“We are a wrecking Crew. We are gonna wreck everybody,” said women’s soccer coach Jason Spain when asked about his team this year. And from looks of it so far, few could disagree with him.
Leaving for a year to coach at Lassen College after coaching the Women’s program at Yuba for several years, his return has marked a turning point for the team. Last year their record was 4-14-2 while he was gone. It was 14-8-1 in 2004 before he left.
Laura Barcena, a returning sophomore from last year said, ”Last year’s mentality was to not come out with a loss (and) just try to tie. This year we want to make it to the Final Four.”
To begin the season they had a scrimmage with Humboldt State ending in a tie. Following that game, teams, one right after the other, rescheduled or just plain dropped themselves from Yuba’s schedule.
Spain’s teams have a reputation built around them as being aggressive, cutthroat and tough as nails. Spain’s reply when asked about the stigma was, “Our motto is to play for ninety minutes no matter what the score is.
So there are times when we are up by five or six goals and we are still crackin’, crackin, crackin’.” Before this season Spain’s team’s overall record was 131-29 with a home record of 81-2.
It is safe to say that we can expect good things to happen this year from Spain’s team. The team this year is very well rounded. The girls come from many parts of the country, including Chico, Paradise, Redondo Beach, Lassen, Idaho, Utah and Hawaii. In fact, five girls from Spain’s Final Four team last year at Lassen came over to play for him at Yuba.
Jessica Winslow, co-captain of the team, said, ”Jason took us really far last year (at Lassen). I didn’t expect to make it to the Final Four. It felt really good to be feared and respected.”
The team, while very determined to win, has an overall cheerful mood, and the camaraderie within the group of players seems to be genuine.
The players to look out for this year include forward ‘The Hammer’ Kami Kapaku who, according to Spain, strikes the ball at over 70 mph. She already has made two goals and an assist this year for her team. Also making an assist was co-captain Jessica Winslow, who was part of the ‘Stellar D’ last year at Lassen. Co-captain Emily Barrett, goalkeeper, allowed only seven goals in 28 games last year and has not permitted a single goal yet in five games. Chandler Davis has also scored two goals.
As of Sep 13, the girls are 5-0, and it looks like it is going to be an eventful season. For updated info, current stats and standings on the team please visit www.ccsoccernews.com.
Comment Policy: Comments are welcomed and encouraged. However, the editorial board reserves the right to edit or delete, without notice, any comments submitted to the blog. For more details, see our full Comment Policy.