Sacramento State’s women’s soccer team is projected to finish third in the Big Sky Conference, two spots lower than last year’s preseason coaches’ poll, despite barely missing the playoffs last season and winning the Big Sky Conference Tournament two seasons ago.

The Hornets also advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history during Randy Dedini’s first season as head coach in 2007.

Dedini aims to return to the Big Sky Tournament in 2009.

“Having missed the playoffs last year made everyone realize just how important those conference games are,” Dedini said.

Dedini’s approach to getting back into conference play involves staying focused throughout the course of the season.

Sac State is prepared to be a contender in the very physical Big Sky Conference. The Hornets begin conference play on Oct. 9 with a game against the second-ranked Northern Arizona. Northern Arizona was an opponent the Hornets could not beat last season.

“League games are so competitive. Sometimes it comes down to who wants it more,” Dedini said.

The Hornets hope to maintain the motivation necessary to make it through conference games playing their best soccer.

Dedini feels that the team is more mature than last year with senior captains Kim Kemper, Christina Trenton and Ashley Forbes returning. Kemper earned a first team Big Sky honor, while Forbes and Trenton received honorable mentions. Kemper was the second-consecutive Hornet to win the Big Sky Golden Boot award, which is given to the Big Sky Conference’s leading scorer.

Dedini is relying heavily on his captains to supply leadership by keeping the team focused and ensuring everyone is on the same page. Another role Dedini has for his captains are keeping the team chemistry strong to guarantee the team plays well together. He expects junior midfielder Cori Shreves to make a bigger impact this year and goalkeeper Savannah Abercrombie to continue to provide strong defense.

The Hornets will have plenty of players who can contribute off the bench, with a good freshman class coming in and nearly all players healthy.

With the exception of two injuries to Laura Bonner, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury, and Shea Roberts, who is expected to return to her spot on the lineup once she has recovered from a broken collarbone, Sac State is healthy going into the season. Roberts is considered to be the team’s strongest transfer player and should make a bigger impact on the defensive line once she is at 100 percent. She played in Sunday’s season opener against UC Davis in which ended in a double-overtime 1-1 tie. Roberts took one shot in the draw.

“I would have liked to finish more scoring opportunities, but (Sac State) makes it hard to do that. They covered the field well defensively, so we had to take more dangerous shots than I would have liked,” UC Davis head coach MaryClaire Robinson said.

The two exhibition games the team has played so far this year gave the coach a chance to establish how they want to play with the new additions and returning players. They tied with CSU Stanislaus 0-0 and lost to Chico State 1-0. Dedini’s priority was to give the players a good look.

“This is the time for us to get a look at players that may not get a lot of time during the season and see where we are at,” Dedini said.

Early summer games provide the team an opportunity to figure out what works in regard to which players to use and to incorporate summer training into game situations.

“The newcomers fit well with the team and the freshman players are doing well even though it is early in the season. The team has plenty of room to grow,” Forbes said.

With scheduled rematches against three opponents they lost to last season – UC Santa Barbara, Fresno State and San Jose State – the Hornets will have plenty of chances to redeem themselves.

The Hornets are already turning heads within the Big Sky Conference. Many can see that Sac State is better than their Big Sky Conference preseason ranking.

“(Sac State) was picked third instead of first (in the preseason Big Sky Conference standings) because coaches tend to rate the regular season and tournament champions from the previous year highly. (In 2008) Sac State was coming off of a season where they won both the regular season and conference tournament championship. The preseason ratings are just a guess anyways,” Northern Colorado head coach Tim Barrera said.

“(Sac State is good at) finding the open player, and they do a great job at making the other team press too much when they are trailing (against the Hornets),” Robinson said.

Dedini has full confidence in his 2009 squad.

“Winning this year is a matter of using the talent we have to its fullest potential, taking advantage of in-game opportunities and getting the ball to the back of the net,” Dedini said.

“(We) plan on taking the season one game at a time in order to stay focused on their primary objective: winning Big Sky Conference games. Following the high expectations of last year’s number 1 rank in the Big Sky Conference made the team realize how important motivation is to ending the season on a good note,” Dedini said.

Jeondra Arrington can be reached at [email protected]