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I will be keeping an eye on the Husker women's soccer team throughout the season along with writing about women's basketball.
The Husker women's soccer team heads to Utah for the long weekend with a 2-0 record for the first time since 2005, which happens to be the last time they reached the NCAA Tournament. Will this finally be the year for the Huskers?
Weekend Recap
The Huskers had commanding 4-0 and 4-1 wins last weekend over Southeast Missouri State and Cincinnati respectively. After the starting their second game of the season against the Bearcats down 1-0 at halftime. The team turned things around in the second half by using their possession-based style of play to slowly pick apart a physical Cincinnati team and score four second half goals on route to a 4-1 victory.
Talented Freshman
The team comes into this year with six seniors and five juniors on the squad losing only one starter from last season. The Husker freshman have already made a noticeable impact two games into the season. Head Coach John Walker has already given some minutes to seven of the eight freshman while two freshman (Jaycie Johnson and Sydney Miramontez) accounted for half the Husker goals last weekend.
Johnson's three goals and two assists over the weekend was impressive enough for her to receive awards of Big Ten Freshman of the Week AND Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. A native from Lake Winnebago, Missouri, Johnson was a four-star, top 150 ranked recruit coming out of high school. She played her club soccer for Sporting Blue Valley together with two other Husker freshman Sydney Miramontez and Brooke Burris.
Players to Watch
Junior forward Mayme Conroy from Omaha, Nebraska, led the team with 12 goals last year as a sophomore. She is a strong target player that can score goals with her head and loves to take shots from outside the 18 yard box.
Senior defender Ari Romero from Surprise, Arizona, took some time away from the team last year to represent Mexico in the FIFA Women's U-20 World Cup in Japan. She also got some playing time in for the Mexico national team at the Algarve Cup back in March. Romero is a very talented player that isn't afraid to push up the field and take a shot on goal.
Sophomore forward Katie Kraeutner from North Saanich, British Colombia, Canada recently got a call up to a Canada U-20 camp. Kraeutner usually plays on the left wing where she causes havoc for defenders with her pace, footwork and crossing ability.
Looking Ahead
The Huskers travel to Utah this weekend to face off against #6 BYU on Saturday night (8:00 p.m start time) and Utah State on Monday afternoon (2:00 p.m. start time). With the elevation over 4500 feet in both locations, it will make both games a big challenge for the players as they have to quickly adjust to the elevation change. A win and a tie this weekend will be a tall order but it's definitely not out of the question.
GO BIG RED!!!