After a blowout 3-0 loss in an exhibition game against No. 11 South Carolina last week, the NC State women’s soccer team looks to bounce back this weekend as it travels to San Diego for matchups against the University of San Diego Friday and No. 10 Pepperdine Sunday.
However, the exhibition loss wasn’t completely discouraging, as the Wolfpack was missing a few key players to injury, including redshirt sophomore forward Jackie Stengel and sophomore defender Cailyn Boch.
“We had a few key players out tonight, but they should be back in the next week or so,” head coach Tim Santoro said. “They were good players for us last year; we were just being conservative with them.”
Stengel was a last-minute scratch, sitting as a precaution after sustaining an injury during warmups Santoro said was “unrelated” to the knee injury that held her to just three games last season. Boch was a mainstay of a defense that allowed 45 goals last season, a spot that the Pack will have to improve on coming into this season.
“I’m really confident with our lineup once they get healthy,” Santoro said. “We’ve been able to put together a good 14 to 15 players that are more competitive than they have been the last few years. We’re closer than what we showed tonight.”
Additionally, NC State lost forward Franziska Jaser, who left the team to play professionally in Germany. Jaser recorded three assists in her only season with the Pack, and it will take some time for the team to adjust to her loss.
“Anytime you lose a player like that, I don’t know if you replace her,” Santoro said. “We have some freshmen that can play in that position, but it will be about midway through the season before we find a replacement for her.”
The Friday matchup against the Toreros is set to kick off at 10:30 p.m. San Diego was picked to finish fourth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll after finishing last season with a 10-8-2 (6-3 WCC) record.
A Toreros player to look out for will be junior midfielder Jacqueline Altschund. For the second year in a row, she was selected to the preseason All-WCC team after tallying five goals and three assists last season.
The Sunday matchup against Pepperdine will take place at 5:30 p.m. Despite the fact that the Waves were the highest ranked team in the WCC, they were picked for third place in the preseason poll. In 2014, Pepperdine finished with a stellar 16-3-4 (6-1-2 WCC) record en route to a Sweet Sixteen run in the NCAA Tournament.
For the Waves, sophomore midfielder Hailey Harbison was named to the preseason All-WCC team after being named WCC Freshman of the Year last season. Last season, she garnered one goal, two assists and was part of a defense that allowed a mere 16 goals all year.
NC State will look to start off quickly after finishing last season with a poor 2-15-2 record. However, a fast start will be tough to accomplish against these two quality opponents.
