Women's Soccer Closes First Week Of Practice

STATESBORO - The Georgia Southern women's soccer team wrapped up its first week of practice by holding its Blue-White scrimmage on Sunday at Eagle Field, capping a vigorous few days of training in Head Coach Chris Adams' first Fall sessions with the Eagles.

Coach Adams was encouraged with the quick way that the team has found chemistry in such a short period of time, and credits that to the amount of work that Eagle student-athletes were putting in over the summer.

"You worry about what they're doing when you don't have them," Coach Adams said. "That's the biggest thing. But starting with Summer Term B, as many as 24 of them were here on campus. That attitude, and the sacrifices they're willing to make in order to be great, it takes that extra effort. They're very prepared for the preseason, and now we can work on the soccer aspect. We certainly don't feel like we've only been together for a week. We only had one bad day, the second day we were a little lethargic, just going through the motions. But we had a candid conversation of that not being acceptable, that our standard here was going to be greater than that. Since that point, they've been equal to the challenge. We had three great days of training leading up to the scrimmage."

On Sunday morning, the team split into Blue and White sides for a 60-minute scrimmage. Two first-half goals from junior Alejandra Gracia sparked the White side to a 2-0 result. "It was nice to see the ball go into the back of the net," Coach Adams said. "I know that's been the challenge for us in the past."

Coach Adams has been encouraged with the team's work defensively in the first week of training, along with his team's depth. "We only had one shutout last year," Coach Adams said. "If we pride ourselves in defending and pitch shutouts, the worst-case scenario is that we tie. I think we've got enough grit and weapons that we'll find a way to dig and claw and find a goal. The strength thus far has been defending, and our depth in the midfield. We have so many people that can do the job in there, and over the course of a season it becomes very beneficial, sharing the workload and keeping players fresh down the stretch."

This week sees the team travel to Greer, S.C., for its only exhibition match of the preseason - facing UNC Asheville at the Mesa Soccer Complex on Saturday at 6 p.m. Classes also start at Georgia Southern on Wednesday.

"We've still got a lot of work to do," Coach Adams said. "I'm happy that school is starting because we can now get into our routine of training 3 to 5 every day. We can give maximum effort for two hours and not have to pace ourselves the way we had to for these two-a-days. I anticipate another level of energy, another level of competitiveness.

"Saturday, we'll treat it more like a regular game," Coach Adams said. "With only one exhibition, we'll take a travel roster to emulate conference play and see what a game looks like with our best 22. Honestly, there will be some tough decisions to be made, and there will be some very good players who will get left back on this occasion. We're so deep in so many places, it will be different people getting left from time to time. But that's a great thing, it brings out the best of competitors when you have to compete for your position on a day-to-day basis."

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Alejandra Gracia

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