Division I women’s soccer was introduced to the Valley in 2014; four years later, Head Coach Glad Bugariu has built UTRGV into a winning program and conference contender.
With the Western Athletic Conference season officially over and the WAC tourney days away, Bugariu is proud of the performances his team has produced on the pitch, as they entered last Saturday’s match against New Mexico State with a 3-2-1 conference record and a chance to finish in the top three in the WAC.
UTRGV recorded its biggest WAC win in program history with a dominating 6-0 performance over Chicago State University on Oct. 22 at the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
“I think they’ve had good performances almost every single game we’ve played, win or lose,” Bugariu said. “It was nice to be able to score more goals, but at the same time, we’re happy with the win and that’s all we were focused on. I think we’ve played very well. Now we want to win that final game.”
In the 6-0 win, sophomore forward Sarah Bonney recorded the game’s first two goals and her first at home in conference play, a feeling she enjoyed, but was more excited about the offensive production and picking up another WAC victory.
“I’m very happy I could start something big for my team,” Bonney said. “I always want to contribute my color, and, like our coach always tells us, ‘Concentrate more on what you can do, and then if everybody concentrates on what they can do, then we get a lot of output.’ If I can’t make it and someone makes it, what I think about is the betterment of the team. I don’t really think about myself getting points, I just want us to win. If anybody scores, I’m happy.”
UTRGV has finished conference play in seventh place three straight years and was picked to finish sixth in the WAC Coaches Poll conducted at the beginning of this season. Junior defender Malia Irvine said she viewed the poll as a challenge to the team that has proved doubters wrong.
“To me, it’s important, but the fact that they put us sixth makes me want to prove to them that we’re going to come out and get a better result than what they think because, personally, I think we can,” Irvine said.
The women’s soccer team has gone 2-2-1 against the teams chosen to finish in front of UTRGV, thus far, and Bugariu knows how tightly contested WAC games can be. He said when it comes to tournament time, anything can happen.
“If you look at all the scores from this year and last year, the WAC is very close,” Bugariu said. “One or two goals, 2-1, 1-0, so anything can happen in tournament play, that’s the subject, anything can happen and we hope to be able to go in there and make a good showing.”
The quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament are scheduled to start at 6 and 9 p.m. Wednesday in Phoenix, Ariz., with the two semifinal matches being played at the same times Friday and a champion to be crowned at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Graduate student and forward Andreya Barrera, UTRGV’s leader in goals scored with seven, said the team will come out on the attack in the WAC Tournament because they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“We’ve played different formations, different styles of play, and I think we’re just going to go into the conference tournament attacking and we have nothing to lose,” Barrera said. “I’m glad that people got in and they scored. They had opportunities and they put them in. That’s what we’ve needed and I hope it carries into conference play.”
To keep up with the latest WAC Tournament action, follow the team on Twitter @UTRGVWSoccer.
