2010 Women's Soccer Preview: Q&A With Head Coach Veronica O'Brien
8/23/2010 9:45:33 AM | Women's Soccer
Riverside—With just a few days remaining in training camp before the Highlanders open the 2010 Women's Soccer Season against UNLV, Head Coach Veronica O'Brien took some time to stop by the gohighlanders.com offices to give us her take on the upcoming season.
Q: Before we get into the 2010 season, let's take a quick look back at 2009. Did last season turn out the way you expected, and what does this year's squad carry forward from a year ago?
A: Last year, I think yes, and no. Things that we expected—We were a good balance of young and old. We were expecting more in the way of wins. We had seven overtime games, and if they had turned out a little more in our favor we could have had a better record overall and probably a good chance to be in our conference tournament, but from that I think we brought a lot of experience. This past spring, we really developed our younger players, and coming into this season we had a very experienced back line which I think is going to be great for us mixed in with a youthful attack. So I think we're in the right direction.
Q: You had five seniors on last year's team, Ashley Parks, Lauren Leonard, Heidi Gassaway, Denise Thomas and Nicole Yumori. Who replaces their contrbutions in the lineup this season?
A: I don't know if you can always replace every player, but we certainly feel like we've filled holes that we lost to graduation. Certainly as you watched last year's matches, Ashley Parks being an all-conference player, was very dominating in the air for us and good at possession. I think Lindsey Ahmed has shown early for us as a freshman, is a player who can come in and kind of fill those roles.
We have numerous people to fill the attacking rolls of a Denise and a Heidi who were very vaulable and a Lauren Leonard, but we're going to be young in that area. But I think if you were here last night to watch our scrimmage against Cal Baptist, you can see we have a lot on the attack and some exciting things to look forward to.
Q: What returning players do you see making an impact this season who maybe were a little more behind the scenes last year?
A: I don't think we really have people who were behind the scenes because we had a lot of freshman play last year. We were predominately a freshmen back line. The return of Kristina Noriega and Shelby Lewis in our backfield is going to be very key, and Kayla Troesh and the addition of Melisa Escamilla who had to red-shirt last year. I think they're going to make great contributions for us and bring us forward with a lot of experience.
Q: Defensive was definitely a strength last year, Jessica White in goal for pretty much the entire season. She's back, and you have three other keepers on the squad. What can you tell us about each of them and what they bring to the team?
A: Jessica White certainly has the most experience for us, played a lot of minutes last year. She's already shown very well in preseason training, looks very good, so we expect her to probably hold that role. We have the exciting return of Reanna Gibbs, She has a lot of experience so she'll be able to help bring along some of our newer players. We have Jessica Olafsen and Katherine Nearhoff who are new to the program. I think both bring different things. I think Jessica Olafsen has shown well as a freshman coming into camp and will challenge for playing time.
Q: Taking a look at some of the other newcomers on the field, who are the other players who are going to make immediate contributions to the cause?
A: Oh my gosh, I should have brought a roster of names with me. Shelley Brumbaugh, a freshman early on has been playing up top for us, very dynamic, sees the field well, fast, has great confidence, plays like an experienced player. I think Andrea Morales is going to bring some great things to the attack, a very creative player. The game just comes natural to her. Lindsey Ahmed, our center mid has shown very well. Last night she played her first 90-minute college match and showed very well in the game. But there are so many freshman coming in that I think over time, over the coming weeks and months that they are going to grow into great roles for us, so I think they're all good.
Q: Also new to the team this year is two assistant coaches, Wilt Kishimoto and TJ Buchholz. What can you tell us about their backgrounds?
A: I'm very excited about our staff. We get along really well. The great thing about our staff is you kind of have three head coaches on the staff. They both have been in charge of their own programs at some point and time. They have great passion for the game. They understand building, the recruiting process.
We're all on the same page which is a great thing, and I think between the three of us, the team is going to have a great asset in having so many people who know the game well.
Q: The season opener is less than a week away and you have one preseason scrimage under your belt from the other night. What did you learn about your team in the Cal Baptist scrimamge that maybe you didn't know going in, or what things were reinforced that you did know?
A: Well, I just finished watching the video at three o'clock this morning (laughs). We're a fast team. We're a team that is really fit. We really pushed almost too hard I think over the 90 minutes, and we have to learn to probably pace the game out a little more. We started to fatigue a little bit at the end not due to fitness but I think it was just the intensity level that we were at and the excitement of a new game. I think we just have to tighten some areas up and get some better decisions in the final third on the attack. We attacked more than we probably ever have the past two seasons. It's now just getting into that final third and finishing for us right now.
Q: UNLV is the opponent in the home opener on Friday, August 20 at 7 pm right here at the UC Riverside Soccer Stadium. You also have matches this year against the likes of Oregon State, Texas, Texas State: What would you say your philosophy is when it comes to scheduling non-conference opponents?
A: We're trying to find a balance between those games that are equal challenges and could go either way and those that are probably barrier challenges, teams that have been in top rankings. Oregon State last year went to the Sweet 16. We had the opportunity to play them here last year, and we lost the game late 2-1 so I think that was a good sign for us of where we were going. So the opportunity to play them again, and the philosophy behind that is trying to beat ranked opponents, and we certainly want to build a schedule that is a top-25, top-50 type schedule. I think the preparation, the non conference games for us are going to prepare us well for conference because our conference has grown tremendously over the years in terms of strength.
Q: Are there matches along the way that you look to as benchmark matches that will give you a better idea or the best idea of how things are going prior to the start of Big West competition?
A: Yeah, I think so. A lot of the non-conference teams that we scheduled have a lot of similarities if you were to put them on paper and match them up to our conference opponents, in terms of style of play, in terms of physicality, speed and all those kind of things. I think it is going to be a good blueprint to get us ready for conference.
Q: The Big West Conference Coaches Poll came out this past week and for the third straight year UC Santa Barbara is picked to finish first in the league and they won the conference tournament in 2008 and 2009. Why are they the favorites again?
A: They have a big returning group. They are a senior team. I think they are going to graduate nine players this year, so I can see whey they are a favored group. The one thing I love about this conference is it usually comes down to the last weekend to see who really is going to be in that top four, so I always feel like we're in the mix. If you watched us last year, we were at Santa Barbara and lost that game in a heartbreaking 45 seconds left in double overtime, 2-1. So we showed we can play with anyone in our conference.
Q: Who are the other teams that have the best shot at knocking off the Gauchos, and where do you see the Highlanders fitting into that mix?
A: UCR of course. (laughs) You know, I don't know. Every year is a new year. It is hard to predict who can do it. I think every team has an equal opportunity to do that.
Q: And finally, Coach, when November rolls around, if UC Riverside is preparing for a first-round Big West Conference Tournament match, what will have been the keys to the team's success along the way?
A: You know, I always say that you have to have a little bit of luck, you have to stay healthy, and you have to stay with your game plan. And I think if we're conistent and can sitck to our game plan, I think we can get there.
Q: Before we get into the 2010 season, let's take a quick look back at 2009. Did last season turn out the way you expected, and what does this year's squad carry forward from a year ago?
A: Last year, I think yes, and no. Things that we expected—We were a good balance of young and old. We were expecting more in the way of wins. We had seven overtime games, and if they had turned out a little more in our favor we could have had a better record overall and probably a good chance to be in our conference tournament, but from that I think we brought a lot of experience. This past spring, we really developed our younger players, and coming into this season we had a very experienced back line which I think is going to be great for us mixed in with a youthful attack. So I think we're in the right direction.
Q: You had five seniors on last year's team, Ashley Parks, Lauren Leonard, Heidi Gassaway, Denise Thomas and Nicole Yumori. Who replaces their contrbutions in the lineup this season?
A: I don't know if you can always replace every player, but we certainly feel like we've filled holes that we lost to graduation. Certainly as you watched last year's matches, Ashley Parks being an all-conference player, was very dominating in the air for us and good at possession. I think Lindsey Ahmed has shown early for us as a freshman, is a player who can come in and kind of fill those roles.
We have numerous people to fill the attacking rolls of a Denise and a Heidi who were very vaulable and a Lauren Leonard, but we're going to be young in that area. But I think if you were here last night to watch our scrimmage against Cal Baptist, you can see we have a lot on the attack and some exciting things to look forward to.
Q: What returning players do you see making an impact this season who maybe were a little more behind the scenes last year?
A: I don't think we really have people who were behind the scenes because we had a lot of freshman play last year. We were predominately a freshmen back line. The return of Kristina Noriega and Shelby Lewis in our backfield is going to be very key, and Kayla Troesh and the addition of Melisa Escamilla who had to red-shirt last year. I think they're going to make great contributions for us and bring us forward with a lot of experience.
Q: Defensive was definitely a strength last year, Jessica White in goal for pretty much the entire season. She's back, and you have three other keepers on the squad. What can you tell us about each of them and what they bring to the team?
A: Jessica White certainly has the most experience for us, played a lot of minutes last year. She's already shown very well in preseason training, looks very good, so we expect her to probably hold that role. We have the exciting return of Reanna Gibbs, She has a lot of experience so she'll be able to help bring along some of our newer players. We have Jessica Olafsen and Katherine Nearhoff who are new to the program. I think both bring different things. I think Jessica Olafsen has shown well as a freshman coming into camp and will challenge for playing time.
Q: Taking a look at some of the other newcomers on the field, who are the other players who are going to make immediate contributions to the cause?
A: Oh my gosh, I should have brought a roster of names with me. Shelley Brumbaugh, a freshman early on has been playing up top for us, very dynamic, sees the field well, fast, has great confidence, plays like an experienced player. I think Andrea Morales is going to bring some great things to the attack, a very creative player. The game just comes natural to her. Lindsey Ahmed, our center mid has shown very well. Last night she played her first 90-minute college match and showed very well in the game. But there are so many freshman coming in that I think over time, over the coming weeks and months that they are going to grow into great roles for us, so I think they're all good.
Q: Also new to the team this year is two assistant coaches, Wilt Kishimoto and TJ Buchholz. What can you tell us about their backgrounds?
A: I'm very excited about our staff. We get along really well. The great thing about our staff is you kind of have three head coaches on the staff. They both have been in charge of their own programs at some point and time. They have great passion for the game. They understand building, the recruiting process.
We're all on the same page which is a great thing, and I think between the three of us, the team is going to have a great asset in having so many people who know the game well.
Q: The season opener is less than a week away and you have one preseason scrimage under your belt from the other night. What did you learn about your team in the Cal Baptist scrimamge that maybe you didn't know going in, or what things were reinforced that you did know?
A: Well, I just finished watching the video at three o'clock this morning (laughs). We're a fast team. We're a team that is really fit. We really pushed almost too hard I think over the 90 minutes, and we have to learn to probably pace the game out a little more. We started to fatigue a little bit at the end not due to fitness but I think it was just the intensity level that we were at and the excitement of a new game. I think we just have to tighten some areas up and get some better decisions in the final third on the attack. We attacked more than we probably ever have the past two seasons. It's now just getting into that final third and finishing for us right now.
Q: UNLV is the opponent in the home opener on Friday, August 20 at 7 pm right here at the UC Riverside Soccer Stadium. You also have matches this year against the likes of Oregon State, Texas, Texas State: What would you say your philosophy is when it comes to scheduling non-conference opponents?
A: We're trying to find a balance between those games that are equal challenges and could go either way and those that are probably barrier challenges, teams that have been in top rankings. Oregon State last year went to the Sweet 16. We had the opportunity to play them here last year, and we lost the game late 2-1 so I think that was a good sign for us of where we were going. So the opportunity to play them again, and the philosophy behind that is trying to beat ranked opponents, and we certainly want to build a schedule that is a top-25, top-50 type schedule. I think the preparation, the non conference games for us are going to prepare us well for conference because our conference has grown tremendously over the years in terms of strength.
Q: Are there matches along the way that you look to as benchmark matches that will give you a better idea or the best idea of how things are going prior to the start of Big West competition?
A: Yeah, I think so. A lot of the non-conference teams that we scheduled have a lot of similarities if you were to put them on paper and match them up to our conference opponents, in terms of style of play, in terms of physicality, speed and all those kind of things. I think it is going to be a good blueprint to get us ready for conference.
Q: The Big West Conference Coaches Poll came out this past week and for the third straight year UC Santa Barbara is picked to finish first in the league and they won the conference tournament in 2008 and 2009. Why are they the favorites again?
A: They have a big returning group. They are a senior team. I think they are going to graduate nine players this year, so I can see whey they are a favored group. The one thing I love about this conference is it usually comes down to the last weekend to see who really is going to be in that top four, so I always feel like we're in the mix. If you watched us last year, we were at Santa Barbara and lost that game in a heartbreaking 45 seconds left in double overtime, 2-1. So we showed we can play with anyone in our conference.
Q: Who are the other teams that have the best shot at knocking off the Gauchos, and where do you see the Highlanders fitting into that mix?
A: UCR of course. (laughs) You know, I don't know. Every year is a new year. It is hard to predict who can do it. I think every team has an equal opportunity to do that.
Q: And finally, Coach, when November rolls around, if UC Riverside is preparing for a first-round Big West Conference Tournament match, what will have been the keys to the team's success along the way?
A: You know, I always say that you have to have a little bit of luck, you have to stay healthy, and you have to stay with your game plan. And I think if we're conistent and can sitck to our game plan, I think we can get there.
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