Auburn, ME - The Mustangs Women's Soccer team went into the 2022 season with a lot of excitement over their expanded roster, large group of returning players, and a new playing style and formation that they were looking forward to showing off. In addition, their schedule included four NCAA games and some of the top USCAA Div I and II teams in the country. This was a team that had the potential to be sitting at the top of conference at the end of the season. In the end, another early playoff exit at the hands of their in-state rivals had them watching the conference and national tournaments from a distance, but that has not changed the feeling from all involved that this program is building a culture that will last well beyond the current players on the roster.
Head Coach Rob Rodriguez commented on that feeling."We're still building the foundation here and although we are several levels above where we were three or four years ago, we're installing one layer at a time very carefully so once we reach the top we will stay there and staying there is even harder than getting there. As a coaching staff we realized at the end of this season that even though we were playing a very good and exciting brand of soccer and attracting a lot of people to our games, we were still the victims of our own mistakes, most of them very small ones that added up over the course of a game to prevent us from having the scoring opportunities we needed to beat the top teams. We know now that we can compete with the top teams in the country, but the next layer we need to add will be correcting those small technical mistakes that are preventing us from winning those games."
A perfect example of just how close they are to the success they are looking for is their performance against the 2022 USCAA Div I national champions (UMaine Fort Kent) and the 2021 Div II national champions SUNY ESF. The Fort Kent game was a 4-1 loss in which the Mustangs moved the ball well and created some scoring opportunities that they did not have when the two teams met last year (a 7-0 CM loss). Against SUNY ESF, the first ever meeting between the two teams and the middle game of a 3-in-a-row road trip, only a mistake in the first minute due to nerves prevented it from being a one goal differential with the Mustangs losing to the defending champions 3-1.
Coach Rodriguez summed up the season by noting that, "In the end you are what your record says you are, and we were 4-6-2 with another early playoff exit. However, I'm excited about where we are right now and where I know we are headed. I love the building process and it will be very obvious to all when we reach the point where we know we are one of the top teams. We're not there yet but we are closer than most people think. The Yankee Small College Conference is arguably one of the most competitive college women's soccer conferences in the country at any level with four of the top six teams in the country in USCAA Div II residing in it. Show me an NCAA DI, II, or III women's soccer conference that can say the same thing."
The Mustangs have started their off-season strength & conditioning program and are selectively recruiting the new players they will need to continue to progress as a program.
