University of North Texas Athletics
University of North Texas
Incarnate Word
Offensive Focus
8/16/2018 9:25:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Mean Green Want To Set A Tone On Offense In Regular Season Opener
DENTON — The defending Conference USA Tournament champion Mean Green soccer team begins its 2018 regular season with a home match versus Incarnate Word at 7 p.m. on Friday.
With a challenging non-conference slate ahead, North Texas will be aiming to set an explosive offensive tone against a team they've had considerable success against in recent memory.
During UNT's current run of four-straight conference titles, they have played Incarnate Word three time and have beaten them by a combined score of 9-0, including a 3-0 win in San Antonio last year.
"Setting an offensive tone is probably the most important thing for us right now," said sophomore Brooke Lampe. "We have to find the right chemistry that's going to help us find the back of the net. Plus we want to take the pressure off of our defense."
In its two exhibition matches — one of which was ended at halftime due to rain — UNT's defense was its standard stifling self and picked up relatively close to where it had finished last season, shutting out its three opponents in the conference tournament.
However, in the three exhibition halves, the Mean Green on the offensive end were shutout.
"Our team hopes to get an early goal against Incarnate Word," said senior Lauryn Bruffett. "We want to go at them with our speed."
As expected, in its exhibition matches, North Texas worked on finding the right combinations on the offensive end that would pair well with its signature defense that is returning its starting center backs.
Up front, the Mean Green return their primary starters as well as most of their key substitutions from last season's championship team but have added a couple freshmen pieces that in practice and in the exhibitions are earning playing time with their fitness.
Freshmen Olivia Klein and Amber Lyons have been featured in rotations during the exhibitions and both nearly scored goals in the games. Similar to Lampe, they are taller forwards who in the box can pose problems to opposing defenses but can also get out and run in transition when the defense makes a stop.
With Klein and Lyons entering the mix, together with the returning forwards who made up 31 of the team's 49 total goals last season, UNT is trying to take full advantage of its offensive pieces with a hope of claiming a fifth-straight conference championship.
"We have been working all week on finishing and setting up our offense," Lampe said. "I think we're making great strides in figuring out how we can use our strengths to our advantage, such as speed."
Last season when the Mean Green opened their regular season against Incarnate Word with a 3-0 win, two of the goals were scored by newcomers —Ariel Diaz and Natalie McDonough.
In the two exhibitions, Klein, Lyons and a number of other newcomers had excellent opportunities that just missed, but that won't cut it.
"Defense keeps you in games," Lampe said. "But we have to score if we're going to win and I think we have our heads are on straight and we are ready to dominate the play on offense just as much as we do defensively."
