LOGAN — The defending Mountain West tournament champion Utah State women’s soccer team were picked to finish second in the upcoming season in a vote done by the coaches of the conference. The Aggies received two first-place votes.
Utah State finished the 2023 season in second place in the standings behind only San Diego State, the regular season title winners — the Aztecs were picked to repeat that feat in the poll released earlier today. The Aggies went on to claim the conference tournament title, defeating Boise State in the semifinal and Colorado State in the championship bout. Expectations are high for the team and defender Kylie Olsen spoke about the pressure of those expectations in an exclusive interview on Full Court Press with Eric Frandsen and Jason Walker on 106.9 The FAN. According to Olsen, the team isn’t really feeling anxious over their high projections.
“I think it’s less pressure and more excitement and just kind of love for each other and the team and the coaches and what we’ve built this far,” Olsen said. “Coming in the season, it’s more about what more can we do than (what) we’ve already done.”
Head coach Manny Martins will lead the team as he enters his fourth season as manager. The Aggies have gone 35-19-12 under his guidance and have qualified for the conference tournament (only top six teams participate) in each of the previous three seasons. Martins is also the reigning Mountain West Coach of the Year.
Martins will benefit from the return of most of USU’s stars from last season, retaining nearly every key contributor aside from goalkeeper Dierra Walton and defender Kelsey Kaufusi, who both turned pro in the offseason. Top returners include 2023 First Team All-Mountain West midfielder Kaylie Chambers along with Second Team defender Kylie Olsen. Another returner is up-and-coming midfielder Summer Diamond who made the Mountain West All-Newcomer team as a true freshman last year.
The Aggies also have five fifth-year seniors who are exercising their right to an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 impacted 2020 season. Olsen is one of those and she was joined by Whitney Lopez, Addy Weichers, Alex Day and Rine Yonaha in making the decision to return.
“Most (of the seniors) who stayed had decided they wanted to stay before we’ve had a lot of success,” Olsen said. “Just knowing we might as well take the opportunities we have. And I think it amped us up even more once we did get our championship and success and just wanting to go even further this year.”
On the note of returning stars, the Mountain West released a “Players to Watch” list in lieu of a preseason all-conference team. Each team in the conference had three players on the list. For the Aggies, those players were Chambers, Olsen, and Weichers.
