Cowgirl soccer is already off to a rocky start to their season, even after beating BYU, the third ranked team in the nation, in a pre-season scrimmage and tying a tough Washington team on the road to open their regular season. Both were nice accomplishments for a team that went just 2-7-2 in conference play last year and is under a new head coach, but the Cowgirls struggled in a road contest against Colorado where they’d lose 5-1 to start the regular season with one tie and one loss.
Josh Purdum, the new head soccer coach, spent last year as an assistant coach in Fort Collins for the Colorado State women’s soccer team. When the opportunity arose, he took a chance at the head job in Laramie and has since become the sixth head women’s soccer coach in school history.
“From the outside looking in, this is a very competitive program,” Purdum said. “And for this to be my first opportunity, I couldn’t be more grateful, especially where the program is at the moment.”
Purdum was able to retain a majority of the Cowgirl roster from a year ago, including Bartel, something he noted as one of his biggest reasons to make the trip from Fort Collins to coach in Laramie.
“When any coach leaves, it’s an opportunity to transfer out or find new experiences,” Purdum said, “But all of them stayed and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”
The Cowgirls have also opened with a difficult schedule which has already tested them, something they see as an opportunity to show what they’re made of off the bat, especially considering the media picked the Cowgirls to finish 11th in the Mountain West.
“We’re excited to have the level of competition that we have on the front end of our schedule,” Purdum said. “It’s an opportunity for us to continue to grow and implement what we want heading into conference [play].”
The Cowgirls will open conference play September 26, with a road tilt at Colorado College, at which point the Cowgirls hope to have found their identity on the field. However, with all the experience still on the roster that has experienced all the highs and lows of Cowgirl soccer the past two years, the Cowgirls are anything but inexperienced and are not ready to let this season slip away like it had last year.
“The seniors have come in with a chip on their shoulder, they want to leave on a high note,” Purdum said. “We’re excited for them, they’re in a good spot to potentially push this program forward.”
