In 2012 the women’s soccer team made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in its programs brief history, and with the success of a year ago, expectations are still high.
“Our expectations are high, the way we finished last year,” said head soccer coach Craig Shaw, “we finally got our team where we want it to be as a Division II program.”
Although the Tigers finished sixth in the regular season in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association play, the team muscled their way through the MIAA tournament as that six seed to be the 2012 MIAA Tournament Champions and booking their ticket to Minnesota for the tournament.
[raw][quote_right] “In this third year of the program we want to see if we can make ourselves top three or four in the conference,” Shaw said.[/quote_right][/raw]
With that championship from a year ago, Fort Hays will have a target painted on their backs. With the surprise factor not an option the Tigers are pleased to return nine starters from that tournament this year, including sophomore forward Jordan Hester who picked up All-Central Regional Honors and as well sophomore defender Dani Harris who was named to the All-MIAA Honorable Mentation team last year, so the Tigers should be able to more consistent this year through the tough MIAA season.
“We’re actually starting to get more players who have been in the program, for a lot longer than just two years now, so that’s helping us build a program that can actually compete” Shaw said.
Coming into the 2013 season, Fort Hays will by far have the best returning core of any team in the MIAA. With that, Coach Shaw had to take a different approach to the recruiting class. Shaw stated that he looked for recruits with the unique intangible characteristic of being a “fighter,” more than just a top soccer player.
With this formula of what to look for in a recruit, Shaw was able to sign 10 new student athletes, ranging from Kansas to Texas, and all the way to England.
“With the returning squad and the 2013 recruiting class; a better season is more than possible,” Shaw said.
Position recruits go by; four forwards, four defenders, one mid-fielder, and a goal keeper. While the 10 incoming freshman take up more than half the squad, all have played with prestigious clubs giving them advantages learning the Division II speed and quality of play.
The Tigers open their season with two home games; Southwest Minnesota State, the home opener Friday, Sept 6 at 6 .m. followed up by a Sunday, September 8 matchup with University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) at 11:00a.m. Fort Hays will play five games before testing the waters of MIAA play in Warrensburg, MO against Central Missouri, with the first big MIAA game at home October 11 as Central Oklahoma, trots into town.