MOUNT PLEASANT - The 2012 women’s soccer season and the fall sports season is officially underway, as the team participated in the opening day of practice Wednesday.
The team completed a morning conditioning session, an afternoon strategic and tactical classroom session and an evening soccer technique workout.
“We were super happy with how the fitness testing went today,” head coach Neil Stafford said. “It was really great to see how committed some of the players were to their summer workouts. And it wasn’t as rusty as I thought it was going to be on the first day, with some of the technical work that we did.
“Overall, it was a good day, and we saw some kids super confident coming off the field after a good first day, and we loved seeing the smiles.”
The team hit the track bright and early at 9 a.m. for a series of running drills, marking the first action as Chippewas for the class of 12 freshmen joining the team this season. The women pushed each other to run their hardest during the workout, with such senior veterans as goalkeeper Stefanie Turner and defender Bailey Brandon, among others, pushing the pace for the younger Chippewas.
Following lunch, the Chippewas headed to the classroom to discuss formations, tactics and strategies for the upcoming season. The Maroon and Gold will benefit throughout the season from their proficiency and smarts in the classroom, having earned the nation’s best team GPA for the past seven seasons.
”These aren’t ladies who really let things slip by; they’re incredibly inquisitive and they ask great questions and it really opens the floodgates up for a great dialogue,” Stafford said. “We’re really blessed to have that self-driven, motivated student-athlete.”
The team reconvened later in the evening on the practice field to work on soccer technique, the first time the team actually touched a soccer ball during the day. After an hour and a half of drills, the team called it a day.
The Chippewas will continue their preseason preparation for the next two and a half weeks leading up to the season opener at Detroit on Friday, Aug. 17, and the home opener in Mount Pleasant against Evansville on Sunday, Aug. 19.
Check back to CMUChippewas.com in the coming weeks for a mid-camp recap and season previews, and check out the Chippewas on Facebook and Twitter for more behind-the-scenes looks at the preseason.
