Striving to Make Goals
By Tamzen Tumlinson
After hiring a new coaching staff, the UA Women’s Soccer team set a goal of qualifying for the SEC Women’s Soccer Tournament in the 2012 fall season.
“I think we can definitely do that this year,” said junior forward Yvonne DesJarlais.
DesJarlais has set her own goals for herself and the team for the upcoming fall season.
“I want to be an impacting player and a threat in the box, definitely,” said DesJarlais. “And for the team, we’ve got to win more than half the games.”
“On the field, she is very technical and hardworking. She’s very versatile and can play a lot of different positions,” said head coach Colby Hale. “Off the field she is confident, upbeat and a great leader.”
Acquiring the new coaches was DesJarlais’ favorite accomplishment of the past year.
“It’s made a huge difference,” DesJarlais said. “We have the three best coaches. It’s exciting.”
“The whole team’s chemistry is really good, and she’s certainly a big part of that,” Hale said.
The last game of the spring season was DesJarlais’ favorite game, because “even though we only got to play one half because of weather, it was really coming together. It was a good point to end the season.”
“The difference is that we actually possess the ball, we don’t just kick it and run. It’s better soccer,” DesJarlais said. “Now we know how to defend as a team. The coaches teach different positions and how we’re supposed to work together. We’ve gotten so much better and it really will show.”
Last year, DesJarlais scored one goal against Saint Louis University and she was placed third in scoring among the returning players on the soccer team.
DesJarlais, a business major, has played for the UA for two years and has played soccer since she was 5 years old.
As an Alaskan native, DesJarlais was recruited after two former UA coaches saw her and her high school and club teams when they played in tournaments in the lower 48 states.
“The old coach saw me at the Disney showcase in Florida,” said DesJarlais. “The coaches liked me, so I took a visit and I really liked it here.
