Defending the fortress - The Rider Newspaper

Protecting home pitch is imperative to a program’s 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 Saturday’s 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.

“I think we have an advantage here at home, especially because of the heat and wind,” Irvine said. “I like to think of this as our fortress and nobody is going to beat us in our fortress.”

UTRGV was voted to finish sixth out of eight teams in the WAC Preseason Coaches’ 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.

“It doesn’t really matter where we’re picked, as long as we get into the playoffs and we’re able to make a run there, that’s really the main concern,” Bugariu said. “We have four home games in the conference this year. We have to be good at home, and if we’re able to do that, we’ll finish much higher than sixth. If not, then that’s probably where we belong.”

Irvine said while preseason polls can be considered “outside noise,” she looks at UTRGV being picked to finish sixth as a challenge.

“To me, it’s important, but the fact that they put us sixth makes me want to prove to them that we’re going to come out and get a better result than what they think because, personally, I think we can,” 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 Saturday’s 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.

“The thing is for the incoming class, they don’t 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,” Spets said. “But the most important thing is this week, we have to prepare and scout some of the opponents and see what we’re going to be able to do to frustrate them.”

Bugariu felt the newcomers to this year’s 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.

“We have to be good in every game we play and I think we’ve done that for the most part,” he said. “By the same token, those WAC games are very important. There can’t be any mistakes, especially at home, so the pressure is a little higher and we have to show what we’re made of under pressure and that’s always a big test.”

UTRGV’s first WAC test is set for 7 p.m. Friday at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex as they square off against GCU.