New-Look Trojans Seek to Improve on Successful 2014

LITTLE ROCK – The 2015 season begins on Friday for the Little Rock Trojans, and along with a brand new name comes an almost entirely new roster.
 
Twenty new faces have joined the Trojans this year, comprising 71 percent of the total roster. And more than half of the roster this year is freshmen, making the upcoming season one with a few questions marks.
 
With many established starters gone, nearly two dozen student-athletes looking to take their place and plenty of energy carrying over from the first winning season in team history, the 2015 campaign should be an exciting one for Little Rock's Team.
 
"When we started practice the first couple of nights, it was really clear that this was a group that can pass the ball," third-year coach Adrian Blewitt said. "I think we can play an attractive style of play this year. We can keep the ball, and possess the ball and be quite creative in certain areas of the field which we haven't done in the past couple of years. We're quite deep as well. We're just very, very young and very, very new."
 
The 20 new players are getting plenty of help integrating from the seven returning players.
 
"My freshman year, we had 15 new players and we just had to sit by ourselves and get to know people," said junior defender Hali Long. "Now that we're older and we've been through that, we know what they're going through. It's easier to understand how they're feeling and bring them in so they feel welcome."
 
The team has had just about two weeks of full practices, starting their official practices on August 6 as the team came together in Little Rock. And unlike most Sun Belt Conference teams, the Trojans were unable to have practices as a group over the summer.
 
But despite being organized for such a short amount of time, Little Rock is already coming together and making big strides every day in practice. When the season opens at Tennessee Tech on Friday, Blewitt will be bringing a positive, unified group to the field.
 
"The unity of the team is fantastic," Blewitt said. "I love the attitudes and the optimism. We're very, very positive about how practice is going. Just a really good energy about the team."
 
GOALKEEPERS
With Bre Ilkuf departing in the off-season, junior Sara Cavanagh takes over as the most experienced keeper on the roster. Cavanagh had a tremendous 0.91 goals against average last season, finishing fourth in the Sun Belt in that category while breaking the Trojans' school record. She played 695 minutes in 2014, just under half of the total for the Trojans. Also coming back this year will be Shara Robbins, a junior who has seen action in two games in her career.
 
New to the goalkeeping corps this year are Sara Small and Brooke McCluskey. Small, a transfer from Wake Forest, served as a backup during her time with the Demon Deacons and will be eager to crack the starting lineup in Little Rock. McCluskey is a freshman from Utah who will also be looking to make an impact in her first year with the Trojans.
 
"[More goalies] brings a lot of competition, which is good," Cavanagh said. "You need competition and people to make you want to try to do better and better and better. Bringing in all these new people, it is upping the competition and making things tougher. You need that to want to excel."
 
FORWARDS
The forwards had plenty to be excited about last season, as Fali Garuba and Quin Wilkes debuted to great success while helping the Trojans break their single-season record for goals scored. Garuba was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team after a year where she led the team in goals (9) and points (23), picking up three game-winning goals along the way. Fellow freshman Wilkes was also tremendous finishing with the ball, picking up six goals and three assists for 15 points. She tallied two game-winning goals, giving Little Rock skill up front and a great finishing touch.
 
With Garuba and Wilkes both sophomores this year, the Trojans also add Shannon Shields as a pure forward. The junior from Pima Community College will be a big addition to the attacking group, as she was an NJCAA First-Team and NSCAA Second-Team All-American at Pima.
 
"Up front we've got a nice addition with Shannon Shields who's got a nice left foot and good athleticism," Blewitt said, "but we're still looking at Fali and Quin up top who I think are going to be very, very good players in this conference for the rest of their careers."
 
Other players who may see action in the attacking positions this year are established junior Mikayla Uyokpeyi as well as newcomers Talia Graves and Sairra Tucker. All those players except Tucker will be hybrid midfielder/forwards. Tucker is a defender/forward.

MIDFIELDERS
The midfield will be a crowded and deep position for the Trojans in 2015 as seven players on the roster are listed as pure midfielders while five more are combination midfielders. Of those 12 players, just two are back from last year: Uyokpeyi and Kayla Turner.
 
Both juniors, Turner and Uyokeypi are talented offensively and in passing that ball. Uyokpeyi led the Trojans in assists last season, racking up six in her sophomore season and finishing with 10 total points thanks to two goals. Turner, meanwhile, was limited slightly due to injury last year but still managed to play in 14 games and record an assist. In her freshman year, Turner picked up a goal in her first-ever collegiate game.
 
Like every other position on the team, midfield will have its competitions this season as new players fight for playing time.
 
"We've passed the ball around very, very nice in the midfield," Blewitt said. "We've got some players who are actually technically very good with the ball at their feet."
 
New players on the roster who will be pure midfielders include Kayla Bell, Jacqueline Borucki, Claire Palmer, Harrison Hayworth, Jaclyn Purvine and NSCAA High School All-American Caitlyn Eddy. Of that group, all but Bell are freshmen. Also seeing time as midfielders this year will be Arola Aparicio Gili, Bailey Fithian, Josie Verslues and Graves.
 
"This year is definitely different, but I think our midfield is really strong," Turner said. "Learning how to play together and learning how people play is really different, and we're still getting used to it. But there's a lot of new girls who are really going to come on this year. … We all play together well already. It's been the best it's ever been since I've been here. Everyone's really close."
 
DEFENDERS
The Trojans' back line is almost entirely new this year, as the team lost three of its four main defenders from the 2014 season. Returning to anchor the defense this year is Long, a junior who is learning to be more vocal and lead a group of six other pure defenders and four others who will see some time defending.
 
With former Trojan defender Kailie Holloway coming back as an assistant coach this year, Long says she is learning how to lead with her voice.
 
"Kailie Holloway has been helping and communicating a lot," Long said. "It really helps hearing her out here. She's kind of trying to make me into a mini her, especially vocally. She was very vocal and I'm trying to be that way."
 
Joining Long on the back line as pure defenders will be England natives Liz Berkeley and Naomi James and Americans Logan Strange, Nora Hellmers, Madi Motil and Deyaris Perez. Hybrid defenders include Tucker, Fithian, Verslues and Aparicio.
 
As with the rest of the roster, it is a young but talented group. Nine of the 11 total defenders are freshmen athletically.
 
"It's been really exciting," Long said. "It's gone really well. I was kind of scared with new players, but we've all done really well and gotten along really well."
 
SCHEDULE
The Trojans opened the 2014 season on a historic 9-0 run, breaking the school record for consecutive wins to begin a season by any team in any sport in Little Rock history. However, that celebrated mark was boosted by playing multiple games against weaker competition.
 
The 2015 non-conference schedule offers no such cushion.

"Last year was a suitable schedule for what our goals were, and we wanted to have the first winning season in program history," Blewitt said. "There are no confidence boosters in our games this year."
 
Little Rock will be taking on three teams from a major conference this year, facing Oklahoma, Texas and Ole Miss all on the road. Combine them with established mid-major teams in Belmont, Murray State, Missouri State and Central Arkansas, and the 2015 schedule looks much more daunting than the one seen in 2014.
 
"Obviously we've got the likes of Texas and Oklahoma and Ole Miss where we're going to go there and fight like dogs and see what we might be able to do against some of those teams," Blewitt said. "It's a great schedule, hopefully it's a schedule that's going to prepare us for the second half of the season. We'll be a much better team in about six weeks' time when we start conference games."
 
Those conference games begin on Sept. 25 when the team travels to Texas State, and the slate of Sun Belt games continues through Oct. 25 with a road contest at Troy. If all goes well, the Trojans will be taking on the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the third consecutive year, this time hosted by Georgia State in early November.
 
It all adds up to a Trojan team with lots to learn but lots of promise. By the end of the year, the players, formation and tactics may look completely different from how they look when the season begins on Friday.
 
"It takes time to establish how you want to play, to get used to playing with each other," Blewitt said. "We can't be in a rush to get to the place where we want to be. It's gonna take time, but I love the group that we've got."
 
This new-look Trojan team is up to the challenge and is ready to improve on a 2014 year that was already the best Little Rock has ever seen.
 
"We have big shoes to fill for ourselves, Long said. "Last year was really great, but I think we're going to even better this year. I'm really excited for it."