At the beginning of the 2015 season, Scottsdale Community College’s women’s soccer team was confident in seeing great results. However, the actual results have been anything but great.

The women’s soccer team received a draw in both their pre-season exhibition games, which left them hopeful in turning things around for the season opener. They were unable to do that and lost 2-0 to Phoenix College. Their confidence seemed to come back to them as they managed to win the next two games, scoring three goals in each game. That confidence was quickly stripped away, however, as they proceeded to lose the next five games leaving the whole team curious as to how the rest of the season would play out.

“Confidence is a lot of what’s going into this,” head coach Brian Thames said. “With our healthy bodies and confidence, you know, we play a pretty good brand of soccer. But we get injured and we get a little lack of confidence because we’ve had some losses.”

Clearly injuries and confidence have played a factor in the way the team played their games. Out of the next eight matches, the team was only able to win two games while drawing two and losing four. The right amount of active players can say a lot about a team and how they battle throughout the season. Losing players that are key to a team can be detrimental and unfortunately for the lady Artichokes, it has become their weakness.

Defender Shayann Rice acknowledges that the lady Artichokes are missing a few key players.

“Definitely one of our weaknesses is the lack of players that we have,” Rice said.

The injuries seemed to take a toll on the team as they would in any sport. It appears that Thames and the players are on the same page of what has been dragging them down this season. Team captain Kianna Kiiehua has had a hard time keeping the team together and staying focused on the season with the key injuries.

“One thing we’ve been very unlucky with injuries,” Kiiehua said. “All of these games, we definitely have chances of winning. We just need to pull it together and keep our heads up. We need to play with confidence. Confidence is everything.”

Although the season is coming to an end, there are still four regular season games left that they could win. It would appear that once the women get their confidence back and maybe even a few of their key players, the team would be able to get back on track and gain optimism for next season.