Soccer finds strength in numbers

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The intense pre- season of soccer has come to a close and the Boxer women are currently 0 and 2 with two strongly fought games, including their first game of the season against University of Redlands that ended after two periods of overtime.

Pacific’s woman’s soccer team is optimistic about their chances this year.

“I am not going to try and guess where we will end up, but we have the potential to compete in every single game,” Head Coach Morgan Joseph said.

Pacific stacks up competitively in their conference and is expecting to perform to their highest ability. The majority of the team’s players are returners along with impactful new teammates that give the Boxers adding to the desire to compete.

“We are one of the stronger teams in the conference with 18 returners and many new faces. I feel we have a great chance to do something exceptional this season,” sophomore starter Sydney Virgen said.

With the recent roster expansion to accommodate the growth of Pacific University, many sports, including woman’s soccer, have created a reserve or junior varsity team.

With the influx of students, the soccer team now carries 41 players in the program as a whole. The woman’s soccer team has nearly doubled in size since last year.

“Soccer is a very demanding game, and we play a lot of games in a fairly short season. That being said we are lucky to…”have just inherited a larger family,” Joseph stated.

A large roster can be a blessing or a curse, yet the Boxers have turned it into something special and team chemistry has not faltered.

“There is strong team chemistry throughout the program and all the girls are out there to make one another work hard. It does not matter whether it is JV or varsity, everyone is there for each other,” freshman, Gabrielle Glaser said.

Strong team chemistry coupled with an immense returning presence has the program feeling confident as they look forward to the rest of the season. The Boxers have been taking practice seriously so they can attain their goals.

“We try to do game speed practices early in the week to sharpen our skills and as the week progresses we taper off and focus on tactical plays,” explained Virgen.

This type of practice will be a cornerstone for the team to do well and succeed this season. With the direction of Joseph, the team kicked off the start of conference with a tie against George Fox.

The Pacific women’s soccer team will be playing Puget Sound in their first conference home game Sept. 20 at Hanson Stadium. The game will kick off at 12:00p.m.

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