There are a few different options for women when it comes to playing soccer at CWU. You can try out for the CWU Women’s Soccer Team, sign up for an intramural soccer squad, or you can play for the women’s club soccer team.

According to assistant coach Wade Flores of the CWU Women’s Club, the women’s club team plays teams from all over the northwest region. This includes Oregon State, Eastern Washington, and Washington State.

“You can decipher the different playing styles between schools,” Flores said. “Eastern Washington tends to play with a lot more physicality, while Washington State plays softer and more strategically.”

Karley Bentler, a freshman on the team, said that some of the clubs they face play the red shirt freshman of the school’s official women’s soccer team. This can create competitive imbalances, as the those soccer players have a higher skill level.

When asked why she decided to join the team, Bentler emphasized the time commitment was big a reason.

“I was looking into the varsity team, but I figured it was too much of a commitment,” Bentler said. “I found out about this from a friend, and when I came to the first practice I fell in love.”

Even though club soccer provides a lighter workload than varsity soccer at CWU, it still requires a commitment to practice  five to six days a week.

Outdoor practices are held Monday, Wednesday, Friday, while Indoor weight training is Tuesday and Thursday. Weekend games against schools are sometimes 300 miles away.

Structures of the roster and game length are about the same as official GNAC soccer rules, but according to co-captain Claudia Brasino, sometimes changes are needed.

“Not every school that we play can field a full roster, so we’ll play 35 minute halves instead of the full 45 minute halves,” Brasino said. “Our starting lineups can vary week to week depending on who’s had the best practices.”

This in comparison to the varsity women’s team, who Brasino says has a more consistently the same starting lineup throughout the season.

Coach Flores helps run the team for many reasons, but ultimately he wants to spread the game of soccer to as many people as possible and continue to grow the game.

“There are many benefits for coming out for a club sport,” Flores said. “It gives students an outlet to play, meet new people, and really get involved in the CWU community.”

According to Flores, the team typically does tryouts at the beginning of Fall. They are expecting to host tryouts again once Fall 2018 rolls around.

Due to smaller numbers on the roster as of right now, the women’s club soccer team is looking for new participants.

They recently lost a host of seniors due to upcoming graduation, and Flores is hoping to jump start the next generation of CWU Women’s Club Soccer.

This doesn’t mean though that Bentler doesn’t want to see this team competitive right now.

“We take this very serious, but with all the freshman on the team this year, we’re acceptive of not doing well right now,” Bentler said. “We’re trying to figure out our chemistry. so we can continue to climb the rankings.”

CWU Womens Club Soccer is 0-2 to start the season, with early losses to Washington State and Eastern Washington. Typically the team will play seven games during fall quarter, and another seven games during spring quarter.