With a renewed focus on winning and an exciting group of junior transfers, the SF State Gators begin their quest to return to the playoffs against the #6 ranked Seattle University Redhawks Monday, August 29 at 2pm at Cox Stadium.

“We want to get back to where we belong, we want to be challenging for our conference and see how far we can go.” said Head Coach Jack Hyde.

If the Gators are to rebound from last seasons 4-12-3 effort, it will fall on Head Coach Jack Hyde to mesh the talents of returning players such as senior goalkeeper Erin Clark and midfielder Natalie Macias, and incoming junior transfers such as midfielders Candice Silva and Aubrey Kerlin.

“Our coaches do a good job of doing little games to get everyone together,” said junior defender Kaylan Robinson. “We all just kind of click.”

Since soccer is such a team sport, it will be important for the Gators to successfully mesh the skills and personalities of their incoming freshmen and junior transfers into the existing team framework.

“We’re meshing pretty well,” said sophomore defeseman Nikki DeCastro of the differences between this year’s squad and last years. “I think (there is more) desire to play, I think last year everyone wasn’t on the same page…this year we’re all on the same page.”

While an improved record would be nice, the Gators are shooting for higher goals-a repeat of the 2002 season in which the Gators finished 9-4-4 and made the NCAA playoffs.

“We want to win our conference, go to the NCAA playoffs and have a good showing there,” said Macias. “(We want to) show that SFSU women’s soccer isn’t just a washout sport, we’re here to compete and win some championships.”

Rather making constant runs at the goal and being an attacking team like Brazil, the Gators will try to control the ball and the midfield. By doing so, they can put pressure on their opponents by limiting their possessions and scoring opportunities. More than that though, Hyde is trying to instill a never- say-die spirit in his players.

“One of our little sayings for our team is ‘SFSU never goes away’. That was given to us by one of our opponent coaches a few years ago. No matter what the score is we never go away,” said Hyde.

The Gators won’t have a high-octane offense as returning leading scorer Lissette Garay scored just four goals last year. So the Gators will need a big season from Clark in goal to have a shot at returning to the playoffs.

A plus for the Gators is the wave of new recruits this season. Thanks to all the new talent, Hyde will have depth that wasn’t available to him last few seasons. Hyde called the improved depth one of the keys to the season.

“The depth that we will have (gives us) the ability that, if something isn’t working or if someone is injured we can replace that player and still have the same consistency,” said Hyde.

Along with the Redhawks, the Gators also have big home dates against last season’s CCAA championship participants the Chico State Wildcats (Saturday, September 17) and the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros (Friday, October 14). UC San Diego, who had the best record in the CCAA last season, pays a visit to Cox Stadium Sunday, October 2.