Nicholls soccer posts historic year

Almost anyone can win when conditions are perfect for victory.

But the truly successful sports teams are often those which can find ways to win when the odds are stacked against them.

Just ask the 2014 Nicholls soccer team – a group that knows all about overcoming adversity and still finding a way to overcome it to make history.

The Colonels’ soccer team was battered with injuries throughout the earliest moments of the season – never able to play a match at 100 percent health throughout its entire 20-match schedule.

But instead of folding to the pressure, the Colonels held firm, scoring a 10-win season and the program’s first-ever victory in a Southland Conference Tournament match.

The ability to fight past the tough times is a huge source of pride to coach Dylan Harrison who said he remembers the days when his team didn’t quite have the ability to persevere when times got rough.

“We had so many injuries and so many things that could have gone wrong, but one of the things that I was most proud of is that we just kept at it,” Harrison said. “We had players step up and fill the different roles that we needed due to our injuries and what-not, and we just kept going. I’m so proud that we were able to realize that no matter what, we remained in complete control of what we wanted to accomplish, and we did accomplish a lot in getting our first-ever Southland Tournament win.”

For the Colonels, the 2014 season was testing from the start.

Harrison said his team went into their schedule knowing that senior goalkeeper Amanda Boylson would miss the entire year after complications from an offseason shoulder surgery.

With Boylson gone, the Colonels were immediately without a two-year starter who had logged 26 career starts in the past two seasons – one of the better returning goalies in the entire Southland Conference.

“She just didn’t recover in the time that we hoped for,” Harrison said. “We’re going to redshirt her and get her back next year. But for 2014, it was tough because she’s a two-year starter who had three years of playing experience.”

Without the keeper, the Colonels relied on a three-person committee in the net – primary starter Taylor Mosley and backups Josie Stiles and Haley Golden.

The trio did an admirable job in defense, allowing 1.75 goals per game with 100 saves.

“Those three girls were able to step up and give us some quality play,” Harrison said. “That was huge.”

Away from the goal, Harrison said the Colonels had a potpourri of occasional nicks and bruises throughout its season, which forced the team to constantly have to shift its depth chart around to mix and match lineups based on the players available within a given game.

“It was just one of those years,” Harrison said. “We were just beat up – we had a number of injuries. We were without our All-Conference striker Spencer (Valdespino) for a few weeks. We were without some defensive players for some games. I don’t think there’s a single game this year where we had everybody healthy at one time. Everybody this year did their part.

“We had something like 16 players score goals in matches this year. That’s unheard of. That’s a testament to the depth we have.”

Because of that depth, the Colonels were able to endure a brutally tough non-conference schedule and get into Southland play with its high hopes intact.

The Colonels opened Southland play with a 3-2 loss against McNeese State on Sept. 19 – a match that Harrison said he and his team remembered because of their poor play.

“We said immediately after that match that we wanted to play them again,” Harrison remembered. “We were too emotional. We didn’t think the way we played in that game was a good depiction of the team we were.”

Nicholls then won 5 of its next 10 league matches to earn a spot in the Southland Tournament with a 5-6 record where they were matched up in the first round with guess who? McNeese State.

Nicholls showed that its demand for revenge was warranted, scoring a 1-0 victory over the Cowboys on Nov. 6 to land its first-ever conference tournament win in program history.

The game-winning goal was a beautiful, upper-90 shot from Valdespino in the 72nd minute – her 10th goal of the season.

“To get the first-ever postseason win on a goal like that was fitting,” Harrison said. “It was an incredible shot. She just hit it perfect.”

The Colonels’ 2014 hopes were dashed one day later when Nicholls fell 5-0 to Stephen F. Austin in the Southland Semifinals, ending the team’s run two wins shy of the NCAAs.

Harrison said he’s sorry the team’s senior class couldn’t reach the pinnacle of the conference during their careers, thanking each for the work they’ve done to rebuild Nicholls’ program.

He added that with returnees like Valdespino, sophomores Mirando O’Neil Hannah Savoie and freshman Emily Werenskiold, he thinks next year’s squad can make a run, as well.

“I think when you can overcome the things that we did this year, it really makes you proud and it shows that your players are doing a lot of the right things to get your program on track,” Harrison said. “We didn’t win as many games in 2014 as we did in 2013, but we dealt with a lot more this year. To do the things we were still able to do makes us very proud, because we accomplished quite a bit as a team. We’re proud of what we’ve done and we’re excited about the future.”

Nicholls soccer