Women’s soccer: New leadership, same great results

CoachThumbThe big news during the off-season for the women’s soccer team was the change in leadership. The old coach left, and the former assistant coach has taken the reigns. Kiko Magana was the assistant coach for the 2012-2013 season for both the women’s team and the men’s soccer team. This year he has taken over leadership for both teams. While it can take time to get adjusted into the role, Magana has jumped right in to it by leading the team to a current third place standing with a 4-1-2 record. The team is starting out pretty hot right now, and is still looking to get better.

Right now, the girls are playing some good soccer due to a lot of key factors, one of which is their strong defense and goal keepers. “We are in the top two in the league in shutouts because of both of our goal keepers Sophie [Rockow] and Ali [Mackey] have stepped up huge. They both have developed quickly over the last year. Those two have combined for a total of five shutouts this year. You really have to give them credit for staying organized in the back and defensively are a key point of our success so far,” said Magana. The team is not only great defensively, but is also very strong on offense. The team is working on an offensive pattern that would make them very dangerous. “We are a very dangerous team when we play the ball outside to our left and right mids [mid fielders]. If we get the chance to go out wide and switch the field of play…we become a very dangerous team,” said Magana. The team is very well rounded, and has the potential to go really far in the division.

The team does have some major points of improvement that they will need to overcome in order to make it to the playoffs. While the team excels defensively, the team needs work on getting opportunities to score. “We need to work on goal scoring opportunities, switching the field of play getting our outsides involved, and scoring more goals over the season will help us move up the standings and hopefully get us 1st place in the west division,” said Magana. Coach Magana has also had a few things he has been working on with the team that he has tried to implement since becoming the coach. “The most difficult thing is implementing my plans and the program we need to go with.”

Being a new head coach, Magana got to experience recruiting which helped him find the type of players that he wanted for his team that could match his style of play. One thing that Magana was lucky enough to have was a team that was able to bond well with each other within a small amount of time. “I would say our team chemistry is one of the biggest aspects we have that I can really hang my hat on. It is great to see our girls work extremely hard if we are winning, losing or tied. Our team chemistry is always there.” This team has the potential to be a very dangerous team that can not only make it to the playoffs, but win the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges trophy.