By Alex Del Valle/Contributing Writer
As the 2017 season begins for the FIU women’s soccer program, the team’s main goal and mission is to forget about the past and move toward prolonged success.
Everything has not been all sunshine and rainbows for the women’s soccer program, after posting a (12-5-2) record back in 2012 the team regressed substantially, hitting rock bottom last season registering a (3-11-3) record under former head coach Thomas Chestnutt.
The university’s athletic department and soccer program took action during the offseason to leave the past behind and move on with newly appointed head coach Sharolta Nonen.
“I am thrilled to have Sharolta Nonen lead our women’s soccer program,” Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment Pete Garcia said to the associated press. “Her soccer experience and contacts throughout the world, along with her passion for the sport will help raise the level of our student-athletes and FIU women’s soccer.”
Nonen, a former Canadian National Team star and assistant coach at East Carolina plans to use all her past experiences in soccer to succeed here at FIU.
“Everything that I’ve been through up to this point has prepared me for where I am now,” Coach Nonen said. “Having played for so many years, it has taught me a lot about resiliency, being a team player, and teamwork.”
With season already having commenced, the coaching staff is focusing on two things.
“We’re trying to set a tactical foundation. We’re playing around with a new formation. We want everyone to have a basic understanding of their roles and responsibilities going into the first scrimmages. We also want to have a solid fitness base,” Nonen said. “If we had a game today we would play in a 4-4-2 formation.”
A bright spot for the Panthers this season is the return of sophomore forward Bria Williams. The sizzling starlet was the team’s second leading goal scorer behind recently graduated Alyssa Robinson. Williams wasn’t shy in describing Coach Shay’s attention to detail.
“She’s a coach that gets down to business, very straight-forward in implementing what she wants done with this program and letting us know how she wants it done,” Williams said.
A sore spot for the Panthers last season was the amount of goals they slotted home, only 12 scores in 17 games. A personal goal for Williams this season is to add more to her tally and hope it translates to wins.
“My personal goal for the season is to definitely score more than two goals. I want to set the minimum as six,” Williams said. “I want the team to be more confident inside the final third. A lot of us didn’t take our opportunities when presented. We’ve gotten better but there’s still room to improve.”
Luckily for the Panthers, expectations aren’t high from the outside looking in. The team is still piecing together a starting squad that lost its starting goalkeeper and leading goal-scorer. It is going to be an uphill battle from the start but the team looks to have a solid general to lead the way.
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