Starting off their season, the Skyline College Women’s Soccer team began with two difficult scrimmages against the Academy of Art and San Francisco State.

Before school started, both the men and women’s team prepared for the season by participating in a two week conditioning period known as double days.

“Double days were good,” said Kevin Corsiglia, women’s soccer coach. “They are always tough on the players, but the ones that attend and work hard benefit from the experience.”

Double days receives its name because everyday during those two weeks the team has two practice sessions of two hours.

During those four hours each day, the players take part in various running exercises, activities and drills with the soccer ball for conditioning and preparation.

“We were in really good shape during double days,” said Jessica Portillo, sophomore player. “We just got to know each other and how each other play.”

Altogether the women’s soccer team has five pre-conference games and sixteen conference games this season. That doesn’t include the two scrimmages. The lady Trojans scrimmage against the Academy of Art was not in our favor; however they gained a lot knowledge about themselves as a team.

About the scrimmage, sophomore player Nancy Mejia said, “Honestly, I could say we could have done a lot better defensive-wise and we need to structure our team together.”

Corsiglia explained he wasn’t worried about the score of their first scrimmage, but it was a good way to evaluate all the players and see how every individual plays within the team.

“It helped to identify many of the freshman’s strengths and weaknesses,” said Corsiglia. “It was a scrimmage so you can’t put too much stock in the way we played.”

The team was more successful against San Francisco State in a tie of 0-0.

According to Mejia, she felt the team played a lot better against State and the team really picked up their defense.

“I think we’re going to do very good this season,” Mejia said. “We have that expectation. We should have that expectation.”

The players have been putting a lot of effort into practice by identifying their weaknesses and working to turning them into strengths. The sophomore players are taking on their leadership roles well. Portillo said, “We have a very strong team, we all cover our positions well, and we flow good together.”

The lady Trojans are on the road for their first two pre-conference games against West Hills College and College of Marin. Hopefully, they bring their hard work from practice into the game and pull out a winning season.

“I expect them to train hard and with a focus on getting better,” Corsiglia said. “I expect that they will represent Skyline College in a positive manner both on and off the field and of course we expect to win games, to be one of the top teams in the Coast Conference, to win games in the playoffs, but that is less of a goal and more of expectation I think all our players have, or will have soon.”