In collegiate sports, seniors know their final year of eligibility will be filled with special moments. For the seniors on the Utah soccer team, this weekend’s home games will be the most meaningful.
“[The seniors] are trailblazers,” head coach Rich Manning said. “I have been telling them for four years. They have some really special qualities, and they keep us grounded.”
There are eight seniors on this year’s team — Katie Taylor, Jill Robison, Sarah Duncan, Ashton Hall, Avery Jenkins, Monica Larsen, Darby Broeker and Cheyanne Mulcock. Theses seniors have dealt with ups and downs this season.
For Taylor, a highlight was when she capitalized in her last game against BYU. She buried a penalty kick to take the lead and beat the Cougars one last time.
Some of the seniors have been plagued with injuries. Larsen has not played a single game in her final season. Hall went down in the first home game which ended her season, and Robison had to miss a large chunk of time at the beginning of the season while she waited to be cleared.
“The players that have been injured this year have had the best attitudes,” Manning said. “They’ve given so much, they’re so talented, they love soccer and they contribute so much to the team.”
This group of seniors is especially important to Manning because he has known some of them since before they arrived at the U. Manning coached some of these athletes when they were in high school and in the Olympic development program.
They were also the first class to be recruited after the move to the Pac-12.
“They kind of signed on for this and showed a lot of faith in me, the program, the university and the athletic department,” Manning said. “We were coming off a couple really tough seasons where we didn’t do very well. So they have a special place in my heart for that.”
Duncan, who became a starter at the beginning of the season, has a lot of fond memories of her time with Utah. However, one sticks out a little more than the others.
“Last year when we tied UCLA on our field,” Duncan said. “I know a tie sounds anticlimactic, but that was a big game for us.”
Going into her final two home games as a Ute, each remaining game becomes that much more emotional. That said, Duncan would rather stay focused on the game at hand than let the emotions get to her.
“I really haven’t been thinking about it up until now,” Duncan said. “I’m not seeing it as a lost game. I’m seeing it as a good opportunity to go out with a bang.”
An important thing Manning wants for the seniors is for them to look back on their time with the program with pride.
Despite this weekend containing the last home games of the season, it is not the last chance these seniors will get to play. The Utes’ final match of the season will be played Nov. 7 on the road at Colorado.
“We’re doing everything we can to finish strong so that [the seniors] can go out on a high note,” Manning said.
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