Trinity women’s soccer season is underway, and they are looking to repeat the success that they have had throughout past years. Over the last 12 years, previous coach Lance Key led the women’s soccer team to a school record of 209 wins, which equates to an 88 percent winning percentage. Some fresh faces will be given the spotlight this year, in particular the new head coach who was hired this summer, Dylan Harrison. Coach Harrison is an alumni of Trinity University, who graduated in 2002 with a degree in business administration. It certainly will be a hard spot to fill, but Coach Harrison and the Lady Tigers are more confident than ever.
Trinity has a history of hiring former graduates, so it only makes sense that Harrison would be fitting for the job. As a soccer player during his days at Trinity from 1998 to 2001, he experienced great success earning All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Second Team accolades in 2000 and 2001. Harrison was also elected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Region Team in 2001, showing that he was a major contributor to the team during his time. Harrison feels that there is some unfinished business from his time as an athlete at Trinity, seeing as how his teams advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 1998 and 1999, and to the Third Round in 2000. His former success breeds some high expectations for this season, and he feels that the Lady Tigers are more than capable of living up to said expectations. When asked what those expectations for this year were, his response was one of positivity.
“To win. The goal is always to win and play well. Honestly, I think we have the talent and the ability and if we go ahead and take care of what we have control over by playing well, then everything else is going to take care of itself. We really feel that teams are going to have to adjust to us in terms of what we do and they will have to do more for us than we will have to do for them. We would never change what we do. We would only change what we do to exploit the other team’s weaknesses and shine some light on our strengths,” Harrison said.
Although Harrison’s expectations set the stage for a demanding season, his players share the same expectations. Senior captain Yasmeen Farra, is just as confident.
“This season we are already seeing a lot of growth and maturity from talented returning players, as well as a fantastic group of newcomers. I believe this group has the ability to make it very far and I expect a lot of success,” Farra said.
Even though there is supreme confidence within this team and its coaches, they are very aware of the challenges that face them
this season. Team captain and senior
midfielder Brigette Taylor highlights some
of the obstacles they could face this year.
“Our biggest challenge this year will be maintaining that mental focus and intensity that is usually most prevalent at the beginning and the end of the season,” Taylor said. “If we can try to sustain that even in the middle of our season, and can keep growing and pushing ourselves, I know that we’ll be able to win it all this season.”
Preseason accolades bode well for the team and indicate that they can possibly win it all. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America has the Trinity women’s soccer team ranked seventh in the country. Not to mention their playoff push last season that led them to the second round of the NCAA tournament that has helped the ten returning starters on the team to truly comprehend what it takes to succeed in post-season play.
