Yeah, something like this
ISU Soccer Feldmarschall Ali Gibson released the soccer schedule a few weeks ago; now here's my take!
ISU will have another relatively young team this season, but it shouldn't be as bad as the 2008-2009 campaign that was comprised of 75% freshman players. ISU will be, sadly, without Lauren Hough, who due to a degenerating back disease, will not be able to play for ISU. Here's hoping Houghie good luck and a speedy recovery, and hopefully she'll finish her last year here at ISU. Also gone is Kat Ford, ALSO due to an injury, but of the catastrophic variety. While trying to block a goal in practice, she hit the pole and ground hard and it messed up her hip and lower back to the point where she cannot play anymore as well (she was in a back brace for much of the remainder of the spring). Best of luck to you as well, Kat, and good luck with pharmacy school! 4 of the freshman class are also gone due to various reasons: Amber Worthen (was on fee waiver, went home after 1 semester because it was cheaper), Krisha Read (also on fee waiver, went home after 1 semester due to costs and health reasons), Shailee Smith (back problems) and Shauna Fleming (decided not to play next year so she could focus on academics).
Other than those 6 losses (and counting of course the seniors in Annamarie Hofstetter, Christina Beseris, grad student Jana Davis-Boehler, and Kacey Ball. But as Soccerfanatic points out in his preseason analysis of our soccer team, ISU had the fewest number of seniors in the conference), ISU will have a young team with lots of very good freshman and returning sophomores hoping to make a splash.
I won't get into much with the player analysis; I'll leave that in Soccerfanatic's very capable hands (and ungodly information skills...as a history major, I am ashamed). He has a full analysis of the incoming class and returning players hyah:
http://bengals.bigskyfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3960
ISU will have 2 weeks to prepare for Marquette, an ironic season opener because former ISU assistant coach Hideki Nakada is now with them. Coach Hideki was well known to the religious followers of the program for his eccentric (and dare I say, well done) styles of dress and his dedication to reviving the program after it damn near flat-lined underneath the infamous Mark Salisbury, famous for alienating almost every player on the team before Ali came along. But I digress. After Marquette, ISU will traverse to Loyola-Chicago to play in front of Lauren Ryan's home fanbase (because Ali is SO awesome like that). Then, ISU will be home on the 27th of August (the season starts early with the Northern Midwest circuit starting August 20th) to host the College of Idaho, and then another game on the 29th against Utah State, who is quickly becoming a stable rival and part of the schedule.
September: ISU will start the month by hosting the Governor's Cup; the last time ISU hosted we won. I still have the newspaper cover from that game when I was just a freshman entering my first fall semester (I had started in the Spring 2007 and not Fall 2006 semester). ISU should finally piece together a good effort to reassert dominance as the premier soccer program of the state (because Idaho is still a few years from having good athletic programs on a consistent basis but is on the rise, and BSU is a football school who has other programs to make it look like they're not). ISU will play BSU first on Friday and will finish with Idaho on Sunday, the 3rd and 5th respectively. The lovely thing about this month is that, unlike last year's tomfoolery where everyone was on the road until October, this time ISU Soccer will have some home games first. The 9th and 12th will see Seattle and Southern Utah come to Pocatello; games ISU should win handily. After that ISU will go on the Big OMG ROAD TRIP!!! of the season to Reno (to play Nevada and San Jose State, giving ISU 4 WAC opponents for the season) and then straight over to God's Armpit (Provo, Utah) to play Utah Valley and BYU (who was SUPPOSED to come up here to play this year, but OK whatever, we'll still have your asses up here in Pocatello come 2011). ISU should beat UVU and hopefully stick it to BYU ala' Elizabeth Lambert, who I feel was wrongfully demonized by hordes of hypocritical, sniveling whiny-assed soccer moms and Internet Tough Guys.
October: ISU enters October hopefully with a bunch of laurel wreaths and victories and a revenge match in mind against Northern Arizona, which incidentally kicks off the Big Sky Campaign. The 7th sees NAU come to Pocatello and the 9th sees Northern Colorado arrive to do battle with ISU. The next week sees ISU traverse to Missoula and Cheney to start fights with Montana and Eastern Washington and then the weekend of October 21st sees the final home game and Senior Day against Sacramento State. The regular season ends with trips to Portland (the 24th) and Ogden (the 30th) to pick some more fights against Portland State and Weber State.
So there you go. Hopefully, November will see the return of the women before the leaves fall off the trees as the hosts of the Big Sky Conference Tournament and riding off into Ali Gibson's second NCAA Tournament appearance and getting ISU's first tournament wins in any postseason tournament since 2005, when the ISU Rugby Club finished 8th in the Nation. Many of the games here are winnable, and ISU could be the WAC's best team if it beats BSU, Idaho, Nevada and SJSU. The team needs to get clicking early and has to keep up the motor all season long. The incoming freshman class is, on paper, arguably the best in the conference and one of the best ISU has ever signed, out of any coach. The returning group is already hungry and one of the most talented in the Big Sky. Everything points to one of the best seasons in program history and the best since 2006-2007, which saw ISU shock Sacramento State 4-3 in a sudden death overtime. It will be a fun season for sure!
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