Women’s soccer gets off to fast start at home, looks to continue

The 2010 Vikings soccer team is here, and they mean business.

Entering his fifth season as head coach, Brandon Barkus is pushing his team to pursue three simple goals: first, be the hardest working team on the field. Second, make it to the NCAA tournament. And finally, he wants his players to perform at their highest possible level.

Using these goals, Barkus is making progress towards starting a new tradition and instilling a sense of confidence in his team.

"Barkus does a great job of getting us in shape and pushing us to give our best," said senior Stephanie Goos.  "He always tells us that we should never lose because we have been outworked.  He does a great job of that."

The Vikings are 2-3-2 this season, including a recent 2-1 win over the University of Mary and a 1-1 tie against Northern State University.

"We are eager to show that we aren't a middle-of-the pack team anymore," said Barkus.  "These girls work very hard.  They are the hardest working team I've had and it should pay off down the stretch."

Goos, along with junior Kate Timmons and senior Jill Goodrich, are serving as this year's team captains. They are excited to watch the team continue to grow and perform.

"We have some talent with this squad," said Goos.  "Even the freshman are great.  We have recruited better players and the competition is pretty intense."

Senior Katie Shandri, who leads the team with four goals, was named as Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

Next weekend, the Vikings are home against Wayne State, and look to build on their 2-0-2 start to conference play.

"We have a tough conference," Goos said, "but we have good potentional to win the conference."