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Iowa State University Athletics
Head Coach Rebecca Hornbacher Talks Spring Soccer
03.29.2006 | Soccer
March 30, 2006
The Iowa State soccer team is currently in the midst of its spring practice season, which will culminate on April 22, with the Best of Iowa Tournament, pitting ISU, Drake, Iowa and Northern Iowa in a two-game tournament in Cedar Falls.
The Cyclones are coming off a school-best second-place finish in the Big 12 Conference regular season standings last season, in addition to becoming the first school in the state of Iowa to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Eventual national champion, Portland, upended Iowa State in the first round of the tournament.
Cyclones.com: Talk about what a week of practice is like in the spring.
Coach Hornbacher: The spring first starts out with the players going through individual training sessions, in which we really focused on an individual's development by position. The team was divided in groups of four and worked with the coaching staff on various technical aspects of the game. This portion of our spring lasted four weeks and set a solid foundation for our team practices to start at the end of February. In conjunction to our team trainings with the ball, the players are also working with our strength and conditioning staff anywhere from three to four times a week. Their work in the off-season is critical to the improvements in strength and overall fitness. This also helps propel our team to reach the overall goal of being in peak condition coming into pre-season at the beginning of August.
Cyclones.com: How has the Bergstrom Indoor Training Facility made spring practice? What were practices like before and what does the facility mean to your program?
The addition of the Bergstrom Indoor Training Facility has been instrumental in the success we had last season. We now have the ability to train in our cleats on a surface that is compatible to what we play on in the fall. This facility has enabled our program to consistently train at a high level on a quality surface. As a result, our program has been able to develop at a more intense and advanced pace.
Cyclones.com: What are you looking for the most out of your players in the spring?
Coach Hornbacher: I am looking for the team to come together and compete at a higher level of play for next fall. We are looking for individuals to improve their own game and take the necessary leadership roles that will carry this program into and throughout the fall season. Our overall goal is to instill a solid and dynamic foundation in each player that will allow our team, collectively, the opportunity to fiercely compete at the top level day in and day out. The spring also gives the coaching staff the opportunity to evaluate different players in various positions and to identify if they will be able to take on new responsibilities that will help us in the fall.
Cyclones.com: How have practices gone to this point and what are you looking for the rest of the spring?
Coach Hornbacher: Practices thus far have gone extremely well. We are excited to progress off what we have already covered this spring in our upcoming games this April. We are looking forward to competing and putting the things we have been focusing on in training to the field. Their attitudes have been great and they are very focused on building off the accomplishments they achieved this past season.
Cyclones.com: Because you are coming off the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, what is most important for you to emphasize in your training sessions?
Coach Hornbacher: We have continued to focus on not being complacent. In every training session, we must push ourselves to the point that we are uncomfortable and leave each session knowing that we have improved in that particular facet of the game. The players do realize that our past year's performance has propelled the program into the top tier of quality teams that everyone will be shooting to upset this season.
Cyclones.com: How much has the team improved since the start of spring practice?
Coach Hornbacher: The team has taken great strides in many areas of our game. During individuals, coupled with team trainings, we have been able to see great improvements in all of our players as they are all focused and passionate about their role in the team's productivity and success on the field.
Cyclones.com: You lost four great seniors in Deb Benakis, Amy Flores, Kristina Baumann and Leslie Hansell. Who or what are you looking for to step up and help fill those vacated roles?
Coach Hornbacher: To be very honest, the four seniors played intricate and instrumental roles in our team that was critical to our program's success and the will certainly be missed. I would have to say that we are looking to everyone on the team to step up their involvement and leadership roles in order to compliment the efforts of the previous players and maintain our strong, hard working work ethic in the future. We are looking for different combinations of players in every aspect of our game to see what will work best for the style of play we will incorporate.
Cyclones.com: Talk about personnel on offense, defense and goalkeeping.
Coach Hornbacher: Joanna Haig has shown tremendous leadership through off-season conditioning and in training sessions. She is very well respected by her teammate and has shown that she wants to lead this team to bigger and better things. In our attack, we have seen great improvements in our forwards playing together and our midfield is competing for their respective positions as well. Defensively, we have three returning starters in (Beth) Passman, (Kate) Kirwan, and (Amanda) Purple, who have been doing very well and will provide stability going into next season. We allowed the fewest amount of goals ever last season and had the most shutouts as well. The team will raise the bar and work to be even more solid.
Cyclones.com: You have a difficult schedule, including games against seven teams that played in the 2005 College Cup. What do you teach in spring practice that will help you prepare for the difficult schedule?
Coach Hornbacher: I feel strongly that in order to be the best team by the end of the season, you must play a competitive schedule. Obviously, we have a strong schedule every year with our conference schedule, but our non-conference schedule will also be tough and help prepare us for conference. We start out with the 2004 national champions in Notre Dame--which should show that we want to compete against the best teams in the country. It will be a great measuring stick for where we are and where we will need to be come the end of the season. The rest of the schedule, which includes the three other Iowa teams and Big Ten teams, will also help shape and prepare our team for our consistently tough conference trail. With the addition of 9 players that signed National Letters of Intent and 8 returning starters, the team is looking forward to a great season in 2006.
Players Mentioned
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