Truman State’s women’s soccer team doesn’t have much time rest during its off-season. After 15 wins and a GLVC Championship, the women’s soccer team has been brushing up on its moves and leadership skills during the spring off-season. During this time, the seniors are no longer required to attend practice, and their absence gives the freshmen, sophomores and juniors a feel for how the new team will work together during the fall.
The spring season is used as a time to develop the team’s skills. The team also uses the spring to find potential leaders. Junior Megan Whitehead, last semester’s captain, says the spring season gives the younger players more leadership opportunities.
“It was kind of looked to the juniors-going-to-be-seniors to kind of step up and be leaders, but also some of the kids from our class … we were just so young it was natural for some people to fill those roles,” Whitehead says. “It was really cool being [named captain] by my teammates because it’s a team-voted position. It’s not something our coach chooses, so it means a lot coming from the rest of my team.”
While the spring is very different from the fall season, it is essential for preparing the team for next year. Head Coach Mike Cannon says the team is trying to keep up the momentum from the fall while also finding new players to fill the positions of the key players from last season.
“It’s fun because you get to take more chances and try people in different spots,” Cannon says. “Hopefully by the end of the spring we have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to do in the fall, but that still doesn’t include the incoming freshmen and the other kids that might just worked really hard over the summer.”
Although the season does not count for points, the women’s soccer team goes to a few away games during the season. Cannon says away games are always harder, and he says a lot of teams play on turf. Because Truman’s women’s soccer team plays on a grass field, playing on turf at away games helps prepare them for games during the fall.