The Lady Buffs, who are of course the reigning Lone Star Conference regular season and tournament champions, are ready to take the field and defend their title. The Lady Buffs had a fantastic season in 2012, with an astounding 13 wins and their ninth appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The team finished off the season in first position after becoming champions in 2012, and will begin the 2013 campaign ranked at the top as well.
The Lady Buffs are favorites to win the title again this year, after a great record of 13-7-1 in 2012. This is not to say that the squad will have an easy season. In fact, this season has one of the most challenging non-conference set of matches in school history. In fact, some of the best teams in the area will be coming to Canyon to compete in the Lady Buff Women’s Soccer Tournament this week, including ranked teams like Colorado Mines, who are ranked ninth, and Metro State, who are ranked tenth. However, this is a great way for the Lady Buffs to evaluate their competition early in the campaign, as well as get some early experience against some talented teams.
The Lady Buffs squad is quite a bit different than it has been in the past years, with quite a few new faces. Most of the strength in the squad will be found at the back, where a great amount of experience can be found. Senior Berklee Watson, who has played three seasons for WT, has started every game in her career. She will be a leader and voice for the Lady Buffs back line. The other returning senior for Coach Chad Webb is goalkeeper Yvette Bedoy. Bedoy has had a great career in goal for the Lady Buffs, and enjoyed her best season to date in 2012.
There are four juniors returning to the squad this year, Rhea Belgrave, Rachel Roth, Jessie Thomas and Jasmine Shultz. Belgrave started 11 matches last year and was a LSC Honorable Mention. Roth had a great 2012 campaign, starting all but one of the matches for the Lady Buffs, and scoring the game winning goal against Abilene Christian. Thomas and Shultz were also vital to the success of the program, combining for eight goals on the season.
A good group of second year players will also be of great importance to the squad this year. Among these are Haley Girard and Kassandra Thetford. Both of these young ladies had outstanding freshman seasons in 2012 and can be expected to have equally good or better seasons in 2013.
With so many players graduating last year, the Lady Buffs have a large group of newcomers this year. Coach Webb has 12 freshman layers and two sophomore transfers to work with over the course of the season. It is impossible to tell who will have the greatest impact on the team early on, but all of the players will be key to the success of the squad this year.
Even with the pressure of being ranked number one in preseason, the Lady Buffs expect to have a successful and entertaining season this year. The Lady Buffs open the season against Metro State at 6 p.m. Thursday, the opening day of the Lady Buff Women’s Soccer Tournament.
