The Roger Williams University Women's Soccer team returns to play this fall with one thing on their mind: a championship. Following a 2019 season that saw them enter the postseason as the number two seed and reach the semifinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament, the Hawks saw their 2020 season cancelled. Now, with a good blend of veteran leadership and youth, the team enters 2021 seeking its sixth CCC title in the Tim Moody era and eighth overall.
 
Despite the year-long hiatus, the standards remain the same.
 
"Our program offers student-athletes the opportunity to excel against quality competition and test themselves against the best teams the region has to offer," Head Coach Tim Moody said. "Our games and competition cannot come soon enough."
 
The 2019 season marked the Women's Soccer program's 15^th consecutive appearance in the CCC Tournament as they finished the campaign with a record of 13-8-1, making it their eighth winning season in nine tries under Moody's guidance.
 
The Hawks' roster figures to feature a strong blend of youth and experience as they have a number of returning upperclassmen who will play alongside some exciting underclassmen who will be getting their first tastes of a true collegiate soccer season.
 
"We are extremely happy with this year's incoming class and are excited to see the returning sophomores back on campus," Moody said. "Our 2021 recruiting class is filled with quality players from top premier soccer clubs from around New England, New York, and New Jersey."
 
Moody also reiterated that despite what he has seen in the past, every season is different and so nothing is a given.
 
"They (the players) are all even at this point coming into preseason," Moody said. "We have several sophomores who will be challenging the upperclassmen for playing time along with the freshmen class. Internal, friendly competition is crucial in player development."

Offense
On offense, Roger Williams ranked second in the conference in goals per game averaging 1.95 per contest in 2019 and they should be in good hands with the junior striking duo of Bianca Robbins and Leah Yucius. As freshmen two years ago, they finished second and third on the team in points scored respectively.
 
Robbins finished the season with 15 points to rank 12^th in the CCC. She did so by scoring the eighth-most goals in the conference with seven along with one assist and a quality .194 shooting percentage. Meanwhile, Yucius, finished 15^th in the CCC with 13 points on five goals and three assists.
 
The senior midfield trio of Kelly Yadoff, Maggie Hickey, and Sarina Olson should also make an impact as distributers. In 2019, attackers Hickey and Olson were tied for second on the Hawks with three assists each while Yadoff, the center-forward, scored a trio of goals on the season.
 
Defense
Defensively, the Hawks ranked sixth in the CCC in goals-against average in 2019 with a mark of 1.62 but that dropped to 1.30 goals-against in conference play, a mark that ranked fourth in the conference.  
 
The Hawks project to feature an interesting group of defensive backs led by senior Kiera Garrett. Despite returning from injury, Garrett looks to anchor the defense as the center defender after playing in 16 games with three starts in her career. The only other defender who has seen collegiate action is junior Mollie Feldman who played in five games as a reserve during her freshman season before opening eyes in spring scrimmages. In addition, six freshmen defenders and sophomore Jen Donohue may also factor into the defense.
 
That group will be reinforced by defensive minded midfielders Cassidy Collins and Sammy Jost. The junior Collins appeared in 16 games with five starts in 2019 while the senior Jost played and started in 18 games for RWU.
 
Goalkeeping
Time in net will be split between the senior duo of Morgan McCutcheon and Morgan Strassburg and junior Sami Brody for the Roger Williams. McCutcheon and Strassburg both saw plenty of game action in 2019.
 
"Each goalkeeper has their own strengths," Moody said. "This will give them the opportunity to be the first-choice starter when conference and playoffs matches start in late September."
 
In 2019, Strassburg played in 16 games, 13 of them starts and piled up 90 saves with a .783 save percentage and 1.81 goals-against average. McCutcheon played less, appearing in 12 games with nine starts, but she also made 52 saves with an .813 save percentage and 1.33 goals-against average. Brody enters her first season in Bristol after transferring in from Division II Franklin Pierce University last fall.
 
2021 CCC Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll

	Team	Points (First Place Votes)
1.	University of New England	90 (2)
2.	Gordon	85 (3)
3.	Endicott	81 (3)
4.	Roger Williams	78 (1)
5.	Western New England	58
6.	Salve Regina	43
7.	Curry	36 (1)
8.	Suffolk	35
9.	Wentworth	33
10.	Nichols	11

 
Overall
Despite all that is unknown, there is still plenty of intrigue and expectations for this year's Women's Soccer squad.
 
"We play for first place, to win championships, and to be the best we can." Moody said.
 
The Hawks return to action by hosting Framingham State University on Wednesday, September 1^st at Bayside Field. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM.