A little less than a month remains of the NJCAA regular soccer season and the men’s and women’s teams at Scottsdale Community College have taken distinctively different paths.
The men’s side is a young team with only seven out of 24 players returning from last season.
“We have a lot of young guys coming in,” head coach Tommy Hurdle said. “They’re learning right now, the difference between high school and club soccer and collegiate soccer. Small margins—they’re not far away. But they’re getting that experience right now…they’ve got to adjust to the way the college game is played.”
The men’s team (1-6-2), captained by Kyle Foster, Justin Biddle and freshman Huston Harper started the season with what Hurdle called the most difficult nonconference schedule in program history, followed by play in a men’s conference that assistant coach Jack Soutar characterized as “very, very hard.”
“Iron sharpens iron,” Hurdle said. “You are the company you keep.”
The women’s side (7-2-1), is a little different story.
After making it to the semifinals of the playoffs last season, 11 of 21 players from last year are returning and the team is ranked No. 11 in the country entering Saturday night’s game.
Hurdle contends that this year’s team is in a better position than last season.
“I think we have better depth this year than we’ve ever had before,” Hurdle said. “We have players that can come from the bench that can score goals for the women’s team, and slot in across the back line—so we’re very interchangeable, which I think is a big benefit in terms of going deeper into the season. We’ve got a real group effort this year.”
The only two losses the ladies suffered were nonconference games against the defending National Champions, Phoenix College and a nationally ranked Johnson County CC.
Sophomore Indi Stum is a co-captain with Brookie Fuentes. She told Northeast Valley News how losing the first two games of the season motivated the team.
“Once we kinda got our butts kicked those first couple of games we were like oop…no more,” Stum said. “It was the mentality honestly. We knew we were good and I think we just kinda went into it flatfooted. I really appreciate that none of us got knocked down…we just kept going, even through our losses.”
Since those first two setbacks, the lady Artichokes are 7-0-1. During that time, they have scored 44 goals with a ridiculously low three goals against. Stum explained why.
“That is to the coaches,” Stum said. “They’ve done a great job at positioning us and also training and practices—focusing on offense, focusing on defense, focusing on possession. Each practice has a goal in mind of what we want to accomplish. So, they’ve done a really good job at just helping us develop in our own specific spots and working together.”
Freshman Shayla Hunt played High School soccer for Perry. She gives credit to the coaching staff, but also attributes some of the team’s success to chemistry.
“Obviously, we have amazing coaching, is one of the reasons why I think we succeed so well,” Hunt said. “But also, we just have good chemistry…all of us girls get along together, and it really shows on the field that we connect.”
Stum agrees that the team has gelled.
“What I love about this team, this year, is I feel like everybody is playing for each other,” Stum said. “We all want to win for each other, we celebrate victories together. We’re all really close friends. So, I feel like that’s really helped with our team. It’s just made us want to compete for each other.”
Hunt talked about how the team plans to keep their current win streak alive.
“We treat every team like they’re going to beat us…like they’re capable of beating us, so that we’re always on top of our game,” Hunt said. “Whether we beat a team just 1-0 or we beat them 12-0 we try and keep our foot on the pedal the whole time.”
Hurdle has a relatively simple recipe for continued success.
“We’re competitive,” Hurdle said. “We want to go win—we want to go attack the other team—we want to be in control of our destiny. So, we go out and score goals, and if we can shut them out at the other end we’re in good shape.”
According to Hurdle, last year, the women’s soccer program posted the highest G.P.A. in SCC’s athletic department and he wants to continue those high standards.
“A big thing for us is what we do off the field in the classroom—a huge emphasis on that, and how we are, just in our community,” Hurdle said.
The Artichokes have three home matches remaining. Saturday against Chandler/Gilbert, Oct. 3 versus Cochise, and the regular-season finale gives them a shot at redemption against No. 1 Phoenix College on Oct. 17.
The ladies side takes the pitch at 5:30, with the men competing at 8:00 p.m. at the soccer stadium at SCC.
