Nine women sat at the long table watching nervously as cameramen set up equipment and people filed into the conference room at Arizona Western College on April 10. Directly in front of them, nine letters of intent awaited signatures marking the inaugural recruiting class of Lady Matador soccer.
The first sport added by AWC since 1999, women's soccer already has terrific support from the local fan base. When it was announced that the team would start playing in the fall of 2013, more than 100 people attended an organizational meeting held by Head Coach, Kenny Dale.
Groundbreaking women
Dale, already the well-respected coach of the highly successful men's team, began holding open tryouts and was impressed at the level of talent waiting to be tapped into in the Yuma area.
"There are a lot of great young female players in Yuma," said Dale. "For the last several years I've been sending them to other places around the conference, to other women's programs, but now we'll be able to keep a lot of them home."
When it comes to expectations for these groundbreaking women, Coach Dale only desires to see his players further develop their skills, not only in soccer, but also in the classroom.
"If you can move players on to the next level and further their academic and athletic careers, then that's really what motivates me," said Dale. "I want them to change their understanding of the game and their mental approach to the game, and just become better players."
A local roster
Eight of the nine players of the initial class are from Yuma County, so local fans can expect to have a familiarity of the team right out of the gate. In fact, Carolyn Sosa, currently a sophomore from San Luis High School, has played big minutes for the region champion Lady Mats volleyball team.
Sosita, as her volleyball teammates call her, was an outstanding goalkeeper for San Luis High and led the team to its first-ever trip to the Arizona State Soccer Tournament in 2010.
"I'm really excited because I didn't actually think I would be able to play soccer anymore because of volleyball, so it was really, really awesome when Kenny said there would be a team," said Sosa.
Sarai Evans, a midfielder out of Serrano High School in Phelan, California, is the only member of the "inaugural nine" to come from outside the county. Evans graduated from high school in 2009 and was an honors student at Chaffey College in California before her brother, Jordan Evans, a freshman forward on the men's team, told her about the burgeoning women's program.
"He told me about this opportunity, so I decided I might as well try out," Evans said. "I'm a little out of shape, but I decided to just enjoy the process and let the chips fall where they may."
With plenty of time before August for Evans and her teammates to get their conditioning where they want it, the focus still remains on filling out the roster. Coach Dale has said that there will be additional organizational meetings and tryouts in the near future that will help the coach and his staff fill the remaining roster spots.
The people's choice
This is the first time since the college added women's basketball in 1999 that AWC has added a sport. The move ends a five-year quest by the college to offer women's soccer for the many talented student-athletes moving up through the high school ranks in Yuma County and the surrounding region.
The idea was first hatched in 2007, when AWC Athletic Director Jerry Smith polled students at every high school in Yuma and La Paz Counties as to what sports they would like to see added by the college, and women's soccer was overwhelmingly the top choice.
"This is a great step forward for the college, Matador Athletics, and young female soccer student-athletes throughout our region that have waited for this chance to stay home to get a college education while still playing the sport they love," said Smith.
So strap on your seatbelts, soccer fans, and get your vuvuzelas ready. This promises to be an exciting time for these pioneering women and for AWC athletics.
Photos by Zachary Zdon
