Women's Soccer

WARRIORS TOP SOUTHEASTERN IN EXHIBITION

WARRIORS TOP SOUTHEASTERN IN EXHIBITION
Posted: Aug 08, 2021

Burlington, IA – The Indian Hills Community College Women's Soccer team picked up an exhibition win over Southeastern on Saturday to open up the squad's preseason schedule. The Warriors topped the Blackhawks 4-0.

Coming off of the team's first-ever National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Tournament appearance, Saturday's match was the first contest of the preseason for head coach Anthony Longo's program. Taking on the Blackhawks in Burlington, the Warriors were led by a pair of top returners as well as the play from a top incoming freshman.

"It was a good start for the first preseason game," stated Longo. "We had a great week of practice to prepare, and the ladies came out and performed. The biggest message was to focus on the small things we have worked on all week. As coaches, we didn't expect perfection right away. We wanted to see a full 90 minute effort and to see some of the things we have worked on. We have a lot of new players in the lineup, so it was great to see them get their first experience at this level."

Sophomore Bailey Wiemann (Burlington, IA/Burlington), the team's top scorer in the Spring 2021 season opened up the scoring with an assist from freshman Elisabeth Plouy (Twin Falls, ID/Twin Falls). Indian Hills went to another top returner for its second goal as Risa Ogasawara (Yokohama, Japan / Hinomoto) scored on a free kick.

Wiemann and Ogasawara combined for 18 goals and 52 points as freshman for the Warriors who went 11-3-2 on the year and earned a trip to the national tournament in Evans, GA.

The Warriors also received a spark from freshman Seira Uko (Toba City, Japan / Jumonji) who netted the team's final two scores of the match. Ukuo's first tally came via a corner kick while the freshman's second score was assisted by Ogasawara.

Longo noted the presence of a deep roster for the Warriors. "The biggest takeaway was how many players we have that are capable of performing at this level. We have a deep talent pool this year. Offensively, we are as deep and talented as we have ever been. This game showed we have a lot of options to throw at teams. We always want to rely on our sophomores to take charge and lead the way. Bailey and Risa really stepped up and got the first two goals of the game and we never really looked back. Offensively, both of them will be relied on to carry the team and they showed they were ready to handle it.

Defensively we looked great overall. Having three sophomores start on the backline is huge for us. They knew what was expected and how to perform, and they did their jobs well. We had multiple freshmen step up and play a lot of minutes, and were able to keep the level high."

The two cross-division Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) opponents will meet again in Burlington on Sept. 1.

Next up for Indian Hills will be an exhibition match against National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) member Iowa Wesleyan on August 14 at 3:00 PM.

"Looking forward to another good week of practice and cleaning some things up. It's a long process to get to our peak level, but this first week gave us a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this group."