Sanchez, Cowgirls ready to go

UW photo
First-year Wyoming head coach Danny Sanchez talks to his team during a recent practice.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Danny Sanchez felt a little out of place Friday during the annual UW Fall Media Days in the War Room of the Rochelle Athletic Center.

After talking to a few reporters out on Jonah Field before the banquet, Sanchez also had to speak to a nice crowd in the War Room.

Coming from Metro State University, he just wasn’t used to all of the attention.

“I’ve coached for 13 years in college soccer and this is my first media day ever,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez, however, brought in a “bring it on” attitude, not only for the media, but for his players.

“We have a great group coming back. They have worked hard,” Sanchez said “We’re excited about the direction the program is going. It’s been an uphill battle, but fortunately for us, we have a lot of returning players that can help us win.”

Not only has he established control on the field, first in the spring and now since the fall drills began this week, he wants his players to be in control off the field.

“For me personally, how we do things, how we carry ourselves, those are the big things,” Sanchez said. “The team has bonded, and as far as training, we’ve tried to establish the tempo in training that is as realistically game as possible. That has gone pretty well.

“They are pretty good young ladies, they take care of themselves, they take care of business in the classroom, so fortunately for me, we are able to focus on the soccer and building the program.”

Much of the team stayed in Laramie this summer and that helped the transition into fall drills.

“The first three days have been productive, I feel,” Sanchez said. “We play next Friday and our first real game is in two weeks. There isn’t a lot of time, so we have to be ready to go.”

Sanchez, who won a pair of Division II national titles at Metro State, where he was 128-11-7 overall, took over for the departed Anne Moore just in time for spring drills. He was able to set a tone then, but he said it is now where all that work has to play off.

“Fortunately for us, we had the majority of the team here with us during the spring,” Sanchez said. “But spring is different. I’ve had players in the past in spring where she was horrible, but she comes back in the fall and is an All-American and we’ve had kids who looked dynamite in the spring and they can’t kick straight in the fall.

“It’s good in the spring, but it is all about what they do in the fall. There will be a couple of weeks into the season of a learning curve of still establishing the last few roles. The core players, their role have been established. The rest of the players, they are going from never playing to starting. Those are the ones who will take a little more time to develop.”

Sanchez has eight starters and 15 letterwinners back from last year’s team that finished 9-10-0 overall and 4-3 in the Mountain West Conference. Wyoming, however, has never won a game in the MWC Tournament.

Sanchez said he isn’t the kind of coach who writes goals on the chalkboard, but he said it is obvious that their main goal is to get to the MWC tournament and have success in post-season play.

“There is no guarantee for that. There have been some very good teams in the last few years that haven’t made it. Once you get there, anything can happen,” he said. “You look at UNLV a couple of years ago. They are the sixth seed, but a couple of Pks in overtime and they are in the NCAA Tournament. That has catapulted them to where they won the regular season last year. For us, it is just establishing what we want to get done and for them to buy it. I’d say so far, that has been successful.”

Leading the way for the “Cowgirls this season are three seniors -- defender Laine Hubbard, midfielder Amanda Lathrop and forward Tamika Wilson. Lathrop was a second team all-conference performer and Wilson was the MWC co-Offensive Player of the Year.

“We’re real happy with our captains. Laine will be a four-year starter, so we’re looking for her to tackle a little more. She is very dangerous going forward,” Sanchez said. “Obviously, Amanda will be a four-year starter as well, and we’re looking for her to upgrade things ever more as a senior. I think she has been the most impressive player in camp so far, by far. Tamika had a great junior year, so now it is what does she do with that? Does she rest on that or does she move forward? There is a sense of urgency with the seniors. This is it for them.”

Other key players, Sanchez said, include senior goalkeeper Jamie Scarcliff and junior midfielder Jamie Layton.

“We’re very competitive in goal with Jamie Scarcliff, who was part-time starter for three years,” he said. “We have a very talented freshman there, too. That race is wide open.

“Emily Layton, we’re looking for her to get back to her freshman form and really be more of a dominating player. She had an off sophomore year, but now she’s a junior, we expect her to really pick it up.”

The Cowgirls will face Fort Lewis in an exhibition Friday (4 p.m.) at the UW Soccer Stadium. Wyoming then hits the road Aug. 22 at Western Michigan, before returning home on Aug. 24 against Bryant University.