JAMESTOWN – The University of Jamestown women’s soccer team enters the 2024 season with many new faces and a schedule that does them no favors.
“I think we definitely have to rebound from last year. After dealing with a bunch of injuries in the fall and having a pretty good spring, I think we’re in a better position than we were last year,” Jimmies head coach Nick Becker said. “I think new season, new year, a lot of new players, I think we’re expecting some good things.”
The Jimmies have 14 new additions to the roster and have only two home games all season. The Jimmies’ only two home games will be on September 29th against the University of Minnesota-Crookston and on October 5th against Bellevue University (Nebraska).
Becker said his team will have a lot of fun on the road, but he also has to understand that the players are on a business trip and cannot let their academic work slip.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m not sure what it will be like with the school and workload, but I hope the older students will help me with that,” said Jimmies freshman center Nellie Brown.
Becker said the Jimmies had to adjust their schedule because NCAA rules dictate they cannot play any countable games until September. Becker said the NCAA rule means the team must play 18 games in two months. Despite this, the Jimmies will open their season with a countable game against former GPAC foe College of Saint Mary on Sunday, Aug. 18 at 1 p.m.
“They’re a good team,” Becker said. “They’ve definitely gotten better with the program and I think they’ve made good progress over the last few years, getting better numbers-wise and competitive, so it’s going to be interesting. We don’t know anything about ourselves and we don’t know much about them this year, so it should be a fun game.”
Last year, the Jimmies finished 5-9-3 overall and finished the season with two straight losses.
The Jimmies have to replace their last year’s goalkeeper Tea Pence and one of their midfielders Ryley Bedard.
“I think number one goalkeeper, number one center back, number one midfielder,” Becker said. “So we’re going to use the first three weeks to figure out what formation we’re going to play, who’s going to start where, and then not having any games after the 18th is pretty difficult because how do you gauge that? So we’re really trying to figure out what fits our group best in terms of lineup and also player personnel and personality.”
Becker said he expects an outstanding season from the three freshmen Brown, Oriana Borrome and Eunity Pate.
“So I think some of these players fit exactly the roles that we may have been missing last year,” Becker said.
The Jimmies began practice on Aug. 4. Becker said he is proud of how his coaches are helping the new players get acclimated to the program during the first 11 days of practice.
“It’s going well,” Brown said. “It’s a lot more than I expected, but I’m slowly but surely making progress.”
One of the Jimmies’ veterans is Gabby Sarkis, who returns for her final season after missing all of last year with a torn ACL, meniscus and medial collateral ligament. Sarkis said it’s officially been a year since her surgery and she’s completely healthy.
“I’m very excited. Hopefully this game (on Aug. 18) goes well and we can take some positives from it,” Sarkis said. “I know we’re going to have a lot of learning experiences, but I think as long as we take something from it and stay positive, we’ll be fine.”
She said she wants to play well as a team and instill in the new players the expectations that come with playing for the Jimmies.
“I like to call myself a hard worker, so I hope they see my hard work and want to work on it themselves. Because like I said, we want to set the standard and that’s what Jamestown has always been about,” Sarkis said.
The Jimmies’ first preseason game was against South Dakota State University on August 10. Becker said he left the game convinced that his team needed to work on its fitness.
The Jimmies will have back their leading scorer from last season, Miarosa Gyllenswan, who scored six goals. Becker said he expects her, Sarkis, Haley Nelson and Breanna Oettle to help the team score goals this year.
Hello,
My name is Max O’Neill. I’m a sports reporter for The Jamestown Sun. I’m a native New Yorker and a 2020 graduate of Ithaca College with a degree in television and radio.
