With week four of school in the books it is time to check in with another one of our University’s sports teams. Last week we checked in with our men’s soccer team, and this week we are going to look at the women’s soccer team.

Last season, the UMass Boston women’s soccer team had a terrific season holding a record of 19–3–1. Those 19 wins marked a program record for wins in a season. Along with those 19 wins came a Little East Conference championship. Unfortunately, they would eventually go on to lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to the Stevens Institute of Technology.

This year obviously there will not be any games for the UMass Boston women’s soccer team. As a result due to Covid, UMass Boston will not get the opportunity to defend their LEC champions title this Fall.

UMass Boston women’s soccer coach, Amy Zombeck visited the Behind the Beacon podcast and talked about her team and how everything is going now that they are forced to be separate from each other during this time.

Here is what Zombeck had to say when she was asked about how she felt about losing this season. “It’s been really tough, these girls are a special group, they’re very focused on their academics, they all have great character and personalities and their compete level on the field is top notch and to not be able to defend our championship was really heartbreaking, but at the same time, my priority is keeping my players safe and healthy along with their families.”

Clearly it is tough to see an entire season go to waste, but to Zombeck it is always the players’ health that will hold priority to everything else and that is the way it should be. She also addressed how it is a bit frustrating knowing that some other Universities in their same are still getting the opportunity to practice as a team whereas everything for UMass Boston has to be separate. However, even though it is possible some teams may have a competitive advantage due to being able to practice as a group during this time, Coach Zombeck made it clear in the podcast that working hard while on your own is extremely vital during this time and it will show who was working hard on their own and who was not once they get back to team practices.

Coach Zombeck went on to talk about how she is trying to stay in contact with her players, saying “It’s tough no matter what, we try with zoom having meetings with the team and touching base through FaceTime and text messaging and group stuff to keep connected. There is nothing that compares to seeing them in person and that’s the toughest part.”

It is clear to see that having face to face interaction is very important to Coach Zombeck and her team. Being able to build and maintain team chemistry will be vital though these trying times and Coach Zombeck has put in a lot of effort to do just that through various zoom meetings.

This semester will undoubtedly be tough for all the UMass Boston teams, but for the women’s soccer team, not having a season this fall really stings. Considering they were gearing up to defend the conference title, this was going to be a big year. So here’s hoping this group will get the opportunity to defend their title as soon as possible because we already know that Coach Zombeck will have them ready to do just that and more.