When it comes to sports on campus, it seems the most attention from fans goes to the football and basketball teams. Most people would think it’s rightfully so, but what about a team that had won a conference title three out of the last four years?
Enter the women’s soccer team. Under the reigns of two-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Thomas Chestnutt, the Panthers have earned various awards and honors from the Sun Belt Conference and National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Now the Panthers are entering into new territory in Conference USA, but with a track record like Chestnutt’s, there doesn’t seem to be much concern headed into the new season.
For those who love to ponder and debate preseason standings, according to the official website for C-USA, the Panthers entered the season ranked sixth in the East Division. I take it coming up short against North Texas in the SBC Championship game last season didn’t hold much weight to those involved in ranking teams.
Either it didn’t matter or the people who placed the teams in their standings were able to look into the future. Preseason All-Conference player Chelsea Leiva and last year’s second-leading scorer Scarlett Montoya didn’t see any action when the Panthers faced Arizona for their first game of the season. They ended up losing that match 4-2.
As I spoke to a member of a separate media outlet, it seems star forward Leiva suffered a knee injury and to add insult to injury, that injury may sideline her the entire year, ending her senior season before it even started.
Chestnutt didn’t seem to know of any injury in regards to Leiva, which brings up the question, does he truly not know what is going on with his team, or is he deploying the method of not spilling the beans? For now, I’ll go with the latter option.
Now as cliché as it sounds, it is too early to tell how this team will react to such a loss, so I wouldn’t throw out the white flag just yet. Let’s just keep a look out on the team and see how they bounce back after the loss.
The move that intrigued me the most after game one was the start of newcomer Vanessa Plasencia protecting the net.
Now Plasencia did have 13 saves in her first collegiate game, but unless you’re the proverbial Jerica Coley of the soccer team, I can’t seem to grasp the need to play a rookie over junior Kelly Struyf, but hey, I’m not the one getting paid to make those decisions. It isn’t uncommon for coaches to make a move such as this so early in the season, rather than late in the year when you’re fighting for position in the conference.
Such move didn’t seem to be the biggest headline on campus or with other media outlets that cover FIU, so maybe the rookie just needed to get her feet wet.
But if Plasencia continues to start over Struyf, we may need to start wondering what’s going on. Did playing behind former Panther star Kaitlyn Savage not give Struyf the time and help she needed to take over, or is Plasencia the next “rookie sensation”?
When it’s all said and done, if Leiva can return from her injury or whatever absence she may be going through, and with the experience and success this group has had in the past, this team should be fine getting through C-USA with some minor bumps and bruises.