By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Opening up the 2024 collegiate women’s soccer season with a scrimmage against a legion of pirates, or “Buccaneers,” in this case from East Tennessee State, the Appalachian State women’s soccer team got a chance to implement a new formation while introducing a host of new faces on Aug. 5 at the Ted Mackeroll Soccer Complex.
ETSU’s backline defenders and defensive midfielders showed off a lot of one- and two-touch passing skills in mounting counterattacks, but the offensive efforts seemed to bog down once the Bucs crossed into the Mountaineers’ half of the field. At least some of the credit has to be given to App State’s defensive unit, led by senior Skylar Walk, freshman Sydney Snowden, Momu Guisasola, and goalkeeper Sarah Wommack, as well as the many substitutions shuttled in and out of the lineup.
“Our goals with this scrimmage were to try out some new systems and to play a lot of players,” said App State head coach Aimee Haywood after the final whistle had blown in the format comprised of three, 30-minute periods, “to see what we have. You can play in practice all you want but it is a little bit different when you are playing another team in a live match. We tried a few different systems and played everybody that was eligible to play, so I think we got out of it what we wanted, which is a lot of information. We are still in that preseason period where we are trying to build our team identity.”
Wommack, a redshirt freshman from Kernersville, N.C., played high school ball with Northwest Guilford and seemed satisfied with how the team on the field in front of her handled a new alignment, a 3-4-3.
“It makes more players available to attack,” she explained.
Although well-skilled ETSU defenders preserved a clean sheet for the visitors, App State’s offense manufactured more opportunities. Bucs goalkeeper Ashton Blair played all but 15 minutes of the 90 minutes of action, recording seven saves. Her replacement, Finley Dybik, turned away one Mountaineer shot. In total, the Mountaineers took 18 shots on goal. Meanwhile, the ETSU offense manufactured only five opportunities against App State’s stout defense.
“I thought it went very well today,” said graduate student forward Izzi Wood, returning from a 2023 season in which she became the first Mountaineer soccer player to earn all-Sun Belt honors since 2018, leading the conference in shots (79) and shots on target (34). “We have a lot of freshmen players who got a lot of minutes tonight. We were able to practice different formations and different systems, so overall I am very excited to see how far we can go this season.”
Incorporating a lot of new faces in freshmen and transfers is always a challenge to any program in any sport, but Wood explained how the team’s leaders took charge.
“Most of us got here in July, including the freshmen,” said Wood. “So we were able to train and workout together without the coaches. That helped us get to know them and gave us a chance to build some team chemistry. So when we were finally able to work with the coaches, it was not a cold start. I am very impressed with our freshmen. They made us better and were very impactful in the game tonight.
“I thought that ETSU’s backline and midfielders were the strongest part of their team tonight, but it comes down to our need to be a step faster. That will come as we play together more and gain confidence,” added Wood.
“Collectively, we all maintained our backside shape pretty well,” said Mountaineer defender Skylar Walk, who as a senior is one of the team’s elder statesmen, at least among the defenders. “Our sixes, or defensive midfielders, played down very well so made it easier or more predictable for us to come in and make tackles or win possession.”
Haywood seemed generally please with her team’s ability to counterattack after winning possession in the defensive half of the field.
“I thought we did a good job in counterattacking tonight, especially in the first half. In the second and third periods I think we could have done a better job of connecting a couple more passes before trying to go to goal,” said App State’s head coach, now in her third season at the helm.
In 2023, Haywood led the team to third place in the Sun Belt Conference, the best finish in program history. The Mountaineers finished the season with a program record eight shutouts, four of them consecutively, also tying a program record. The Mountaineers finished with an RPI of 75, their best since 2015 and No. 3 in North Carolina behind UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke.
App State travels to Rock Hill, S.C. on Aug. 9 to face Winthrop University in another exhibition match before opening the regular season at North Carolina State University in Raleigh on Aug. 15.
