The Lady Westerners and head coach Charles Long enter their third season of competition. Coach Long has set some pretty high standards for the program. During its first two seasons of play, the program has claimed two consecutive 18 win seasons, and supports a 36-5 record over that span. The 2010 edition of  the Lady Westerners will have some big boots to fill as the team claimed the area championship, then moved on to district play, where they were defeated 1-0, by Paradise Valley Community College who advanced to the NJCAA national championships. The WTC women’s soccer team held a national ranking all season in the NJCAA polls, with their highest ranking coming in the ninth spot on the polls. Not only has the program been successful on the field, but the 2010 edition of the Lady Westerners will have some pretty high academic standards to uphold as well. The 2009 squad was ranked 7th in the NJCAA academic standings for women’s soccer teams, finishing with a 3.34 team GPA (grade point average).

“We have a lot of scoring holes to fill due to graduation,” noted Long. Leading credence to this statement, the squad will be missing their two top scorers (for the past two seasons) in Peta Gaye Soman and Lindsey Bardole. Soman will be sporting her talents for Lubbock Christian University in Lubbock, Texas, while Bardole will be playing for Grandview University in Des Moines, Iowa. Also missing will be assist leader Stacyi Johnson, who will also be playing at Lubbock Christian University

The team does feature seven returners, including key players Tanesia Vassell (Jamaica) and Kenesha Reid (Jamaica). Vassell is a forward, and Reid is a midfielder.

According to Long, the team will rely heavily on a core of new recruits from Texas, saying, “we want to build the base of the program on Texas talent. The new squad will be tested as they travel to Waxahachie, Texas to open the season with a scrimmage against four year institution Southwest Assemblies of God University on August 19th.  “We have increased the strength of our schedule and are playing more four year schools,” assessed Long. “We want to get our players exposed to more four year colleges to help in the recruiting process.”

The 2010 NJCAA women’s soccer national championships will be held in West Palm Beach, Florida.