Road to Success Will Require Patience and Persistence
Soccer team responding to Hagen's energy at the top
A two-way street. Not a quiet, country road by any stretch of the imagination, either.
It has been crowded. Bumper-to-bumper. At times, it moved at a crawl. At others, it felt pedal-to-the-metal and everyone hoped no one was suddenly going to hit the brakes.
Keeley Hagen welcomed a full roster to the very first practice of her inaugural season as Colorado State’s women’s soccer coach on Aug. 3. The first few days were primarily spent in an intense conditioning cycle. A few days later, the first install of her systems were starting to be implanted in the minds of her players.
Four days later, the Rams were implementing it in a game against Texas Tech, with a few key players on the sidelines. Five days later, they did it again with Northern Colorado in town. Those were exhibition matches, which suggests they didn’t count. At least not in the standings.
But for this group of coaches trying to learn a roster which includes 10 incoming freshmen, and a roster trying to figure out exactly what three new coaches were trying to teach them, they were crucial.
“It was like trying to drink water from a fire hose,” Hagen suggested.
Because now, after an intense trip down their own soccer informational super highway, the Rams are ready to play for real, facing in-state rival Colorado on the road Thursday at 4 p.m.
“That’s the biggest thing for us, the scrimmages are really awesome. Texas Tech and UNC were excellent teams for us,” sophomore defender Kenady Leighton said. “We’re still learning our formation and still figuring out positions and individual roles and basically our roles on the field. The scrimmages were extremely helpful just to get that under our belt and get that experience.”
They were, because no team learns a new system in less than two weeks. It is installed and run over and over again, but the comfort level is not going to come for a while. Hagen needed to watch intently to see how it played out in game action, and the players needed to see how far they’ve come in terms of recognizing what was happening at game speed and how to react and respond.
Texas Tech and Northern Colorado played differently, too, which was a bonus. They provided more simulations for the collective memory bank. Everybody was learning throughout both matches.
“I feel like obviously we’re trying to get to know each other as a team, with new freshmen coming in and transfers,” forward Caroline Lucas said. “The coaches too. We talked about it (Saturday), we’ve been on the field for nine days practicing. And yeah, there are days with two sessions, but nine days isn’t a lot of time to get it together. Every day we’re seeing improvements. We’re seeing improvement in fitness patterns. Even on the field, I think we connected more against UNC than Texas Tech.”
Work under Hagen is required. The non-negotiable elements of her program are effort and attitude. This was made clear with the first couple of days of practice being driven by testing their conditioning. As a bonus, the second exhibition provided an extra 20 minutes of play under a driving sun.
They will work, and it’s not what everybody sees on the field which is the most important. This is a message delivered to them in a side project, part of what has the players so willing to embrace all of the change.
She created a book club and has the team reading and discussing ‘Win in the Dark,’ written by Joshua Medcalf and Lucas Jadin, the latter of whom Hagen knows. The title speaks directly to her message.
“We’re actually doing a book study right now. You know, never would I think I would be in a book club, but it’s been super dope, getting our mentality right,” Lucas said. “It’s the mentality of being your best when nobody is watching.
“I think that’s a huge theme for our team. We’re talking about changing the mindset. We used to be like that program, we’re kind of new, we started in 2013. We’re trying to really drop that this season and be, we’re good. Let’s grind in the dark and when it’s our time under the lights, let’s do it.”
For this team, time will require their patience, but they’re also living life in the fast lane.
The change is a huge sparkplug in the whole operation. It makes you want to learn more. They get excited about things, they encourage us and it makes you want to come out here and get better every day.Caroline Lucas
A few weeks is not enough time, but Hagen shrugs that off, saying no matter the circumstances, no coach thinks they have enough time between the start of camp and the first match. She’s even shrugging off the obvious variables for her program.
The Rams played in the spring, not the fall. The coaching change was made in the summer. Both factors meant there was not the normal offseason camp to start the process. It goes back to another train of thought she gives the team: Control what they can.
The timing of everything involved was out of her hands. Everything moving forward is in their collective grasp.
“When you get a bunch of new freshmen in, even if I had been here five years, it wouldn’t be enough time,” she said. “Everyone is a freshman. It’s trying to evaluate and implement as soon as possible. I’ve told the team we have to progress and get better in each game.”
Each practice, too. Leighton feels like a freshman for the first time, because her debut season was not ideally drawn up with a global pandemic.
This is her second staff in two years of college soccer. That doesn’t derail her energy one bit, but rather it has enlightened her view of the game and what new knowledge is coming her way. She thinks every step of it has been fantastic. Even the new defensive system – the Rams’ backline is now three, not four -- which she believes no member of her team has ever employed.
“It’s definitely a big change. It’s a lot of responsibility for us in the back with our new formation, but it’s really exciting, because I think it’s going to create a lot of chances for us in the attacking third,” Leighton said. “Defensively, it’s different. Now we’re playing three in the back, so I’m the center back, so my job is communicating and shifting around the back line and making sure we’re all connected, and basically talking to everybody.
“That’s something I don’t think anybody on this team has ever played, but it’s also super exciting because we’re learning a lot of new things and learning our position. It’s really cool.”
Lucas believes the pandemic drained a lot of enthusiasm for the sport for many players, her being among that group. With Hagen’s arrival, she’s seeing the game in a new light.
For starters, she said Hagen personally takes a very positive approach to her work and her teaching. The staff being young produces a matching energy, which Lucas says the whole team can see. They have also started to express a care for team, on and off the field.
So, when the staff asks them to break an old habit or learn a new system, they’re more encouraged to put in the work.
“The change is a huge sparkplug in the whole operation,” Lucas said. “It makes you want to learn more. They get excited about things, they encourage us and it makes you want to come out here and get better every day.”
Which is exactly what has to continue. Hagen is encouraged by what she’s seen. Lucas herself knows nothing is perfect, but a lot of things are better. It’s a start.
Being prepared for the first exhibition match was a goal. Being better prepared for the second was another. The Rams expect to be further along when the games start to count in the standings. But it won’t stop. There must be a consistent and sustained growth process throughout the balance of the schedule.
“I think as long as the group stays on the same page with everyone knowing their role and we’re moving the ship forward, it’s baby steps and it’s progress,” Hagen said. “We’re looking for are we making progress day by day. That’s the thing. If we’re continuing to move up little by little, that’s encouraging.”
For instance, the Rams did not score against Texas Tech. Against Northern Colorado, Gracie Armstrong, the team’s returning leading goal scorer, found the net twice. What that did was blow away a huge black cloud which could have loomed darker heading into the season.
Even still, in the good, Hagen found a way for the team to think differently. In both instances, Armstrong’s goals tied the game. The next step is to get in front, stay in front and finish chances at a greater percentage.
Hagen is right. There will never be enough time. The road the Rams are on will always be the same. Players graduate, new faces replace them. In time, however, they will be greeted by those who are veterans behind the wheel, who can teach when to press the accelerator, when to tap the breaks.
When the Rams get there, the flow will move more rhythmically. But even now, there is no rage and no one is laying on the horn. A few may still be white-knuckling the 10-and-2 positions at times, but that’s to be expected. The goal is to eventually get to where the windows are rolled down, the music is loud and the drive is a simple Sunday outing.