Befitting a new school year and season, it’s a learning game for the youthful Lakeland Rustlers women’s soccer team in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
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In their season-opener Sunday (Sept. 7) at VLA Fields in Lloydminster, the Rustlers lost 3-0 to the NAIT Ooks of Edmonton.
“I think we did pretty good,” said Rustlers third-year striker Katelyn Dyck, the team’s player of the game.
“We held our ground a lot and I don’t think the score defines who we are as a team. We are growing because we are mostly rookies on the team. There are a few things we could work on, yes, but I think we played perfect for today.”
Lakeland coach Doyle Church concurred with that assessment, praising his Rustlers for showing poise against an experienced NAIT side.
“I think how we defended was good,” said Church, whose 17-woman roster includes 11 fresh faces, with 10 of them new to college soccer.
“I was impressed with how we played. Obviously, there are things that we’d like to improve on. The second half, we tweaked some things in the attack and it went a bit better.
“With the players we have, they’re dynamic and they’re aggressive. I think we’ll be fine. It’s just with a new team, building the chemistry is important, so the longer we play together and the more we learn about each other, it’s only going to get better.”
Dyck, a 19-year-old Saskatoon native, is one of the veterans guiding the young Rustlers, who were just a week into their school year when they opened their season in front of a solid crowd on a warm afternoon.
“It was a really good performance from Katelyn,” Church said. “She was physical. She was smart on the ball. Her percentages, for completed passes and going in for headers and things like that, were really good. That’s why she was the player of the game today.”
NAIT’s player of the game was Sierra Klack, who scored the first two goals. Kristy Hernandez netted the other goal. Carly Speelman posted the shutout as the Ooks improved their record to 2-0.
LEADING THE WAY
Dyck, studying to become a teacher, is already a mentor of sorts for the many Lakeland rookies.
She encouraged them to stay on track even when trailing, as they were Sunday when NAIT scored the lone first-half goal.
“Yeah, confidence is the main thing and keeping your head up when we concede and make a bad pass,” said Dyck, a graduate of Bishop James Mahoney High School.
Before she moves on to further her studies at the University of Saskatchewan or the University of Calgary, Dyck wants to create more special memories with the Rustlers.
Church believes they’re building a promising program, as the women find their way at the collegiate level.
“The learning curve is steep,” he said. “You have to learn a lot, as much as you can, but the experience they’ll get from this season, if we can grow with this core and continue for two or three years down the line, that’s how you can build a successful program.”
Church is in his third season as coach of the Rustlers women’s soccer team. He played five years with the men’s team and spent one season as an assistant with both the male and female clubs.
“This year is a bit of a reset for us,” Church said of his latest women’s team. “We had a lot of players graduate from Lakeland or transfer to other programs and other schools. Coming in with 11 new players … it’s a big learning gap. But overall, for a first game against a really, really good team, I’m happy with that performance. It’s good building blocks for us to continue on. What we’ve been doing has worked, so we just have to keep going.”
KEEPER OPTIONS
One of the most intriguing positions for the Rustlers is goalkeeper, with a couple of experienced student-athletes in the mix.
“The goalkeeping spot is very competitive, in terms of they’re both really skilled players,” Church said. “It’s always a battle between them. Yes, they’re teammates, but it’s competitive because only one goalkeeper can play in the game.”
Third-year keeper Lizzy McLeod went the distance in Sunday’s game. Her goaltending partner is Peyton Arnott, a second-year Rustler.
Lakeland returns to action at home this Saturday (Sept. 13) as the King’s Eagles of Edmonton visit VLA Fields. The women play at noon and the men at 2:15 p.m.
Both Rustlers’ teams head to Edmonton on Sunday (Sept. 14) to play the Concordia Thunder.
“Again, all three Edmonton teams are really strong programs,” Church said. “But if we play similar-ish and we fix a few things from today, we’ll be fine.”
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