After finishing last season with a four wins, 11 losses and five ties, the key word for the Fresno State women’s soccer team is resilience.
“I’m really excited about our senior class,” said Fresno State soccer coach Brian Zwaschka. “They are showing that they’re here to compete, and they are really excited about this season.”
Currently, there are six seniors on the team, meaning there is a good amount of experience to lead the younger members this year.
Among these seniors is Morgan Castain, the defender from Castro Valley, Calif. In two years at Fresno State, she has 37 shots on goal, making 11 of them. Lauren Lindstrom, a defender, has 19 career shots on goal and four goals in 62 games played. She was named to the Mountain West Conference (MWC) women’s soccer 2013 preseason all-conference second team.
A newcomer to the team this season is goalkeeper Alyssa Wilson. A redshirt freshman from Etiwanda High School, she lettered in soccer in all four years.
“In every class, everybody’s improved from last year. They really took our spring development seriously,” Zwaschka said.
Goalkeeper Katie DeVault returns for her junior year. As a sophomore, she had 122 saves while allowing only 35 goals, which was fifth in the MWC. She also had three shutouts in 2012 and 10 career shutouts.
For Zwaschka, 4-11-5 is a tough record to swallow. But that is the past, and now the Bulldogs must reclaim the top spot they had in the conference two seasons ago as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
With this season now in progress, the Bulldogs focus more on what they are doing on the field. Once they are at a fundamentally-sound level, Zwaschka believes that his team will be a mystery when scouted by other teams.
“Throughout the season, it has to be about improving our style of play and really getting better at every single thing that we do,” Zwaschka said. “We never want to forget about always exercising our own fundamentals and our own style of play.
“The better we are at what we do, the less we have to worry about what the opponent does.”