2016 Season Preview - Women's West

We all know that the sun sets in the West, the last rays of each day reflecting off the carmine hued boulders of the Rocky Mountains, through the orange and cool colors of the desert and into the navy blue expanse of the Pacific.

From a women's footy standpoint, however, the day has been long and everlasting.  The brightest point being the Denver Bulldogs, who have come out on top in each of the last six Nationals.  But the pack that is chasing the top dogs is led from out West, with two clubs in the northern part of the great Californian republic nipping at their heels.

Women's footy in a club sense for formed in the US on the west coast.  And with the emergence of three Division 1 clubs, the quick development of Arizona and Portland, and the possibility of at least three more clubs out West, the competition will be hot when Regionals reach Salem, Oregon in July, and the daylight will continue to show the way to success across the Western landscape.

Borne from the blazing Mojave sun, the Lady Hawks were a USAFL original in the women’s ranks.  Like their men’s program, the last several years have been lean in terms of numbers, as they had just a half-dozen regulars play in 2014.

Fortune favors the faithful, however, and with Arizona hosting last season’s USA Freedom Camp in February, interest was stoked enough locally to draw some new faces to the game.  By the time the Western Regionals occurred in June, participation was near the double digits.  They would end the season with an 0-3 Nationals weekend having teamed up with Baltimore/Washington, but the experience was a positive one for captain Melissa Armstrong and her team.

2016 will be all about growing the side with continued focus on fundamentals, and Armstrong is a good example.  The mother of four is herself a long-time USAFLer, who is athletic and slippery as an eel (because who knew that eels can thrive in the desert?)  The dynamic duo of Courtney Church and Nicole Fasula provide good linkups, and are balanced in their skills to be considered all-arounders.

Some of the new players unearthed in the offseason provided valuable contribution to the Hawks’ efforts during the year.  Forward Lindsay Roberts will provide a good target up front, and should be in good nick after knee surgery last year.  The Hawks will try and form their team around their pacey newcomers: Morgan Smith and Megan Jones are elusive wingers who will be very potent once their skills develop, and Jennifer Ferrucci is a soccer convert who can make waves as an onballer.

Of course, the goal this year will continue to be on recruiting, but there is potential for a return to the glory days very much alight in the Sun Devil State.

On paper, the records will reflect that the Denver Lady Bulldogs won the national championship, much like they had done the five previous seasons.  Captain Hallie Lee got best-and-fairest, leading a team with sport experience that reads like an athletic smorgasbord through yet another gauntlet of challengers.

But footy isn’t played on paper (even paper football isn’t played on paper), and the reality was that this National Championship was the hardest earned of the six acquired by the mile-high pack.  Having been known for being their “bash-it-forward” style of play, Bruce Durrell’s team adopted a more methodical and fundamental philosophy, and the team took some time to get situated with the new blueprint.

After winning their opening game in Austin, the Bulldogs got a major scare from upstart Sacramento before finally seeing their 20-game Nationals win streak get snapped by surging Minnesota.  Denver would recover quickly, however, dispatching their rivals from San Francisco in the final game for the third straight year and breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Battle hardened over that weekend in October, and with a renewed confidence, the Lady Bulldogs enter this season confident in their own abilities, and will try not only to bring home title #7, but to reestablish themselves as the most dominant women’s team in the country.

The most improved aspect of their game has been defense, where Janell Myers stepped up and had a career year at center half-back for club and country.  Her protégé in the half-back line is Tara “T-Rex” Cilke, who is just as hard tackling as Myers and possesses a booming kick to boot.  Sarah Edwards-Rohner provides swiftness from the back, while Ti Stref was nearly impenetrable at fullback.   

Lee and Susan Bruce team up in the middle to link the play forward towards the tall assemblage of front liners.  Lindsey Kastanek and Kaitlyn Mascher-Mace are national level forwards who have leather magnets for hands and are good in contests.  Jessie Hazen emerged as a goal sneak last season, and will try to bag a few more in support of her scorers.

The question has to be asked how long Denver can continue their juggernaut.  Every year, the answer is, “one more time.”  Last year showed that they are human, but the competitive instinct that they all possess, to a woman, should keep the streak going for one more go-round.

Everything quite literally came up roses for the Portland footy club last season.  Not only but their men’s team win their first premiership, but their fledgling women’s program did the same.  Jessica Blecher and gridiron star Simone Shepherd joined with the Calgary Kookaburras side that steamrolled its way to the Division 2 title in its first season.

The Sockeyes are set to launch themselves upstream in 2016, as USA Liberty player Heather Serpico heads west from New York and has already launched a massive recruiting campaign.  Serpico, who is a pretty darn good player in her own right, hopes to have enough to field a decent sized Divvy 2 squad this season.  She’ll have Shepherd, Blecher, and former San Francisco Iron Maiden Eve Brickner to help form experienced pillars around the new faces.

With the Sockeyes surging and a possible new women’s team up in Seattle, women’s footy is heating up in Cascadia, and they’ll be a fun team to watch as the season progresses.

There is something ironic about a team called the Suns and yet being in the shadow.  Sacramento’s ladies won two and drew one during the regular season, including a 1-1-1 series split against their cross-bay rivals from San Francisco.  They went to Nationals as the fifth seed of the five teams competing in Division 1.

Though the Lady suns would drop all four matches, they played possibly the best football that anyone can remember for a winless side at Nationals at any level.  They allowed just 50 points in the tournament – only Denver allowed fewer – and were literally a smothered kick away from beating the Bulldogs just twenty hours before Minnesota did it.

Undoubtedly, the most prominent feature of Sacramento’s success lies in their defense.  Everyone in the footy world now knows of Katie Klatt and what she can do, and she is only going to get better over the next several seasons.  But the cast of characters around her in the back six are an imposing barrier made up of stubborn defenders. 

Makenzie Seckora is a hard tackler who had a number of good performances for the Suns and Liberty last year, and can platoon either at half back or at full back.  Lauré Kwoka should be back after suffering a concussion at Nationals, and her experience and cleverness help push forward.  The surprise of Nationals was Liz Danielson, who played her first competitive footy at Nationals and went straight to work containing the Denver attack.

In order to be successful this season, however, the Suns are going to need to light up the scoreboard more.  They averaged just over 6 points a game at Nationals.  But here too is an area with players looking to break out.  Speedy Aletha Sisson and multi-talented Carly Hartman and Victoria Schoenagel supporting Rosemary Kloh in the ruck.  Oanh Kien emerged as a bright spot up front; she is fast and has an accurate array of short kicks.

The Suns continue to get better and their club gets bigger.  They are a passionate group who you can never rest against.  If they can find ways to trouble the scorekeeper on a consistent basis, beams of sunlight will extend beyond that of the Sactown sky.

After three seasons of trying to run down Denver, it looked like the Maidens were primed to finally do it in 2015.  They went through the season with a singular defeat to Sacramento, and picked up two key wins against New York and Boston in the East-West Showdown.  The last one came at a price, as co-captain midfielder Milli Bruce went down to an injury and missed Nationals.

Still, a loaded Maidens team went to Austin as the number two seed in Division 1, and they had the Bulldogs in their crosshairs.  That was, until they stumbled in their first game, losing 14-10 to New York.  Though they would defeat Minnesota and Sacramento, their loss against the Magpies put them on the wrong side of the tiebreaker, meaning the best they could do with a win over Denver would be 2nd.  They still had a chance to play the role of spoiler, but the Bulldogs were just too good on the day, winning 18-2 and relegating the Maidens to a disappointing 3rd place.

The new season dawns the colorful golden hue of that giant bridge that adorns their jumpers (even if it’s really orange), and the Maidens are still going to be in the thick of things again.  Jessica Estrada played solidly again for club and country, showing up everywhere on the field and manufacturing opportunities for Courtney Sherman-Johnson, Fiona McAlpine, and the forward line.  Julie Marks anchors a defense that allowed just 52 points in Nationals play, and the Freedom fullback remains in top form.   Pro soccer goalkeeper Carly Smolak, who started the season in the forwards, drifted back and settled in nicely to a defensive midfielder role, using her nearly limitless athleticism.

The Maidens have three players who are legitimate rising stars.  Sara Magallón is a cunningly quick half-forward with eyes for the ball and quick hands to stoke a counterattack.  Bevin English provided velocity out of the half back and was a good connection option last season.  Finally, former volleyballer Meg Leone gives the Maidens options at ruck and forward, taking some of the pressure off Brette Brower in those capacities.

It’s been said before that the Maidens would be the one to pick off Denver.  It all depends on how it plays out on the weekend in Sarasota, but they still have the team who, up and down the oval, can still do it.