The Arkansas State women’s soccer team kicks off its campaign Sunday at the University of Central Arkansas and dives into the new season with great squad depth and a real shot at the Sun Belt Conference title.
Last year the Red Wolves competed in their best ever season boasting an 11-6-4 record including a third place finish in the league and a trip to the SBC Championship game before falling to South Alabama.
A-State received one vote to finish in first place in this year’s SBC preseason coaches’ poll, but ultimately the Red Wolves were selected to finish third in the league. Last year’s champions, South Alabama, received nine first place votes with Troy wedged in the middle of the Jags and Red Wolves also receiving one first place vote.
“It’s hard to carry any kind of momentum into this season because we don’t really know what to expect,” A-State head soccer coach Brian Dooley said. “But I do know that the attitude in training and just in the preseason has had a different intensity to it. I think as far as momentum, all the momentum ended when we lost in the final.”
Dooley said the leaders of the team have created a very determined mentality to win the final if the Red Wolves make it there again.
Despite being selected to finish third in the SBC, Dooley said his team is preparing for the season just like any other season. In the recent past the team carried some expectations with them into a new season and A-State did not live up to them.
The Red Wolves only have to live up to their own expectations and so far the leaders on the team have done a good job of transmitting that to the 10 new players joining the squad this season.
“Having 10 new players on the roster also helps deal with that because those players weren’t part of what we did last year,” Dooley said. “Those players are just jumping in as our leadership has established the mentality. They only know the intensity that we’ve developed to this point.”
Defensive dominance
Last season the Red Wolves put on a defensive clinic in a majority of their games. A-State allowed one goal or fewer in 16 of their matches last year. Of those 16 games, nine were clean sheets.
The Red Wolves fielded a stellar center back partnership of Julianna Coates and Dana O’ Boye and the duo kept opposing strikers in their back pocket week in, week out. As Coates enters her senior season, she will be without her partner O’Boye who graduated after last year.
However, A-State has multiple options at the back, including almost the perfect replacement.
“What we’ve done is in the recruiting process we’ve recruited Rachel Kutella,” Dooley said. “Rachel comes from the same club that Dana played on. The Eclipse Select out of the Chicago area. She also plays the same exact position that Dana played. So we’re expecting Rachel to come in and develop into that position that Dana has established.”
A-State boasts depth across the back line, including exciting options at left and right back. With a change in mentality in the back with the development of certain players, A-State can use its wing backs in a more offensive role.
Junior right back Haley Husted not only holds a defensive appetite, but her ability to get forward adds an extra bite and dynamic to the Red Wolves’ attack.
“She started to develop a confidence in going forward and getting into the attack,” Dooley said. “We’ve really been trying to exploit that now. She just loves to go forward.”
The ever two-footed Hannah Maupin can play in the center or on the outside, and freshmen Lauren Shah, Hailey Cloud, Tara Lea and Darby Stotts add depth to the outside back position.
Attacking promise
Despite multiple great defensive performances last season, the Red Wolves struggled to score in some of their matches with 1-0 and 0-0 results scattered throughout the year.
Dooley pointed out soccer is traditionally a low scoring game, and he said A-State had a good conversion rate last season, they just did not create as many quality chances as they can.
This season the Red Wolves look to change their shape as the team transitions into a 4-2-3-1 formation.
“(The formation change) will allow us to attack more regularly with at least four players as opposed to last year where it was two and then three,” Dooley said. “So we’re adding players that have more attacking roles and with our outside backs being able to roll up and join the attack, we feel that we’ll be able to create more quality chances.”
If the Red Wolves can maintain their conversion rate while creating more quality chances, SBC defenses could be in for a tough time against an A-State squad riddled with attacking talent.
Perhaps no attacking talent stands out more than senior Preseason SBC Offensive Player of the Year Sarah Sodoma. The St. Louis native stands two goals away from being A-State’s all time leading goal scorer, she currently has 22 to her name, and a combination of explosive pace and finishing ability sets her apart.
“She’s one of those players,” Dooley said, “that you think she’s going fast then she turns it into another gear.”
In the past Sodoma usually played only on the left wing, but teams in the league adapted and tried to shut her down. This season, the senior will play as the “one” in the 4-2-3-1 up top for A-State, but will also transition to play as a wide player as the game progresses.
When Sodoma makes that transition to the left, that leaves room for a hold-up forward like Maggie Ertl to come into the mix.
Sodoma will also have the help of Olivia Smith up top. In the past Smith built a reputation as a powerful defender playing with an unmatched intensity. A-State looks to transfer that intensity to the attacking third of the field to offer more support.
“Olivia brings an intensity to the game,” Dooley said. “She is one of the most physical players that we have. She certainly probably ranks among one of the more physical players I’ve had the fortune to coach. But Olivia has a lot of unique abilities outside of defending.”
While in the past players might have tried to body Sodoma more or go in for harder tackles to throw her off her rhythm, Smith will now be up top reciprocating some of that physicality and she will be a handful for defenders.
Midfield Maestros
Redshirt sophomore Sophia Restrepo returned from a devastating injury she picked up her freshman year and glued the midfield together last season. This year, as the team transitions to the 4-2-3-1, the Florida native’s role in the midfield is set to change.
The “three” in the 4-2-3-1 consists of three forward midfielders, one on the right, one on the left and one playmaker in the middle. Restrepo, a player who held more defensive responsibility last season and really connected the backline to the front, now turns more creative as that attacking playmaker.
“She covers so much ground in a game,” Dooley said. “Our GPS data says she’s above seven or eight miles in a game. What we’re trying to do with her now is I really want her to reduce that amount of miles covered so that she can be a little more productive.”
With five midfielders in the center of the pitch, the two holding midfielders behind Restrepo (the “two”) will be more restrained and give Restrepo the license to be more creative.
Freshman Abigail Miller is set to replace the ever-energetic Lindsey Brochu in one of the holding midfielder spots and experienced senior Victoria MacIntosh will slot in with Miller.
“Victoria MacIntosh is a seasoned veteran who has incredible distribution skills, leadership skills on the field, controlling her midfield and directing things,” Dooley said. “She’s like a field general out there. I think she’s going to have a big season for us as well.”
Goalkeeper depth
The Red Wolves boast five different keepers on the roster and A-State’s No. 1, senior Megan McClure, earned selection to the SBC preseason All-Conference team.
In a season where COVID-19 could lead to a player having to sit out due to testing or contact tracing, goalkeeper depth is a luxury Dooley said.
With sophomore keepers Noel Miller and Olivia Luther pushing McClure week in, week out, more playing time could be on the cards.
“I would say Megan is still our No. 1, but going into the season our goal is to really provide more opportunities for the players underneath her,” Dooley said. “Last year we didn’t do that. This year we feel we can because those players underneath her have continued to develop.”
In-state matchup
The Red Wolves start their season against in-state foe UCA Sunday and the game against the Bears marks the only non-conference game for A-State before Sun Belt play begins.
Originally, marquee matchups like a trip to Fayetteville to play the Razorbacks were set for late August, but with COVID-19 restrictions scheduling became difficult.
“I think you would really like to have more (non-conference games),” Dooley said. “We had other games scheduled but with everything going on they just fell apart on us. We had a very challenging schedule set up for us. We tried to push some things into next year.”
A-State has had to make the most of intrasquad scrimmages and even though those scrimmages are not the same as real matches, the Red Wolves really have not had a choice.
“UCA will be a great opportunity for us to kind of see where we are and are we just looking good in training or can we translate it to competition,” Dooley said.
Last season the Red Wolves took down the Bears 3-1 in Jonesboro. Kick off from Conway is set for 6 p.m.
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