Protecting home pitch is imperative to a programโs success, and in year four, the Vaqueros have defended the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex like a fortress.
Sitting at 4-2 at home before last Saturdayโs game versus Texas Lutheran University, UTRGV has been playing some of its best ball in its own backyard. With two matches in Edinburg to open up Western Athletic Conference play this weekend, the team is determined to get off to a good start with the help of home-field advantage.
Junior defender Malia Irvine, who was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 11, said playing in front of the home crowd in the South Texas environment gives the team an advantage over opponents traveling to the Valley.
โI think we have an advantage here at home, especially because of the heat and wind,โ Irvine said. โI like to think of this as our fortress and nobody is going to beat us in our fortress.โ
UTRGV was voted to finish sixth out of eight teams in the WAC Preseason Coachesโ Poll at the beginning of the season. With four conference games scheduled to be played at home and just three on the road, Head Coach Glad Bugariu believes the conference slate presents UTRGV with the opportunity to defend its fortress and put themselves in position to finish higher than the projected bottom-three finish.
โIt doesnโt really matter where weโre picked, as long as we get into the playoffs and weโre able to make a run there, thatโs really the main concern,โ Bugariu said. โWe have four home games in the conference this year. We have to be good at home, and if weโre able to do that, weโll finish much higher than sixth. If not, then thatโs probably where we belong.โ
Irvine said while preseason polls can be considered โoutside noise,โ she looks at UTRGV being picked to finish sixth as a challenge.
โTo me, itโs important, but the fact that they put us sixth makes me want to prove to them that weโre going to come out and get a better result than what they think because, personally, I think we can,โ she said.
UTRGV is set to kick off conference action this weekend with home bouts against Grand Canyon University and California State University, Bakersfield, teams projected to finish third and fourth in the WAC. If UTRGV wants to shake things up in conference this season, it will have to continue its solid play which has come from both upperclassmen and underclassmen alike.
With 10 goals scored on the season, three have come from freshmen Anna Hover and Jada MacLean. Graduate student Andreya Barrera has found the back of the net three times on 14 shots, while junior Diandra Aliaga leads the team in shots with 22, along with two goals scored and one assist, before last Saturdayโs game.
Senior midfielder and co-captain Hanna Spets said the team has had an up-and-down preseason, but she believes the team is prepared for conference and is ready to help the new additions get their first taste of WAC action.
โThe thing is for the incoming class, they donโt know the level of play in conference yet, so obviously for us to prepare them and ourselves for conference play is going to be the hardest thing,โ Spets said. โBut the most important thing is this week, we have to prepare and scout some of the opponents and see what weโre going to be able to do to frustrate them.โ
Bugariu felt the newcomers to this yearโs squad have added a new dimension and are pushing each other to perform by competing to show their best on the pitch. He said the team has fared well in nonconference but knows the added pressure the WAC brings will test UTRGV.
โWe have to be good in every game we play and I think weโve done that for the most part,โ he said. โBy the same token, those WAC games are very important. There canโt be any mistakes, especially at home, so the pressure is a little higher and we have to show what weโre made of under pressure and thatโs always a big test.โ
UTRGVโs first WAC test is set for 7 p.m. Friday at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex as they square off against GCU.
