Utah State Soccer Ranked in Top 25 United Soccer Coaches Poll

[Music] the reigning Mountain West champions are kicking off the soccer season in a big way Utah State women's soccer has now completed four shutouts in four contests so far the Aggies making their Mark against Big 12 opponents and are now ranked in the top 25 United soccer coaches poll welcome to the Mountain West Network everyone so excited to have you here and with a season starting out like this we had to take the time to sit down with Coach Martins today from Utah State coach Martin thank you so very much for joining us how are you feeling today uh I'm I'm feeling pretty good right it'd be hard not to uh with this start to the season um you know so trying to keep that balance of enjoying the the the little victories and and taking steps forward and trying to stay grounded because still a long season and a lot of work to be done yeah and Coach your most recent win was Wednesday night against Utah winning 2-n take me back to that matchup and what the energy was like well it was uh we knew it was going to be a tough battle I mean they have a really good team I I actually say you know we've played them every year since I've been here we play twice a year in the fall in a spring and they've always had good teams I feel like this might actually be their best team so far that we've had to play against um it was a really really physical battle was was intense there was some abs and flows to the game we had moments where we were more on the front foot moments where they were um but uh but in the end I mean it was nice that we were able to to get two nice goals kept us shut out um so it was great it was great but but we knew it was going to be a tough challenge because they always are coach Martins for the first time in program history Utah State women's soccer has been ranked in the top 25 in the United soccer coaches poll it's been big news this week what does this recognition mean for the team and what was the reaction from the ladies yeah it was was really really nice I mean uh when you when you get that level of recognition it sort of reaffirms the work that you you're doing you know it adds a little uh um what's the word I'm looking for almost a little validation um but in the end I mean it's it's really early it's nice but uh but you know you know if in a couple weeks it's all flipped upside down then it means nothing so we just got to stay focused continue to work hard well that confidence on the field truly shows up and those four shutouts truly prove it you had Texas Tech Utah last night and then you have BYU on the Horizon Coach I guess what does it mean for you guys or what do you think has changed in this season being just that defensive player and the opponent that just is hard to score on yeah I I mean I think the confidence comes from you know big part of it just the experience we do have a a veteran group with a lot of experience we spend a lot of time together so it's something we've been building over the last three years I mean the experience of having you know Kylie Olsen and Addie Wickers and Alysa Butters Alex Day who by the way had an incredible game yesterday Caitlyn richens these are all players who've been with us for a long time have worked together and uh you know that in itself I think builds a lot of confidence um and then as far as our ability to score it's just you know we had young players that have now also spent time developing chemistry getting comfortable in their roles and responsibilities um and you know as their confidence grows things start to click so so we have a pretty good rhythm going on right now love to see that Rhythm getting going coach let's not forget you guys are also defending Mountain West champions how has that shaped this program with the agies women's soccer well again it goes back to validation for the work we've been doing um you know when we first started uh preseason a week into it it just felt like we were so far ahead of where we typically are at that point um I remember telling the team I said I said listen don't this doesn't mean a lot you know because we're just getting started but it feels like we're in a team that I we haven't been before um and so these performances and obviously results are starting to uh to really help U help them believe in it um and then obviously the having won the mount West tournament last year it just really was the foundation for that belief on the horizon as I mentioned BYU that game is coming up on Saturday how are you preparing the team for this instate yet another instate rivalry matchup what are you telling them maybe in the locker room before they head out onto the field well you know we always we always said ever since I've been here it's always about us we um you know if I'm honest I haven't really even spent a minute on BYU because we take it one game at a time and today still about us we got to review our game see where where we can get better from uh from this last game and then tonight I'll probably be up all night uh because I have to watch enough of viu just so that we can then summarize what we need to summarize for the team but it's really going to be about us one thing I you know BYU are always very good Utah is everyone we play are very good one thing that uh no one can be better than us is that being dagis so as long as we are the best version of ourselves we're always going to have a chance and that's going to be the goal we're GNA we're going to prepare figure out what are the the the key factors about our identity that will be important for Saturday and then we'll go out and give it our best yeah well coach Martins thank you so much for taking the the time to sit down and chat with us definitely looking forward to the work the Aggies do this coming Saturday it's been such a fun start to the season for sure you guys are taking on number 16 BYU that will be on ESPN Plus at 8:00 p.m. mountain time from the Mountain West Network Studio I'm Carly Drew [Music]