K(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College Women’s Soccer team is looking to pick up where they left off in the 2019 season with fewer injuries from their returning athletes and high caliber recruits.
“We had a winning season last year with a record of 9-7-1,” Head Coach Kendra Veliz said.
Before the Aztecs even took the field to start their 2019 season, there were a lot of injuries and things that happened before some players even got to Pima, Veliz said.
A couple of the Aztecs that took the field during the 2019 season were still not 100% throughout the entire season, Veliz said.
“We ended with four red shirts,” Veliz said.
With the new season just right around the corner, Veliz and her coaching staff are expecting to be at the top of the conference just as they have been in years past.
The coaching staff for the Aztecs have been busy recruiting for the upcoming 2020 and have stayed local when finding it.
“We, the coaches, are proud of the soccer Tucson produces,” Veliz said.
The Aztecs were looking and putting more of their focus into brining in defensive players and a goal keeper for this upcoming season.
“Three out of our four starting back line and our starting goal keeper were sophomores,” Veliz said.
Veliz and her coaching staff have brought in a local goal keeper in Angelina Amparano out of Salpointe Catholic High School.
Amparano help to lead the Lancers to three state championships.
“She, Amparano, seemed to have ‘nerves of steel’ which is a great quality to have in a keeper,” Veliz said in an earlier interview.
Along side Amparano, the other local talent that has been brought in is out of Cienega High School in Kortney Cahill an All-Region defender and Riley Bonner a defender and midfielder.
Veliz has also brought in two more defenders to help fill the shoes of those sophomores who graduated this past season and they are Briannah Gerhart out of Tanque Verde High School and Emily Valenzuela out of Salpointe Catholic High School.
The Aztecs have a group of experienced competitive players coming in that are capable of having immediate impact on the program, Veliz said.
With the returning class and the incoming freshman Veliz and her coaching staff have on their roster, they will be able to make their 18th consecutive year of making playoffs 19 during their 2020 campaign.
