By Cory McKendrick, USU Eastern Sports Information Contributor:
Utah State University Eastern women’s soccer team reported to Price for preseason camp on August 5th, 2019. The Eagles coached by Ammon Bennett open their preseason against opponents just ten short days after arrival.
Tuesday August 6th marked the team’s first official practice. Coach Bennett and his staff noticed the individual talent that was manifest even in the team’s first organized practice. Fans can anticipate an aggressive pressing defense with a “get the ball forward” mindset from the midfielders.
USU Eastern women’s soccer will have three scrimmages, before officially opening their preseason play against Gillette College (Gillette, WY) on August 22, 2019. The first of the three scrimmages will be a home match consisting of a “Blue vs. White” scrimmage, where both teams competing will be USU Eastern players. Coach Bennett on what he expects from Saturday’s scrimmage, “We hope this is a great opportunity for local fans and families of the athletes to come and enjoy watching our athletes compete. We also hope that it is a fun experience, while also giving us as coaches an opportunity to assess our players and watch them implement our prior week’s practice philosophies.”
Revisiting the goals for the season in a previous article with Coach Bennett, the Eagles are still focused on winning the Region XVIII Title. This year’s team is positioned well to contend for the title. The Eagles will return 13 players and have added 17 newcomers to this year’s roster. Experience, speed, and endurance will play key roles in the road to the title for USU Eastern.
Returning players to watch for this season are highlighted by Logan Duran (Forward) who scored six goals and added two assists for the Eagles in the 2018 campaign. Midfielders Morgan Cragun, Brooke Stoker and Heather Moore. Defenders Sarah Reddish and Madison Nicholls. Newcomers with high expectations are Ashley Brindley (Forward), Atley Thompson(Midfielder) and Megan Edwards (Keeper). Coach Bennett emphasized depth and finding the right combination of players in the preseason, “We will use the scrimmage games to assess and put different players into different situations to help us prepare for the toughest part of our schedule, Scenic West Conference play.”
The Eagles official preseason play will feature Gillette College, Sheridan College, Arizona Western College, Alan Hancock College, and Otero Junior College. The beforementioned scrimmages will be played in Price on August 10th (Blue vs. White), August 15th (vs. Western Wyoming Community College) and August 17th (vs. Treasure Valley Community College).
With this year’s team motto “No Regrets and No Excuses” we wish our Lady Eagles the best of luck for a strong start to their season!