Eastern Illinois University Women’s Soccer – Coach Dirk Bennett

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Bennett from the Eastern Illinois Women’s Program in Charleston. We talk about looking everywhere for recruits as a small mid major. Coach also shares about the academic support staff helping to guide players. Plus, we discuss the staff that cares and that the school has everything a big school has. Learn more about Eastern Illinois University Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer Today. I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Bennett at Eastern Illinois. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Hey, Matt. Thanks for having me. 

Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. Uh, excited to talk to you. It’s, uh, well, it’s June 18th when we’re talking. So I guess the big question is, were you out there making calls on June 15th to, uh, rising Juniors?

Coach: Yeah. You know, it’s funny. Um, I, I actually bucked the trend this year and, and did not make a single call. And I think, uh, you know. It, it’s, it’s on Sunday this year. It’s on Father’s Day. I was actually traveling, um, to work at camp anyway, and I, I kind of, yeah, went against the trend and, and had a peaceful Sunday as opposed to a lot of my colleagues, and I didn’t mind it.

But, uh, we’ve, we’ve been making a few calls this week getting started a little bit slower, but, uh, you, it is the start of the marathon. Not, uh, you don’t have to do it all at once. 

Matt: Right, right. The gun just went off, right? That’s right. Um, well, the. With the gun just going off on the 20 [00:01:00] sevens. Mm-hmm. How, where are you at with those 20 sixes?

Where, where do you, like, do you have a target date as to when you hope to wrap up that class? Or what kinda, what does your normal timeline look like these days? 

Coach: Yeah, it’s, I mean, what is normal these days? Um, no, we, we, we got out there pretty early at the 20 sixes and, and we knew we wouldn’t need like, as, as large of a class as like, like our 20 fives.

We’ve got. 10, two freshmen. So we knew it would be smaller than that. Um, we signed, or, or verbal about three, pretty early on for our 20 sixes. And then as of right now, we, we think we’re still looking for about two. Um. Uh, two different positions and, and we’ve been really patient with those last couple of spots.

’cause, um, for one, there’s been a lot of turmoil, uh, in the industry and trying to figure out how many we have, you know, what’s coming back, uh, eligibility roster limits, all that fun stuff. Uh, and then we’ve just had a lot of good interest too. So we’re, we’re kind of waiting until the end of the summer. Uh, and get through all of our recruiting events.

Uh, we have a camp that that’s gonna be on campus [00:02:00] ourself, and then probably at the start of preseason, you know, early in our fall, um, fall semester, we’re trying to figure that class out and get ’em kind of signed, sealed, delivered that way in November. We can announce ’em. 

Matt: Okay. Um, well. You mentioned, uh, the 20 fives being a bigger class.

Yeah. But you said two freshmen, so does that mean a lot of transfers or what, what Yeah. What is the transfer portal doing to you guys these days in your recruiting? 

Coach: That’s a good question. You know, it, I, I will say like probably most people we’re, we’re logging in and looking at it every day. Um, you know, for, for us, again, we, with the 25 class, we just had a lot of, we think good fortune with the players we evaluated from, from the high school and club standpoint.

So we actually have 10 true freshmen coming in, uh, old school, like Oh, okay. Like the way college sports used to be, you know, so we’re, it’s interesting. We, we are, we’re gonna have two, two transfers on our team who’ve been here for a year now. Um, so they came in last year. But, um, we were a team that didn’t have, didn’t really rely on the transfer portal to bring players in, and we haven’t had [00:03:00] anyone go.

Out into the transfer portal for several years now. So it, it’s, it’s, you know, maybe a bit naive, right? We’re always gonna have younger players on the field or, or developing, but sometimes those, you know, quote unquote four year kids, they really buy into your process and, and your team culture and just what you’re selling a lot more.

And, and we felt that way this year. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna try it out this fall. 

Matt: Okay, well, where is it that you like to go to, to see players? Kind of what’s on your must hitt list or what are your normal tournaments or, or, or places you go to watch games? 

Coach: I mean, anywhere and everywhere. I think, you know, a school like Eastern Illinois of our size, you know, mid to smaller major, it’s a place where, you know, I, I was the assistant coach here, um, for the women and, and also for the men before that.

And so you, you learn, you have to turn over every rock in stone. You know, you have to look under every log, uh, for talent. And I think that sometimes coaches maybe do themselves a bit of a disservice by only focusing on these big Marques events. And I know, and. We have limited budget, right? So you gotta know, you know, invest your [00:04:00] dollars where it’s smart.

And those tournaments are obviously those, so we’ll, we’ll go to the ECNL and NGA events of course, and we hit the ID camp circuits and, and maybe go to some regional events as well. Um, and we have kind of our local. You know, clubs from St. Louis and Chicago and Indianapolis and Louisville that we’re pretty, uh, close to.

But again, some of those big events, you got 150 coaches looking at the same 22 players, you know, and if I go to one of those things and I’m just staring at the same players that, uh, Florida State or Tennessee is, then am I really being efficient with my time? You know, so yeah, we, it’s, it’s funny we had, um.

We’ve got players that have played at that high level and we’ve, I’ve coached players from the international level as well, but we’ve got one of our major contributors last year who got some really good postseason, uh, recognition, was a President’s Cup player, um, very small kind of club. And, and that was just her thing.

And she’s had, uh, immense success at our level. So it just goes to show that you have to look in the right places, but there’s talent everywhere if you’re willing to, uh, to give ’em a chance. Yeah. 

Matt: [00:05:00] Well, you mentioned camps. Do you guys do your own ID camps? It sounds like you guys work other camps as well.

How, how important are they in the overall recruiting process for you guys? 

Coach: Yeah, you know, we’re, we’re blessed. We, we’ve got a lot of good support here from, from the institution and so, you know, we don’t have to run 10 ID camps a year, um, for financial reasons. So I’ve actually scaled those back because, um, there’s just so much.

I think congestion in that space. There’s every school’s having camps and then there’s the satellite kind of ID camps from the different third party companies and club costs and arm and a leg. Anyway, so we only have one a year right now. Um, we do ours. Uh, we’ve got one come out July 25th and we sort of put all, all of our eggs in that basket and we, we’ve done quite well the last two years with that model and that allows us to focus on our own team a little bit more and, and also.

You mentioned some of those other camps, like I’ll go work a, a high school team camp at another university soon and, um, get some eyes on some players there and we’ll go out to, uh, you know, some of those combine type things, uh, around the country as well to, to scout. So I, I [00:06:00] think they’re really important though.

Um. You know, again, club, you might watch 15 minutes or 25 minutes of a half and then move on to the next field. And if your player got in, then great. If they didn’t, then oops. You know, so for us, uh, I’ve identified lots of players at camps. Um, sometimes it’s players you’re following up with and say, Hey, I’ve seen you.

Can you get you to camp to see you more? Um, and we’ve also seen kids just, you know, outta nowhere at those camps that really generate the interest, um, just from that opportunity by itself. 

Matt: Yeah, so whether it’s camp or game or tournament or wherever, kind of what makes up that hierarchy of things you’re looking for in a player, both on the field and off.

Coach: I mean there, there’s some soccer stuff that is probably very consistent from what other coaches look for. You know, there’s a minimum kind of threshold, athletically and technically to, to play at the college level, especially division one. And those are usually the easier things to see, you know, ’cause we, we, we get paid to watch soccer all day, every day.

So we. We generally know a few things about what we’re looking at, but you know, as, as you sort of circle a player’s name and go, okay, [00:07:00] she’s got a great first touch, she’s a finisher, she’s quick, good individual defending, uh, understands the game. Hopefully, you know, those, those things lead you to conversations.

And at after that point, you’re trying to get to know the player. Um. Maybe the family a little bit, but for us it’s just like, okay, well what kind of teammate is she? You know? And at that point we will, if we haven’t already, we’ll engage the, the high school and the club coach and say, well, what, what’s she like in your environment?

You know, how does she train, uh, what’s she like when things go her way, when things don’t go her way? You know, are the family a factor? Is it a positive or negative thing from a coach’s standpoint? So we want to hear what it’s like. Um, ’cause you know, at the club or high school environment, they might see them.

Two or three times a week, maybe more, maybe less. Um, but for us here, it’s like an everyday thing for, you know, call it four years. So I, I personally enjoy, um, enjoy going to work, and I wanna continue to enjoy going to work. And so that’s largely affected by the people around us, whether it’s staff or very importantly our, our team and our players.

So if, if you’re gonna make my life, uh. [00:08:00] More stressful than you, better be really, really good, because otherwise we don’t have a group here that’s just ready to fight for each other. Uh, enjoys training every day, enjoys the school, um, and just make, makes life fun as a soccer coach. Yeah, for sure. 

Matt: Well, we talked about, you know, the, the changes and, and there is no normal right now.

Yeah. So when you’re doing your recruiting, especially now wrapping up. 20 sixes looking at 20 sevens. Where are you at in terms of roster size and what you’re looking to do and how you’re navigating whether your school’s opting in, opting out? Is it 28? Yeah. Is it not 28? What, what’s it like for you as a coach and, and how are you navigating that?

Coach: It’s been stressful. I think, uh, there’s been a lot of wait and see, and I think at our level we’re, we’re slightly insulated against some of those changes because, you know, we’re, we’re not the school that’s trying to generate $20.5 million, uh, in two months to start paying out our athletes. It, it’s just not.[00:09:00] 

Really, um, our situation. So for us, it’s more along the lines of, okay, if, if we were to opt in as a school to the house settlement, it would give us some flexibility to bring some of that NIL stuff in house. Um, you know, those, the, we do pay out. But then really the effect that we had resistance, um, to, and I had, I had this resistance was the roster limit, which soccer would be 28.

Because you know, for me, last year I had 25 on the roster and that. Um, you know, when you get a few injuries, it can bring that some challenges to your depth. But what we really enjoyed about that was people were happier. You know, playing time goes around a little bit easier and we, we had a really good group to start with, I think, and then they maintained that culture.

So for us, we love that. And then. This year, as I mentioned, uh, earlier, we had some big classes coming in. A lot of talent that was hard to say no to. And so we were planning to up the roster to about 32 this fall, which is our goal. Um, and eventually we, we would come back down, right? So when that news dropped about, okay, here’s the house settlement and roster limits, we were like, great.

That. Where’d this come from? [00:10:00] You know? And so that was the resistance we had because I think 20 eight’s a pretty reasonable number. Um, for all the reasons I just kind of spelled out. But I like having the choices as a coach to make myself, you know, we wanna manage our rosters the way that we see fit.

’cause not every team has the same needs. Or, you know, if you’re, if you’re a new coach rebuilding a program, um, you might wanna bring in as many of your own players as quickly as you can, but you might. Be told from administration, well, you can’t cut anybody. So that gi that gives you a problem. Right? So sometimes that’s when you see those rosters balloon a little bit, and that might be a decent reason.

But, um, anyway, I think for, for us, um, with the most latest developments, we, we might be leaning towards opting in, but now we’re allowed to, to potentially grandfather some players and, and call designated student athletes. That would not count against our 28. So we’re, we’re figuring that part out right now and seeing what that means for us.

Matt: Yeah. Well that’s gonna be an interesting, uh, well. And interesting couple weeks before the July one deadline and yeah. Yeah. Uh, ask me again 

Coach: next [00:11:00] week. I, I have a whole different answer for you. 

Matt: That’s a good point. Um, well let, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. You’ve got a unique perspective as, as an alum.

You’re on the men’s side, women’s side, so you must enjoy Eastern Illinois. So talk to us about what makes it special. What are the some, what are some of the things you like about it, and maybe some things we wouldn’t even know about going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah, you know, I, I grew up here and so I have that kind of background that’s maybe not as common to here anymore, but grew up here, um, through high school, up through college and, and now into where I am now.

So, yeah, I’ve been around for a long time and I’ve seen, I’ve seen the campus and the university change and, and, and also stayed the same, you know, and I think for me, the biggest thing is, is. Who you surround yourself with. So important. I mentioned that with like the day-to-day work environment as a coach and, and at EIU there’s just a lot of really good people.

And that might be a cliche you hear a lot, but you, you picture a somewhat smaller college town, you know, and a university of like 8,000. Um, the Charleston’s about 20,000 by itself. And we have a sister [00:12:00] city Mattoon that’s about the same size, so that kind of makes up the, the area, but it’s a division one school, uh, tightly packed in the middle of town, surrounded by.

A somewhat rural college town, so it’s not for everybody. And I think that, you know, what I’ve really liked, um, and maybe this is what helps sometimes with recruiting, is that I really know the place that I work at, you know, and I think if, if you’re a player that comes here looking for, you know, if you need an urban environment, if you need a, a Starbucks on every corner, you know, and some of those distractions, that can be really cool.

Um, like living in a big city like Chicago. But if you need those things we’re not it. We’re far from that. And I think it’s just important for recruits. You know, I, I tell them this all the time, to make your checklist and have your non-negotiables, your red flags, your green flags. And I think that for us, you know, if you’re someone that’s looking to get a good education, to not be completely and utterly distracted by all the, some of the things in college, um, but it has all the facilities and abilities to, to really develop as a soccer player and play [00:13:00] some really good high level competition here in the Midwest, it’s like.

We, we can meet all those needs. So I enjoy that. Um, I enjoy that I can walk to work and our, we have a great, uh, great facility that’s, you know, right next to where the, the freshmen all live. And so there, there’s some benefits to that sort of smaller campus where you don’t need public transportation and you’re not going more than 10 minutes to get to a class.

So I like that. I like the, the pace in Charleston. Um. I probably should lock my doors, but I know I, if I chose not to, I’d nine times outta 10, I’d probably get away with it. So for us, uh, we’re getting a lot more questions from parents these days about safety. Uh, and because of our demographics and our size, we happen to be, I think, the second safest campus on in America according to like US News or something.

So we sell that obviously, you know, we, we sell the, the personable experience about Eastern and that for me is what’s always stuck with 

Matt: Yeah, that sounds great. Well, one of the challenges for players. Coming outta high school, especially going D one, really balancing the demands of a [00:14:00] D one program versus the demands of being a student, right?

Yeah. So what, how do your student athletes really balance the two, and what kind of support systems does a school offer to make sure they’re successful on both sides of that coins? 

Coach: Yeah, it, you know, there’s a lot of personal responsibility that gets thrown on them, um, sometimes all of a sudden, depending on what, where they come from.

Um, as a, as an academic before, before college. But, you know, for us, we we’re, we’re blessed that we have a lot of really good students in our team. Um, I think team GPA is always in the 3.6, 3.7 kind of range, which is awesome. I, I, I take zero credit for that as a coach, other than bringing some, some pretty smart kids in.

But, you know, we also have like. 15 or 16 different majors on the team. So we’re dealing with everything from, you know, the really challenging majors like nursing and pre-med, and even education, um, to, to your business, you know, and your sports admin stuff. So it can be tough. We, we do have a, an interesting time with class schedules because of the, the variety there.

But you know, as coaches we do what we can to make sure we work around, uh, [00:15:00] them. So we don’t have anyone that’s always missing practice. Like we want our whole team there. Um. So we, we have some things like that as coaches, we try to support them. Um, we have a really good academic, um, academic center here on campus that’s just for athletes.

So all of our girls would get their general student, uh, advisor, you know, when they start as a freshman, and that becomes their major advisor eventually. And you also have someone who’s dedicated just to women’s soccer from athletics that can look at that schedule that your advisor made and say, well, do you really need 18 credits in your fall competition season?

Or can we get that down to 12? And you can take this one in this semester. This professor, um, loves athletes, whatever, you know, just some of that experience that we get. So we, we’ve got, I think for us, um, that’s probably one of those equalizers, you know, we, we find a way to make up some of that ground on the power for schools.

I think that our support is really, really robust. And again, the, the number of kids we have versus the, the number of people working for you, you, it makes you feel like you’re not just [00:16:00] a statistic. Eastern. So there’s a lot of personal care and professors are, are great too. And you know, we can, I can chat about our team, but we have a lot of support structures within the team as well to look after the young ones.

Matt: No, that’s great. Well, you mentioned kind of managing the schedule, so a. Take me back to October harder, that OVC schedule. Walk me through what does a typical week look like for a player in terms of winter classes, games, uh, practices, meals, the whole bit. 

Coach: Yeah. This is a common one for Chris. Ask a lot. So in season, you know, last fall we trained in the, in the mornings really early.

She had a lot of eight ams. Um, we had some night classes, so we went like the 6:00 AM practice, and that was a blast. I’m sure the girls loved it, but we got through it. So, you know, we, we typically play Thursday, Sundays in the OVC if it’s a double, um, if it’s two games on the weekend. So Mondays are typically our day off, uh, from everything.

Um, I. You have your classes, but you can just focus on class and getting some rest. Tuesday, uh, if we were [00:17:00] training in the morning, that’d be the first thing back. And even then after a full weekend, you have some girls that might have played 90, 180 minutes, uh, and some that maybe played, uh, a little to none.

And so by Tuesday, especially as that accumulates over the course of a season, some of those girls still need more recovery. So our, our sessions might be designed a bit differently for. This group versus this group, versus this group. Just making sure we don’t overload them physically. Uh, we have a lot of ways to monitor that stuff, but we would be training then, uh, in the morning and yeah, in the afternoons, uh, or the rest of your morning.

You’re, it’s, it’s your time to go to class. It’s your time to hit study hall, which are, all of our newcomers have required study hall hours. They knock that out. Um, Tuesday’s a lifting day. We still lift twice a week. Um, so you hit that and there’s probably some film, um, or some kind of meeting. So for us, just to touch on, on that, something I think might be a little bit unique is that we started this kind of organically last fall and it, it worked out really well where we would meet with the girls before a match weekend and then after a match weekend and say, Hey, what [00:18:00] are some.

What are some words, what are some feelings? Um, some, essentially some goals that you guys wanna hit that have nothing to do, or not directly tied to the, the end result in the score. You know? ’cause sometimes after a game, oh, we lost one N the, the sky is falling. Well, we won three nothing. And oh, we’re, we’re the best team in the world.

But like, within that is, is data, right? And there’s, there’s context. So for us it was like, okay, the girls might choose something like trust, that that was a big word that kept coming back around. We want to evaluate ourselves based upon trust and hard work or, or aggression. You know, those were words that they would choose and we would come back after the weekend and go, okay, well one to 10, uh, how is that?

Or maybe this. A group of five or six talks about this one. And, you know, it’s, it’s a way for us to get the girls together. Um, not super confrontational, but still, you know, putting a mirror in front of us and, and looking. So it’s kinda like team bonding a little bit, but you’re cheating ’cause you’re, you’re evaluating your, your game.

Um, as, as they went, you know, they learned some words are very result based. Um, and [00:19:00] maybe that’s not such a good word. So they learn to reflect and be a bit more, um, critically, I dunno, do more critical thinking as it relates to their performance so that, that’s a Tuesday thing as well. It took too long in that day, but essentially we’re, we’re training, uh, Wednesday and maybe traveling.

Uh, and then Thursday we’re either playing, so we’re on the road or home, and then traveling, uh, back after, uh, or we’re training if it’s a, not a Thursday game. Friday’s another one of those where you’ve got like a post day. Or post game day training session that might require different things. Physically.

We also have a lift, um, and again, lifting in the fall is very recovery, maintenance base, making them feel good. Um, and then Saturday there’s a, a session to go to for Sunday. And you know, after that initial meeting, we’re probably throwing film in either. Collectively, or on an individual small group basis to look at how the last game went, and then to look ahead at the, the scout for the next opponent.

So yeah, fit in a social life, fit in team bonding, fit in all the other things, and, uh, the kids get pretty busy at this level. 

Matt: Yeah, [00:20:00] for sure. All right, well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team. Obviously we talked about roster size, but talk to me about the rest of your roster staff. Who, what staff do you have?

What role does everybody play? Maybe what support staff are there that we haven’t mentioned? 

Coach: Yeah, yeah, myself, uh, my assistant coach Deanna Hack is, is she’s real big. Um, she does do the, the goalkeepers and, and I like to throw in with goalkeepers as well sometimes, but she’s been great with them. We’ve got, I think, one of the strongest keeper cores, uh, at least in the conference for sure.

And she helps maintain that and, and add to it. Um, but Dee is kind of. Team culture aficionado. She’s really, really good at, uh, I think the mental performance part of, of athletics, that’s something she specialized in with, with her degrees. And it’s something that I’ve, you know, I’ll read up on, but I think it’s.

And we talk about mental health a lot now, and I’m glad, uh, that’s, that’s getting more attention, but mental health and, and how it relates to performance. Um, you know, the needs of a student athlete versus a regular student, that, that’s stuff that she’s great at. But we’re also using some of, uh, some of our [00:21:00] other resources on campus to really make that a focus, uh, point for our team.

So, um, but that’s, we’ve, we’ve got, uh, a full-time strength coach that, uh, works with us as well as two other sports. We have a full-time athletic trainer that, um, just divides your time with us and, uh. And I think women’s basketball. And then we have our support staff. Um, I mentioned we have Jen King, who’s our academic, uh, advisor.

She’s actually the head of that department, but she works with us in women’s soccer. We have a nutritionist on staff. Uh, we we’re working with a professor who is, um, specializes in sports performance and that mental health coaching. So. We, we kind of have an extended staff that, you know, around here, everyone’s doing more than one thing.

Um, but we have all those same type of resources that a lot of the big schools do. And so for us, we just tell our girls, like, man, all you have to do around here is ask if you have the courage to ask for help or to, to not be shy. You can develop in so many ways. Um. And so we’re, we’re always bouncing ideas off each other and, you know, our strength coach is looking at our [00:22:00] GPS data.

Uh, he has access to that to make sure, okay, well I’m not just gonna have an isolated lift that’s built for maybe a, a, a men’s football team for women’s soccer team that just played 180 minutes. You know, so we had a lot of really good, um, feedback in, in that loop between staff members. Oh, sounds like it.

Matt: Well. In terms of you as head coach, kind of talk to me about your, your coaching style, uh, maybe the style of play that, that you guys look to play there. 

Coach: Yeah. You know, again, no one. Where I am, where I’m coming from, I think yeah, use a place that has a lot of potential that, you know, as I’ve described, we’re this kind of smaller, under the radar division one school, and I think there’s a lot of blue collar mentality, right?

Like I mentioned, staff have to do two or three things. And, um, we, we all kind of have a really good collective identity, like we want this place to succeed. So we look for players that have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. Um, you know, oftentimes we’re getting kids that weren’t the, you know, the, the center of attention on ECL All-Star game.

They’re the [00:23:00] ones that might’ve been the glue players or, or been playing at a lower level, but really killing it. You know? So I, I think that there’s a lot of girls we get that might not find, yeah, you might not be the first school they’ve ever thought about going to, but they get here for the right reasons and then they take pride.

Surprising people. So it kinda leads into my style as well, just ’cause I, I think that we, we like to see ourselves as the underdogs. You know, we, we’ve got a, um, a team here and a program that hasn’t seen massive amounts of success in a while. So that’s something I’m trying to turn around. Um, we’re looking for our first OVC championship.

In 20 odd years, you know, and so that takes time. I think you have the weight of history against you there a little bit. But with our team, you know, the first thing we, we focused on was, let’s make sure we get a group of girls in here that really want to be here, that respect each other, that are good teammates that’ll fight, you know, fight and play for each other, not just with each other.

So that was year one, year two, and obviously this is my third year now, so we’re, we’re getting more and more into that process and I couldn’t be happier about the team culture. And so that part of it. We’re, we’re [00:24:00] on solid ground there. You’re never done. Um, but you always wanna make sure that’s a focus of it.

So soccer wise, it’s, it’s okay, let’s bring in as much talent as we had as we can, and let’s really, really focus on developing the talent we have here. So I always tell our girls it’s like, we’re gonna try to bring in this, this class, and then the next class is gonna be there. So it’s the job of the old class to kind of develop on this curve to meet them, and then that way we’re always improving.

So for me that that constant, uh, state of improvement, state of development where, you know, we, we don’t wanna put too much pressure and anxiety on the girls ’cause they have enough of it. But we have to remind ’em, Hey, you’re here to compete. You’re here to get better. You can’t just be the same player in year four that you were in year one.

But if you fail, we’re here for you. We love you still, you know, and we’re gonna not just abandon you, um, because we, we believe in helping you get there. You just gotta show us that. So yeah, we kind of manage our team that way. And then style of play, I think it, it evolves, you know, now that in, in year three, we worked a lot on our possession this past spring and.

We had a younger team the last two years that was really quick on the [00:25:00] counter and it was hard to stop ’em, but we didn’t always do a great job with the ball. And so now adding more and more technical players in getting our younger girls that were a bit raw into more leadership positions, more mature with their game, we focused a lot on, on the way we moved the ball, the way we controlled it.

And um, that’s kind of the nicer parts of it. But from day one, the last thing I’ll say is our team always knows you’ve got to work to defend like. Our four is the, the first defender. Our goalkeeper is the the first attacker, right? So for us, they’re, you’re not gonna see our fours just kind of, you know, taking a snooze while the rest of the team defends.

They’re gonna get organized, they’re gonna work hard. And you know, as talented as you are, it’s hard to get in the field if you’re not willing to, to chip into that team identity and, and defend the way we want you to. And that’s usually one of the biggest transitions for. Especially for attacking players coming from the youth game is that they may not have been given a scouts or a defensive identity or been taught even how to defend individually without diving in.

That’s such a massive thing. So we, we put a lot of emphasis on that to organize and make sure we’re competitive and [00:26:00] then we can get that done. Then we get the, the opportunity to have the ball to our feet. 

Matt: Yeah. No, I love that. Well, hey, I really appreciate all the time you’ve given, and I’m just gonna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had any advice for anybody going through the college recruiting process right now, what would that be?

Coach: Just don’t give up. Don’t give up on yourself. You know, if you, if you’re doing this stuff, um, you’re doing it for a reason, you’re probably a very high achieving person, or, and you have goals for yourself, and college soccer is a reachable goal. Um, it’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard, but there’s more opportunity now, especially for young women than have there’s ever been before at every level.

Um. So don’t give up on yourself. I think it can be long and arduous. You know, I, I’ve got stories of recruits that didn’t work out, and then you come back a, a year later, or even through the transfer portal and then it does work out for the right reasons. You know, so anything you just have to know. Or figure out what it is you want, you know, what kind of school you want, what size, you know, and then the harder part, which you might need some help with [00:27:00] this from your club coaches, but look in the mirror and be honest and say, well, what level can you see me playing at?

Um, and then you just have to get focused and a little bit of humility and realism, along with some self-belief can take you a pretty long way in this, in this game. So I, I think you, you just don’t lose hope and you keep grinding. 

Matt: For sure. Well, coach, really appreciate it. Uh, wish you the best of luck.

Hopefully, you, we, we will talk the next time and you’ll be hanging that OVC banner. All right? 

Coach: That’s the goal. Thanks a lot, Matt. 

Matt: All right. Thank you.