Women's Soccer Ready to Kick Off 2022 Season

HARTSVILLE, S.C. - The Coker University women's soccer team is ready to kick off the 2022 season under first-year head coach Michael Donald. 

Coach Donald comes into the season looking to improve upon previous years and build around that improvement. 

"We are looking to improve our overall record from previous years," said Donald. "We have identified areas we would like to improve as a group and are working each day to make the necessary changes. However, the ultimate goal is to win football matches and that is what we are looking to do this season. we believe if we can improve performances from previous years then the results will inevitably come with them."

17 Cobras return from last year's squad. Coach Donald wants to rely on their experience moving forward into this season. 

"Our returning players will have a huge role to play this season," said Donald. "Most of them are young and now have a year under their belt, they understand the level a bit more and how competitive the conference is. They are ready to step up and show how they have developed over the last year. Our senior class also has some key players for us and we are expecting them to have the best season of their college career."

The team also welcomes six newcomers to the mix this year. Donald is impressed so far with what this group brings to the squad. 

"Our incoming class have done very well over preseason, I am happy how quickly they have settled in with the group and how close everyone is on the team," said Donald. "Some of our new players will be expected to make an immediate impact and some already have during our preseason scrimmages. I am excited to see how they develop over the season and coming years."

Donald is impressed with how the returners have brought the newcomers into the program, and the chemistry they've developed. 

"Our new players have settled in a lot quicker than I expected and I think this is hugely down to how well our returning players have done at making them feel welcome from day one," said Donald. "I think our returning players understand the importance of having a strong team bond with everyone and the quicker we can include the new players the better."

Women's Soccer opens up at Francis Marion on Aug. 25, before traveling to Erskine on Aug. 29 and hosting USC Aiken on Aug. 31. The Cobras will host Allen on Sept. 7, before opening SAC play on Sept. 10 at Mars Hill. Coker returns home for games with USC Sumter (Sept. 13) and Tusculum (Sept. 17), before embarking on a road swing at Carson-Newman (Sept. 24) and Catawba (Sept. 28). October begins at home against Lincoln Memorial (Oct. 1), before the Cobras travel to Newberry (Oct. 5) and Anderson (S.C.) (Oct. 8). The Cobras return home for games against Lenoir-Rhyne (Oct. 12) and Limestone (Oct. 15), before hitting the road for Shaw (Oct. 19) and Emory & Henry (Oct. 22). The regular season finale is at home against Wingate on Oct. 26. 

"I think we have a tough schedule due to the amount of games in a short space of time," said Donald. "We kick off the season with three games inside seven days which will be tough on the players, but I think we have a good enough squad where we can roster players in and out for each of the games. As always when we get into conference play it will be difficult especially when we have back to back away games to two teams that finished at the top last season."

The Cobras open up the 2022 campaign tomorrow (Thursday, Aug. 25) at Francis Marion. Kick-off is set for 7:00 p.m. from Florence, S.C., with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.