Women's Soccer | August 10, 2017

KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan women's soccer team looks to continue its success in its 2017 campaign with another great season and deep run into the Mid-American Conference Tournament. Second-year coach Lauren Sinacola is coming off a successful first season as head coach of the Broncos with a 13-7-1 record and a semi-final appearance in the MAC Tournament. Sinacola already has high praise of what she has seen from their spring camp, off-season training, and training sessions that have taken place already this fall.

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A big part of this year's team is the impactful senior class. Sinacola stated, "They are always pushing and leading by example…knowing what it takes to get to where they want. They have helped the young girls understand our system and what it takes to reach the goals we have set."
 
The Broncos lost seven seniors including top goal scorers Liz Abro and Candice Uhl. Along with one of their top assist leaders Mackenzie Barber. However, the Broncos will be returning 20 players who saw game action last year. Two of those returning players are junior midfielder Alyssa Burke and redshirt senior goalkeeper Stephanie Heber. Burke led the team in assists and was second on the team in goals last season. Heber started 18 of 19 games last season holding a 1.28 goals against average and a .736 save percentage.  

Along with those returners, they have brought in two transfers and six freshmen who are expected to make an impact during the season. Sinacola said about the new players, "The new comers have fit in well off the field and you can see that by the way they interact, it seems to be a natural fit. On the field, they aren't negatively affecting our sessions they are only helping it get better which is great and they are fitting in really well pushing every practice to be better and they are pushing the returners to be better and it's really refreshing to see that."

With many injuries unfortunately taking a toll on last year's team, it gave some younger players more minutes on the pitch to improve and get game action. The depth of this year's team will be a very big asset. The deep bench this will give Sinacola several options and advantages, utilizing these players with fresh legs coming in and having great quality of play replacing a starter.
 
With high expectations of going far in the MAC Tournament and making another appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Sinacola is excited about the talent that is on this year's roster.
 
"The girls see the great players we have and that only makes them more excited to come out every day and compete," Sinacola said. "It's really refreshing to not have to drag out competitiveness, they all do it because they are excited to see all the talent we have."
 
An area that Sinacola wants to make better is set pieces, whether that's defending them or taking them. Sinacola emphasized the importance of set pieces especially in the women's game and how last season some communication failures led to success for opposing teams. Getting the defense to communicate and know their roles in those situations is something they plan on practicing a lot.

The team has a bright future ahead expect to make a big splash in the MAC once again and bring back a championship to Western Michigan.
Sinacola stated, "If we focus on the correct things success will come and a lot of that comes from our culture…being ultra-competitive in everything we do and continuing being unselfish."
 
The women's team has two exhibition matches scheduled at Michigan on August 11 at 8:00 p.m. in Ann Arbor and at Detroit Mercy on August 14 at 3:00 p.m. in Detroit. The Broncos kick-off their regular season on August 20 with a home game against Oakland at the WMU Soccer Complex starting at 1:00 p.m.