The SFU women’s soccer team is no stranger to diversity. Since opening its National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) with an 11–5–3 overall record in their inaugural season, the team has been hit with a bad case of the injury bug. The team’s record the past two seasons has reflected that, and this season the injury situation is no different. But with a healthy frontline for the first time in a long time, this exceptionally young team might now be building towards finding its new identity in the NCAA.
Over the past two years, players like Karm Jawanda — now healthy, and a captain this year despite being just a (medical) redshirt sophomore — have been lost to broken feet and torn ACLs that have kept key players out of the lineup for extended lengths of time.
This season, Amanda Gilliland, last year’s starting goalkeeper who happened to lead the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) in saves, left the team due to nagging injury concerns. That left two true freshmen to compete for the starting spot, but matters were made worse when one hit her head in practice, and is currently on the sidelines with a concussion. Head coach Shelley Howieson says she’ll be forced to use one of her best backline players as the team’s number-two keeper.
“It’s up in the air,” said Howieson. “Is it going to go in this direction, or is to going to go that direction? We’re going to find out in the next couple weeks.”
Howieson is speaking about her current goalkeeping situation, but she may as well be talking about her team as a whole. There are eight freshman listed on the 22-player roster, some of whom will most likely see the pitch. And players like Jawanda, who lead her team in scoring her freshman year, are returning from long absences. It is, without a doubt, a year of transition for the Clan, as Howieson figures out how her new players—both freshmen and those coming back from injuries—will work themselves into the fold.
“We’re trying to find our feet right now,” said Howieson. “I think the freshmen are going to contribute this year, and I’m looking forward to see how they gel with some of the returning players we didn’t have on the field last year.”
She’s had a few chances to look at what she’s working with, including a few exhibition games. The results have been positive — so far — but Howieson was quick to emphasize that exhibition games are more for experimentation than for the score sheets.
“These are all just exhibition games,” said Howieson, who’s led the Clan since the team’s inception in 1988. “I’m just trying to shuffle people around and see what’s going on; to get a feel for the team.
“It’s a real conglomeration of trying to get a starting lineup set and get everybody established in their positions.”
The real test will come when the Clan kicks off its conference schedule with a road-heavy opening few weeks.
“We’ve got some heavy competition early on in the schedule, but those games will be good tests for us to see where we’re headed competitively.”
But where this team stands now is uncertain. The goaltending situation is anything but enviable, but getting a handful of players back from injury could be a major shot in the arm. Either way, a youthful team has a chance to grow as a unit that could stay together for a few years, and that’s a positive regardless of whether the team ends up this way or that.
