MATTAWA – The 2021 Wahluke girls soccer season ended in the first round of the 1A State Tournament for the Warriors, finishing with an 11-6-1 record last fall.

Entering the 2022 season, Head Coach Cele Lopez will look to recapture a state-qualifying team, but with a new roster.

“We have a lot of new players,” Lopez said. “We lost all of our defense (from) last year. My seniors were a big part of the defense, so we’re trying to restart from the bottom to the way up.”

With practices beginning two weeks ago, the 2022 Warriors have been learning the intricacies of the game, with several players stepping on the field for the first time.

“There’s a couple months of summer practices, and the start of the season has been kind of tough,” Lopez said. “Trying to go over a lot of information for the new players, and we live in a small community. Soccer is not a priority for the girls, so we’re starting from zero with some of those girls – but, we’re getting there.”

To help introduce the new players to the game, the Warriors have participated in scrimmages to help players get accustomed to life on the pitch.

“This is my first year where I’m introducing scrimmages,” Lopez said. “I normally don’t like scrimmages – I’ve seen a lot of players in my soccer career getting injured goofing around in scrimmages and this and that.”

Lopez, who also coaches boys youth soccer in Mattawa, describes the process of rebuilding a team as similar to his youth coaching experiences.

“I mean, it is a challenge, but that’s the part that I enjoy the most,” Lopez said. “When I see players – that have never played a sport before – improving, that’s a big reward.”

The sixth-year head coach also noted that this season the Warriors will have friendly games to begin the season, as opposed to the conference games that have typically begun the season in the past.

“I’m just really excited about the friendly games at the beginning of the season,” Lopez said. “So, (Tuesday), it should be about the girls – I don’t want them to be under a lot of pressure. Hopefully, we come out strong.”

After losing a strong defense to graduation a year ago, Lopez hopes to rebuild the team’s strong suit. Last year, the Warriors allowed one or fewer goals in nine of the 18 matches.

“I really want to start solid on the bottom,” Lopez said. “We started with a new defense, and that will be the main goal. To have a clean sheet for a game, and start building confidence for all the defenders and new players.”

In Wahluke’s upcoming first few games of the season, Lopez hopes to see “improvement and confidence” out of the Warriors.

“If you start getting confident, that will be a big, big, big win for the team,” Lopez said. “And then the goals and the opportunities will come up holding hands with that. If everybody gets confident and they have a good feeling, it’s gonna be a win for us.”

The Warriors opened their season on Sept. 6 against Zillah, and will take to the field again on Sept. 8 on the road at Quincy.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Schedule

Sept. 6 - vs Zillah - 4 p.m.

Sept. 8 - @ Quincy - 6 p.m.

Sept. 10 - @ Northwest Christian (Colbert) - 11 a.m.

Sept. 13 - vs Wapato - 4 p.m.

Sept. 15 - @ Warden - 6 p.m.

Sept. 20 - vs La Salle - 4 p.m.

Sept. 22 - vs Royal - 4 p.m.

Sept. 27 - @ Toppenish - 6 p.m.

Sept. 29 - vs College Place - 4 p.m.

Oct. 4 - @ Connell - 4 p.m.

Oct. 6 - Kiona Benton City - 4 p.m.

Oct. 11 - @ Royal - 6 p.m.

Oct. 13 - vs Toppenish - 6 p.m.

Oct. 18 - @ College Place - 6 p.m.

Oct. 20 - vs Connell - 6 p.m.

Oct. 25 - @ Kiona Benton City - 6 p.m.

Roster

1 Azeneth Ruiz, Junior GK

2 Guadalupe Pulido, Junior DEF

3 Esmeralda Islas, Sophomore CAM

4 Daisy Perez, Senior ST

5 Vianney Landin, Senior LW

6 Carmen Barbosa, Senior CM

7 Maria Barajas, Sophomore CB

8 Andrea Adame, Freshman LD

9 Angelica Fabela, Junior RW

11 Hiselle Bernal, Senior CAM

12 Michelle Miranda, Senior DEF

13 Gladis Martinez, Freshman CB

14 Stephanie Alejo, Freshman CB

15 Dulce Velasco, Freshman CB

16 Belicia Saldana, Senior RW

17 Ruby Pulido, Freshman F

18 Yaira Golzalez, Freshman ST

19 Jadahi Gatica, Senior CMD

21 Stephanie Silvia, Junior D/GK

22 Kylee Tirado, Junior ST/GK