Table of Contents Quick Facts - University of Idaho Athletics

2008 Season Outlook
The Idaho women improved by five
games from the 2006 season into
2007. In 2008, the Vandals will look
to take the next step in the team’s
development and get even better in
Head Coach Peter Showler’s fourth
season at the helm.
Since the 2007 squad had just
a pair of seniors, nearly the entire
Idaho squad will return to the pitch in
2008. All but one of last year’s starters
will be back, while 18 of its 24 letterwinners
will also return. Idaho also
adds six talented newcomers whom
Showler hopes will add an extra boost
to the solid group of veterans.
Particularly exciting for Showler is the fact that his team returns every
player who either scored a goal, assisted a goal or tallied a save
last season. The team’s top two goal-scorers, Jennifer Hull and Anna
Edmonds, are both just sophomores, while the team’s two assist
leaders, Britta Rustad and Hayley Henry, are both seniors.
Experience figures to be a factor for the 2008 Vandals, which enter
the season with a combined 302 starts to their credit, for an average
of 16.8 starts per returner. Compare that to 174 combined starts and
a 10.9 average from the 2007 squad.
After his freshman class jumped right in and contributed immediately
last season, Showler hopes the 2008 group can duplicate those
results this season.
The most important thing for the team to do this coming season,
according to Showler is to maintain
its consistency throughout games
and to continue to compete and
improve.
“Five wins isn’t fantastic, but it was
the most we’ve had in the last seven
seasons and it was a step in the
right direction,” Showler said. “Now
we’ve got to come out and expect to
be better consistently - week in and
week out.”
Showler’s stance regarding starting
spots has remained the same in each
of this three years at Idaho and for
the upcoming season, nothing has
changed.
“Every player here will be competing for a starting spot on August
7,” Showler said. “They’ve got two weeks before out first game to
prove that they belong in that starting 11.”
“I have no idea what my starting 11 will be, which is a good thing
because I want that in my team’s mind that they need to prove
themselves at every single practice and every single game.”
Goalkeepers
Few positions for Idaho look as
solid as goalkeeper does entering
the 2008 season. Not only do
the Vandals return junior Anna
Sandman, who set school records
in saves (92) and shutouts
(6) last season, but they also
add highly-regarded freshman
keeper Liz Boyden, who has experience
as a U.S. national team
member in the Olympic Development
Program. Senior Michelle
Jordan has also performed well
between the pipes for the past
three seasons and Showler said
that she continues to improve every season.
Sandman started off the season on a roll last year, allowing just
two goals in the first four games and earning three shutouts. Her
solid defense kept the Vandals in most games and her shutout of
San Jose State in a clutch game at the end of the season helped
keep Idaho in the hunt for a Western Athletic Conference tournament
berth.
As always, Showler says that there will always be competition for
that starting role protecting the Vandal net.
“Anna, based on last year, has a good shot at earning that spot
again, but she knows that she can’t rest on her laurels and that
2008 Outlook
University of Idaho