As the University of Charleston women's soccer team gets closer to its 2017 season opener - versus Seton Hill at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Trace Fork Soccer Fields - the team has pulled in some major preseason accolades.
Fresh off its second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, UC enters this year with higher expectations than ever. People are starting to take notice of the strides the program has continued to make. The Golden Eagles begin the season at No. 24 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll and were picked to win the Mountain East Conference for the first time ever.
While he admits it's nice to see his group recognized like this in the preseason, veteran coach Todd Diuguid also realizes that now isn't the time to get complacent just because they've picked up some honors. Now is the time for the team to show that it has earned that respect.
"It's something that we're proud of, but you have to put it in perspective a little bit because it's just the beginning of the year," Diuguid said. "To get recognition for what we did last year is great, but we're looking forward and we feel like we can have an even more competitive side this year as we look to keep things moving the right way."
Charleston brings back a good nucleus of the talent from last year's team that fell to Kutztown in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Atlantic Regional. The Golden Eagles return three players who scored at least three goals a year ago. The six starters back for this season all played at least 1,500 minutes in 2016 and two other players return after playing at least 650 minutes. Among the leaders in that group are Ivey Nucilli, who scored nine goals last season, goalkeeper Zoe Zyta, midfielder Marlee Coleman, defender Dominique Dosky and forward/defender Kelci Pettiford-Winters.
That type of talent and versatility returning has Diuguid very confident about what his team is capable of, as well as the type of chemistry the team can carry over after the success it has experienced the last few years.
"We have a very technical team. We move the ball around well. We have some more pace in the attacking third, which will be a nice luxury," Diuguid said. "I feel like we can be more dynamic in the final third than we've been in many years.
"It helps that we're pretty deep in some positions and we have some players that can play in different places. Whatever fits our team chemistry the best is how we're going to approach things."
It's a good time for the Charleston soccer programs. With the women entering the season at No. 24 and the men's team at No. 2 in the preseason polls, it's the first time in school history that both teams have earned preseason national rankings.
And now that they have started to receive that level of praise, Diuguid has seen his team approach this season with an edge and some extra motivation. It wants to prove that it won't be happy to just make it back to the tournament. Now the Golden Eagles have their sights set on making a run and showing that they can consistently be among the nation's best in Division II soccer.
"Everything has been business as usual this preseason, nothing has changed," Diuguid said. "Our focus has stayed on working hard every day and having all of the girls know their roles and do what's expected of them. That's important to see from them because I think if we can keep that mindset and continue pushing like we always do, then good things are going to happen."