When head coach Brent Anderson started the season with the lady Wolverines on the soccer field, he was very confident in them. Anderson still felt confident after losing four games in overtime on the road. After getting some national recognition from playing no. 9 BYU, the Wolverines are now starting to feel more confident than ever.
UVU was selected by the Great West Conference coaches to win the GWC championship this season and repeat from last year. But after a slow start, UVU is in fourth place on the standings and has quite a mountain to climb to get back on the top spot.
Early on in the season, the Wolverines lost senior Lauren Sack to a shoulder injury and lost that same game to University of Texas at El Paso. They then went on to lose four overtime games after giving up leads late in the game. With so many losses and every momentum seeming to shift against them, it’s hard to envision something good coming from this team. But Anderson has to.
“That’s the trick,” Anderson said after Wednesday’s practice. “We have to stay positive and just go one game at a time. We’ll turn it around. We have to.”
UVU still has some time to gain ground on current top team in the GWC, South Carolina State. Utah Valley has one meeting against them near the end of the season on the road. They then have to travel to Texas to take on Houston Baptist, another formidable team in their conference. But before all this, UVU will play host against conference rival New Jersey Institute of Technology and then hit the road to play Howard University, two teams that are having difficult seasons of their own.
Although most of their season has been on the road, the three games the Wolverines have had at home haven’t been a walk in the park. They are 0-3 at home with two of those losses happening in overtime. Every game at home has been decided by the same score, 2-1.
But with still plenty of time in the season, UVU can pull off a streak like similar teams in the past. The men’s basketball team ended last season on a 13-game winning streak. Over the summer, the baseball team had an unprecedented 32-game winning streak which got national recognition and almost landed the team in the NCAA playoffs.
With seven games left in the season, the Wolverines look to turn things around in time to be able to host the GWC Tournament in November with a higher seed. The Wolverines look to keep a positive outlook throughout the rest of the season and play with that same confidence to come out on top in their final games.
