."

That group is also fortified by depth, especially with sophomore Jayden Sanders transferring from Oregon State with an ability to play any of the back-line spots.

"They know how to cover for one another," Cissell said. "They know what each other's strengths and weaknesses are and play well together as a whole defensive unit. The depth and the experience we have in the back is amazing."

Junior Jordan Ferguson returns with 3,790 minutes in goal for GCU, but the goalkeeper spot became a four-way competition with junior DeAira Jackson transferring from Cal State Fullerton and freshman Hannah Uhlenhop arriving and junior Cassidy Samuelson returning.

"It's a really good team," Cissell said. "The biggest thing is can they buy into our culture and have a team-first mentality and that championship mindset. Even if I'm not playing as much as I want, how do I continue to stay positive and contribute to the team success?"