Most things about this season’s Idaho soccer program are looking to be unprecedented — schedule included.
The team will start one of the toughest schedules in program history with a road trip to take on Texas Tech in Lubbock.
“We’re going to go play our game. I’m not worried about what Texas Tech does. We’re going to play our game,” coach Pete Showler said. “We’re the traveling team so there’s not much in our favor, but that’s what we love about this game.”
After taking on the Red Raiders in Palouse-esque west Texas, the Vandals will come back home for a three-game home stand that includes a visit from Gonzaga.
In September they will spend a weekend in Florida taking on Miami and Florida International. The next week they will host Washington State before jumping in to the team’s final WAC season before joining the Big Sky.
“We’ve got the toughest schedule I think this program has ever had,” Showler said. “It’s all set to preparing us for playing the likes of Utah State, Denver and the Texas schools. That’s the whole purpose of playing such a strong schedule.”
If there were going to be any season to take advantage of such a schedule, this would be the year. Idaho essentially returns every starter from last season’s WAC tournament semi-finalist team.
“It’s unusual, but it gives you a sense of where this program is at,” Showler said. “The girls who have turned this program around have been instrumental in setting new standards.”
It would be surprising if Idaho has less than seven seniors on the pitch at any time, including fifth year senior Liz Boyden at goalkeeper.
Needless to say, this has increased the expectations of a program that had its best year in program history last season.
“I think you’ll find that the upperclassmen set a standard and we’re wanting to follow that,” senior Megan Lopez said. “I think we’ve relayed that to the under classmen coming in. The team is raising the bar this year, we’re setting the standard.”
In order to raise that bar, a run to the WAC championship game needs to be made. It explains the “This is it” motto on the back of the team’s training t-shirts.
“I am expecting our team to go all the way. At least further than last year and there’s only one more game than that,” Boyden said. “I’ve never seen a team click in pre-season more than this team, and I’ve been here for five years.”
The Red Raiders were slated to finish fifth in the Big 12 conference by coaches, and even received one first-place vote. They were 7-4-1 in Lubbock last season. The game will be streamed live at 5 p.m. PST at TexasTech.com. You can also follow on twitter via the official athletic department account: @Idaho_Vandals