The Augustana women’s soccer team started their season out on a high note with a 4-0 shutout against Concordia University Chicago on August 30. After coming back from a fourth place finish in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) playoffs, the team is hungry for a winning season, capitalizing on the first game early.
“Our coach told us that we haven’t scored that quickly in a home game in general,” Lisel Whitener, a fifth year taking her covid season, said. “It was exciting to start off and have a good showing for our offense. Not to say that the defense didn’t do a great job too, but we’re scoring a lot of goals, and that’s exciting.”
Without an eagerness to score, the game does not happen. This year, the hunger for the ball is more present than ever, with the team wanting to be more than fourth in the league.
“Sometimes people are a little nervous,” senior forward Ava Fellers said. “Everyone is so eager to get to the goal and we all attack together, which is helpful. It is more of a confidence thing for shooting and that is a mentality that we did not really have in previous years.”
The team is effectively transferring the skills and techniques they’ve honed during practice into real-game situations. This shows that their preparation and training are paying off, as they are able to apply what they’ve learned in a high-pressure, competitive environment, which is crucial for their overall performance and success.
“We are working hard doing the things we’ve been working on in practice,” sophomore defender Jordyn Swanson said. “I think that if we carry those on to the next games, then it’ll be really useful. Especially scoring goals- it is not always our strength, but I think the past game showed that maybe this year, it will be a new year.”
While their offensive prowess was on full display, the team’s ability to sustain high energy levels throughout the match is equally crucial—something they attribute to their improved fitness this season. The team is placing major emphasis on being fit to continue to play through 120 minutes of double overtime if ever needed.
The team sees improved fitness as critical for allowing them to play with more intensity and endurance throughout the entire game, which is a key goal for them this season. It allows a player to go that extra minute or two when the opposing team cannot.
“Fitness was something that we struggled with compared to other teams,” senior forward Abby Degustino said. “When you don’t have anything else to give, you’re going to get to the ball before that other girl because you have better fitness then you have that extra little bit that they don’t have.”
The main goal for the team as a whole is to get out of fourth place. For the last couple of seasons, the team has been stuck in the first round of the CCIW playoffs, losing to the Millikin Big Blue in overtime the year prior.
“We don’t want to end up in fourth place again,” Fellers said. “We’ve been consistently ending up in the same position. I think everyone’s prepared to go into these games like we’re not losing, we’re going to win and we’re going to prove everyone wrong.”