Women’s Soccer 2016 Season Preview

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- In the Landmark Conference's recent preseason poll, the Juniata women's soccer team was picked to come in eighth place. While that may be indicative of what happened last year, that's not what the team plans on finishing this season.

"We are focused on what is going to happen," said head coach Scott McKenzie. "Polls reflect what has happened."

In the offseason, the team had two things that it wanted to focus on. One was fitness. "When we got together in the spring, the team had mentioned that they wanted to be one of the more fit teams in our conference," noted McKenzie. "They felt that would give them a competitive advantage." The other was the concept of team. "Where they made the biggest strides was the fact that they were able to shift the focus from an ego based individual to how can we make our team better. That is what is going to help in the end to do better things."

With a veteran heavy squad, the Eagles have plenty experience to go around. A total of 15 upperclassmen return this year with most having received valuable playing time and adding to that a sophomore class that saw some significant time as freshmen in 2015.

The defense is a mix of youth and established veterans. Sophomores Amanda Kopacz (Watchung, N.J./Mount Saint Mary Academy) and Kristin Racis (Womelsdorf, Pa./Conrad Weiser) started 12 and 10 games, respectively, in 2015. Juniors Kristin Behrens (Jonestown, Pa./Lebanon Catholic), Nicole Saulnier (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South), and Jessica Zavadak (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) join seniors Devin Kos (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte Area), and Rebecca Hingley (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) to form a formidable resistance.

The goalkeeping trio of juniors Kerry Leonard (Cockeysville, Md./Maryvale Prep) and Shannon Kriz (Breinigsville, Pa./Parkland) and senior Erin Mueller (Bedford, Pa./Bedford) all add to the experience that the Eagles have. While only playing in 12 games last season, Leonard did record three shutouts and had a save percentage of .833. She has 27 starts in her career. Kriz has seen time in the net too while Mueller has totaled 21 starts in her time as an Eagle. "Whoever has the gloves is expected to act like an upperclassman and act like a leader," noted McKenzie. "Goalkeeping is a position that demands vocal leadership and demands a commitment to excellence regardless of who is playing. All three are exceptional goalkeepers."

While last year's record was 5-10-1, five of those losses were by one goal. Four came in the second half of the season and McKenzie touched on that as one of the team's reasons to improve its fitness and to value the team as a whole rather than individual.

Juniata begins its 2016 season on Thursday when it travels to Waynesburg to take on the Yellowjackets. Game time will be at 4:00 p.m.