The women’s soccer team will play the first game of the season in St. Joseph, Missouri against Emporia State University today, Friday, Sept. 4 at 2:30 p.m.
Head coach Greg Harris said the team has been preparing by changing former habits.
“We’re looking to change up some things, some formations, the way we play and how we look on the field,” Harris said. “We’re not changing our style, just our formation and how we play tactically within the game.”
Harris said he hopes that by doing this, the team will have a fast start to the season and will come out with a win.
“We’ve started off slow the past couple of years and we want to change that,” Harris said. “We want to get off to a quicker start. Our girls have done that, I think, by coming in more prepared and more fit than I have seen in years.”
Senior defender Ellie Buttram, one of three team captains, said she believes the team needs a different mindset in order to improve from last season.
“I think we could improve on consistency and being good every time we step out on the field, because we definitely have that potential,” Buttram said. “We just need to have a better culture of winning, and not get used to losing. We need to always find a way to win no matter what. It’s just an attitude and a mindset, really.”
Buttram said the team leaders have been trying to help form a good team outlook. Even though the team has three captains, all six seniors on the team are all leaders, according to Harris.
Audrey Adkison, senior midfielder, is also one of the team captains. She said having six seniors on the team is a huge advantage the women’s soccer program has not had in a while.
“We’ve all had so much experience and have been through three years of college soccer, and so that gives us confidence,” Adkison said. “We know what we want, so that makes it easier for us to be able to instill that confidence in the younger players and to help them be the best that they can.”
One game Adkison and Buttram are looking forward to is the one against Ouachita Baptist University (OBU). Last season, the Lady Bisons lost to OBU in the first round of the Great American Conference tournament.
“(Ouachita Baptist University) went on to win the conference tournament, and I just feel like we were much better than them, and that should’ve been us,” Buttram said. “I’m just really looking forward to that game because it’s a big rivalry.”
