As the reigning Big Sky soccer regular-season champions, Portland State has had a tough start to the spring offseason. Playing without last season’s seniors, the team has scored just one goal from three spring scrimmages and conceded eight. Portland State head coach and the league’s 2009 Coach of the Year Laura Schott took some time away from the pitch to share her thoughts on the upcoming season.
Daily Vanguard: What are your thoughts on the spring scrimmages?
Laura Schott: Spring is a great time to work on our weaknesses and plan for the coming year. We’ve learned from our mistakes and our successes and we plan to take what we’ve learned and apply it to next fall.
DV: The team’s defense has been playing without last season’s starters Emily Rohde and Toni Carnovole. How big of a factor has their absence been in the defense in the offseason?
LS: The defensive line has seen a lot of change this spring with injuries, graduation, etc. It’s been good to see players step into those positions and perform. The majority of what I’ve seen from those players has been very positive.
DV: What are your thoughts on the team’s offense so far? As of now, who is the most likely to step up and score the goals that Dolly Enneking scored last season? Former Golden Boot winner, Frankie Ross has often played on the right side of midfield in the offseason. Is this a permanent or a makeshift move?
LS: We have a number of players who can score goals for us next year. That will be one of the dangerous things about our offense this fall—we have a lot of players who are scoring threats. Concerning positions during spring season, a lot of them will change in the fall, some of them will not. We are mostly concerned with improving, gaining experience, regaining health and setting ourselves up for a successful fall campaign.
DV: What are your thoughts on the team’s goalkeepers and the midfield positions? Who is going to step and fill the roles which Cris Lewis and Nathalie Wollmann played last season?
LS: The players stepping into those roles have done a good job this spring. We won’t make final decisions on who will start or play until the fall, but many players are capable of playing those positions well.
DV: What is your overall impression about the team’s performance in the spring season?
LS: We are a young talented team. This group has expectations and goals in line with what our program has made priorities in the past—Improve, perform and enjoy the game.
DV: What has the team learned and where can it improve?
LS: We’ve worked on solidifying our team defense and team attack. We’ve identified parts of our current game that are good, and others that will need to get better. The most important thing we are learning is that we are talented and have the ability to be successful in the fall.
DV: What are your thoughts about the competition in fall and the eight new signees?
LS: I like our fall schedule and I’m excited about the group of players we will have this fall. Camp will be competitive and I’m excited to see who comes back motivated to make a mark on this fall’s roster.
DV: What are your thoughts about the two upcoming games on May 1?
LS: May 1 is going to be a lot of fun. Our first game is against WOU, whom we play every spring. Our second game is our alumni game. We love welcoming our former players back to campus to compete against our current team.
—This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.