2016 Season Preview: Women's Soccer
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas women's soccer team brings a youthful but experienced bunch to the 2016 campaign. Overall nine letterwinners from the previous season are back with the squad, and 13 returners make up spots on the roster. Nine newcomers (eight freshmen) also are battling for spots and are making a positive impact already on the team.
"I really am excited for the opportunity to be back with the team," head coach Angelina Pane stated. "It has been a really great preseason and the opportunity to have 20 games ahead of us and just the excitement of an overall season is real exciting and we are looking forward to it."
Coach Pane continued, "The newcomers are already affecting the team in a very positive way…Each of them have made an impact. They are all very good players, they are very positive, and they are all very smart on the ball. They already have made an impact on the program and we are looking forward to seeing what they do all season."
Coach Pane enters her fourth season at the helm for the Crusaders. Two seasons removed from a trip to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Semifinals after posting the program's best 7-4-1 record in the league; Dallas went 6-13-2 (4-7-1 SCAC) and earned the fifth seed in the conference tournament. The Crusaders did have the privilege of hosting in 2015, and battled Southwestern University to a scoreless draw. The Pirates advanced after winning the shootout, 5-3.
Coach Pane has earned accolades while guiding her UD teams. Her successful second season in 2014 netted her NSCAA West Region Coach-of-the-Year and tied as part of a trio for SCAC Coach-of-the-Year.
A key player returning in her third season is junior Elena Naccari (Covington, La.). The goalkeeper has stamped her name with a pair of major SCAC postseason accolades thus far in her career. In 2014, Naccari was part of a Tri-Newcomer-of-the-Year Honor and then last season garnered Defensive Player-of-the-Year for the conference. In her most recent stint, the keeper ranked second in the conference with 137 saves and averaged 6.85 a match. Five of the Crusaders' six victories were shutouts and opponents only scored one goal in the other contest. Naccari was the keeper in five shutouts (four wins) while logging 1,811:53 minutes in 20 starts.
Sophomore Mason Cosgrove (Las Cruces, N.M.) paced Dallas last season with nine points and tied a team-high three goals. Other returners that etched a pair of goals were junior Mackenzie Vasile (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore Samantha Deitschel (San Antonio, Texas). The duo also each gave an assist to finish with five points apiece.
Senior Cascade Mayer (Kapaa, Hawaii) is the lone member of her class this season. She's coming off a year where she dished two assists for points and has accumulated four goals with six helpers in her career. Mayer's best season was 2014 where she placed 16 of her 23 shots on goal and pounded three goals – one counting as a game winner.
Mayer had the privilege last season to attend the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum and spoke on the SCAC Media Days last week. Mayer is really looking forward to this new season with her teammates.
"I really love the newcomers. They have brought a whole new dynamic to our play and just how we get along as well," Mayer explained. "I worked on my ball skills a little more and my fitness level, too. I think my role on the field will mostly be different from last year, just because we have new, incoming freshmen that can fill in different roles as well so I am excited to see how that goes."
Naccari and Mayer each have a pair of all-conference awards in the SCAC. Cosgrove and Vasile have each garnered notable mentions too. In 2015 Naccari was a First Team All-SCAC winner, while Cosgrove, Mayer, and junior Lauren Hood (Bedford, Texas) earned Second Team All-SCAC recognition.
The focus now is on this season where everything is a clean slate.
"Each year is a brand new start for every team, so this team is just a different dynamic than last year and they are going to bring a new story to our program," Coach Pane announced. "I think we will be different in the fact that we are a new group. This is a very exciting group with a lot of youth but a lot of experience as well. So I am looking forward to the dynamic the girls have as a group on and off the field."
There is pride in this program and the group is working hard each day to ready for the first kickoff.
Coach Pane believes in this group by stating, "They are very hardworking, kind, generous, loving, and take care of one another. They work very hard together and they are working very hard to push each other to become better. Each player wants to find and help dig out the best version of each player. You cannot ask for a better dynamic from what we have grown in this past week."
Dallas opens the season on September 1 versus Howard Payne University at 5 p.m.