New season, new confidence and full hearts for FIU Women’s Soccer

James Profetto/Contributing Writer

A new season for Women’s Soccer at FIU is looming for one head coach and a roster of 24 athletes with full hearts.  For those who may not know, FIU Women’s Soccer plays in the East division within the Conference USA. This season’s schedule has 10 conference opponents, starting on September 26 against Old Dominion University. With August 22, the beginning of the regular season, near, Head Coach Thomas Chestnutt is adamant about getting off on the right foot this regular season. And, what better way than to do it than here in Miami?

“Starting with the very first game against [The University of] Arizona, it’s a game we have in our cross-hairs, that we want to win,” Chestnutt said.

Arizona is a team that FIU is familiar with. Last season’s opener and home opener saw a match-up between these two. Unfortunately for FIU, a 4-2 loss was the result. But, that was last season. Things have changed from August 23, 2013 to now. One aspect of this team’s character remains, though.

“We have a good group of hard-working kids, who are talented,” Chestnutt said.

This year’s schedule is accompanied by a strong seven game homestand, starting on September 3 and ending on September 28. With teams like Florida Gulf Coast University, Oregon State University and Long Beach State University coming to town, the opportunities for a successful season lie ahead.

“Being at home for a period of time is fantastic for the players. They [will] have a consistency in their schedule… and having three weekends in a row [here at home] will be great for them, certainly when we are building our first phase of the team,” said Chestnutt.

Out of each of the seven opponents FIU will face here at home during that stretch (FGCU, Murray State, Oregon State, Stetson, Long Beach, Old Dominion and Charlotte), this women’s soccer team was outscored 13 goals to eight last season, with the biggest disparity coming against Oregon State (7-0).

The formula in preseason stays the same, though, according to Chestnutt, who has reached at least 11 wins in four out of the last five seasons with the FIU Women’s Soccer program.

“We work hard on our mentality and discipline. It’s just getting them on the same page and in the same direction. It’s a season. We don’t want to be playing our best ball in August—we want to be playing our best ball in October,” Chestnutt said.

The preseason begins August 5 and only lasts two weeks. This short preseason leaves little room for error, but plenty of room for grooming and becoming a cohesive unit. This offseason brought along eight new student-athletes (Nevena Stojakovic, Paula Quintero, Kiley Porter, Courtney Phillips, Ryann Ramirez , Sophia Serrano, Daniella Oleyek and Gabriella Bovo) in the recruitment process. Head coach Thomas Chestnutt feels confident with his new group of athletes.

“It is a good group. The biggest key is how things come together. I think the leadership on this team, and in the returning players in general, have a good mentality in terms of a ‘team first’ mentality. They’re very welcoming of the young players and bringing them along. They understand that the quicker they get comfortable and can express themselves, the better off the team will be,” Chestnutt said.

There’s definitely an influx of new talent with nine new players along with eight freshmen accompanying the roster. The solidified talent already on the roster will help develop these unseasoned players, but just because they’re not as experienced doesn’t mean they’ll sit down and watch for two halves of soccer.

“As coaches, if we don’t have freshmen that are starting or playing, we didn’t do our job as coaches [in] recruiting,” Chestnutt said. “The players that have done the things in their control will play.”

On whether there will be a marquee game this season, Chestnutt had this to say:

“We feel like we have the ability to be a top 25 team in the country this year. In order to do that, we have to get results against every team we come up against. The next game will always be the biggest game.”

August 22 at 7:00 p.m. against Arizona here at FIU is game one of this 19 game journey for the FIU Women’s Soccer program, with the season ending on October 30 against Marshall here at home.

-sports@fiusm.com