Due to the coronavirus outbreak during the fall, the women’s soccer team wasn’t able to have a season. They are now going to have a spring soccer season but it won’t be to compete for the Greater Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championships. Head coach Michael Farrand still wants his team to compete and get better after this season is completed. 

“Ultimately we still want to win, so we don’t want to give any away. But overall, this season for us is about player development. Those both go hand and hand,” Farrand said. 

Farrand said building up to finally getting to play this year, CWU’s administration has done an amazing job making sure the players and coaches on staff are first safe and then capable to play. 

“We just want to get a chance to get into a game and have a positive impact and get a win in a game,” Farrand said. 

Junior Sydney Lowe said it feels really good to be back around her teammates and actually get to practice together. She said they haven’t had any contact with a ball until this spring. 

“It’s really exciting and we’re all really motivated to finally play and we’re ready for the first game,” Lowe said. 

Without practice and being able to be around each other as a whole unit, Lowe said they met together on Zoom and would just listen to one another in order to build team chemistry. 

Senior Emily Thomson said the long wait has built up a lot of excitement for the game on April 10. She also mentioned it has given them a lot of time to prepare. 

“I think we’ve really evolved since adding in all the freshmen to our team and all the other people as well,” Thomson said. 

Lowe echoed the same belief on the new additions to the team.

“As time grew on, we were able to scrimmage and that’s where we found out how to work with one another and that’s how we grew chemistry on the field,” Lowe said. 

Thomson said the team had a lot of Zoom calls and they would text or call each other frequently just to stay in touch as soon as COVID-19 related guidelines caused restrictions and self-isolation. 

“It was really important for us to make the freshmen feel welcomed and make them feel at home,” Thomson said. 

The CWU women’s soccer team will be playing a six game season this spring. Fans will not be allowed in attendance, but it will be streamed live.