KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women’s soccer team begins a new era on Thursday, when the Broncos travel to Butler to take on the Bulldogs at 7 p.m.
The match will be the first of the regular season under the new head coach Lewis Robinson, who was named to the position back on June 30. WMU also travels to Notre Dame on Sunday to take on the Fighting Irish at noon. Sunday’s game can be watched live on ACC Network Extra, while Thursday’s game at Butler will not be streamed.
The Broncos are coming off a pair of exhibition matches, going 1-0-1 against Purdue Fort Wayne and Wright State. WMU opened with a draw at home against the Beacons, with a junior forward Jenna Blackburn tallying both of the team’s goals in the 2-2 final. In the win on the road against the Raiders, with was Reagan Wisser, Madi Canada and Madison Salzenstein netting goals in the 3-0 decision.
Robinson had less than two months to get to know and evaluate the team.
“It’s been learning a lot of strengths, a lot of areas to improve, the characteristics of the team and individual players and their motivations,” said Robinson on his evaluation of his time with the team so far. “It’s been a really good first couple of weeks in trying to lay the groundwork for how we’d like to play, how we want to play and what is really important to us.”
RETURNING FIREPOWER
Blackburn is the team’s top returning scorer. The Grand Blanc, Mich., native had a breakout season in 2021 with a career-high six goals. She was an efficient scorer for the team, tallying her six on just 27 total shots. Classmate Cas Flanagan is the second top returning scorer after finishing with a career-high 10 points on four goals and two assists last season.
WELCOME BACK
Midfielder Claudia Schilling and left back Kai Sugiyama return for their fifth year with the Broncos. Schilling played in all 18 games last season and started in 17. She had a career-best seven points on two goals and one assist, while logging 1,002 minutes. No one played more than Sugiyama, who had a team-high 1,550 minutes played. She contributed two assists while helping contribute to five shutouts.
Also returning is a graduate student Hannah Sargent. Sargent last played for the Broncos during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season that was played in the Spring of 2021. She went 6-0-0 with just three goals allowed in 463:53 total time between the sticks. Her best season came back in 2018, when she tied the program record for wins in a season with 14, while also recording seven shutouts.
OH CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS
The Broncos will be led this season by Schilling, Sugiyama and junior centerback Lexi Nicholebut Robinson sees a team of leaders.
“We have a lot of leadership on the team. There’s a really good team chemistry, with some good internal leadership from our captains Kia, Lex and Claudia. They’re good people and strong leaders. They know what they want, they’ve been through a lot here and I think that’s created some strong leadership qualities in them.
“We’ve got some other great leaders on this team, too. Lauren Boafa is a leader, she’s a natural personality. We’ve got Hannah Sargent back, who is a leader and a sixth-year student. Mira Pierre-Webster is one of the best leaders you’ll see as a soccer player. She’s just natural and is always going to be a leader in the way she walks and talks and carries herself. It’s really nice to have leaders all over the field and I think that will be a strength of the team this year.”
NON-CONFERENCE GAUNTLET
The Broncos have a tough schedule over the first few weeks of the season with trips to Butler, Notre Dame, Arkansas and Marquette. The Broncos also travel to Detroit Mercy, while hosting Cincinnati on Thursday, Sept. 8 and Oakland on Sunday, Sept. 11.