Women's Soccer Set to Reload for the 2019 Season

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—It is now the eve of the 2019 season opener for the UC Riverside Women's Soccer Team and from the outside looking in, one would think that a Highlander team that graduated eight seniors last season and welcomed 10 new faces this year would be going through a rebuild. Head Coach Nat Gonzalez begs to differ.

"One goal for us this year is to get everybody up to speed as quickly as we can so we can go on a run that gives us confidence," Gonzalez said. "If we can do that, then despite having a lot of youth on our team, this season doesn't become a rebuild, it becomes a reload."

The Highlanders are looking to build off an impressive 2018 campaign where the team finished 11-4-3 after getting off to one of its best starts in program history, posting a 10-0-2 record through its first 12 matches. Much of this is credited to tremendous defense and outstanding play from a trio of senior midfielders in Quinley Quezada, Kyra Taylor, and Maddie Feist. Despite seeing these three graduate last season, Coach Gonzalez sees the middles playing a big part again this season.

"If I was excited about the midfielders last year, then I am definitely excited about this year's," Gonzalez said. "The girls have been working hard and we gained not just a lot with our scrimmage, but there's a confidence that's been gained. They are the engine in the middle and if we stay healthy I think they're gonna be pretty strong."

This midfielder group has good balance of youth and experience with juniors Maria Gallardo and Miah Conde and senior Neyda Martinez returning, alongside a pair of sophomores that saw strong minutes last season, Jennifer Barroso and Akari Shimizu, who was named to last season's Big West All-Freshman Team.

The team overall is more on the youthful with 19 underclassmen compared to just 8 upper, but with that there has been a challenge accepted in that the younger players will see the opportunity to take on a bigger role. One freshman in particular, Aleeyah Feliciano from Lakewood, CA, has already caught the eye of the coaching staff.

"One person who has really done a good job, and is really calm in all the chaos even as freshman is [Feliciano]," Gonzalez said. "I see her in there a lot at the center defender position for us. I expect to her to handle that position next to senior Amanda Roy."

The Big West Conference Preseason All-Conference Team saw two Highlanders named to its ranks in senior defender Amanda Roy and senior keeper Annie Bailey. These two are expected to contribute as leaders once again with a lot of experience gained from last season's early hot streak. Together they keep a lot of balls out of the net.

"These two are going to be huge in the organizational piece, the mentality piece, and in communicating with the rest of the team," Gonzalez said. "They're gritty and they clearly know how to win. I think their ability to give our current team the confidence they need to be successful when things get tight is going to be huge."

All the pieces will come together for the first time on the field tomorrow night at Pepperdine, before the team returns to UCR Soccer Stadium Sunday night for its home opener and the program's first true Crosstown Showdown with CBU.