UTB-TSC women's soccer team continued to improve in 2009

Reaching the NAIA Tournament for the first time during the 2009 season gave the women's soccer team at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College a taste of competing on the national level.

It was an experience the Scorpions hope to repeat and improve upon in the near future.

They graduate only one player, Sami Thorman, from the squad that went 11-5-2 and suffered a 4-1 loss to Southern Nazarene University in last Saturday's opening round of the NAIA Tournament. Winning the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament for the second time in three years earlier this month in Fort Worth earned the UTB-TSC women a berth in the NAIA nationals.

"When we started women's soccer in the fall of 2007, our plan was to build a foundation and create a nationally recognized program within five years, and we are on the right track," UTB-TSC women's coach Nikola "Nik" Barjaktarevic said. "Looking back now on our 2009 season, I can say with no regret that it was a very successful one.

"It was a very valuable experience for our young team to be in the national tournament and feel the excitement, but also experience the agony of defeat in that opening game," he added.

After a runner-up RRAC regular-season finish, the Scorpions came on strong to win the RRAC Tournament with a 1-0 triumph over Our Lady of the Lake University in the final on Nov. 7.

UTB-TSC's Jodie Hunter was chosen RRAC defensive player of the year, while teammates Leah Russell, Helen Wagstaff, Chelsea Maidment and Stephanie Reid joined her on the all-conference first team. Barjaktarevic earned RRAC women's coach of the year honors, while Verena Wonsikowski and Sara Di Benedetto were named to the all-conference second team.

"We are very proud of all the hard work our players put in and the way they overcame a lot of obstacles to get us the second RRAC Tournament title in three years, and more importantly, help us qualify for the national tournament," Barjaktarevic said. "What helped us tremendously is that our team came together quickly and kept getting closer (to nationals) as the season progressed.

"Preparations for 2010 have already started, and just thinking about goals for next year takes us much further than what we accomplished this season," he added. "It will take a lot of hard work by every single player in the offseason."

Barjaktarevic said the Scorpions will benefit next year from the addition of four players who redshirted this season, including injured defender and former co-captain Carling Rootes, who earned first-team all-conference recognition in 2007 and 2008. He also plans to bring in five to seven new recruits.

"Every year our soccer team is building up," UTB-TSC sophomore forward Linette Cuvillier of Los Fresnos said recently. "This year we had better players. Our team is getting stronger, and it made us very happy to qualify for nationals."

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com