Gonzaga Women begin spring slate against WSU March 23, host 7v7 April 27

Teams from throughout the region gather at GU for annual 7-v-7 event | Photos: Gerald Barnhart

The Gonzaga women are just over a week away from kicking off their spring slate of friendlies, which will be capped off by their annual 7-v-7 event featuring schools around the region and alumni.

GU played EWU spring and fall last year

The schedule of spring matches kicks off in two weeks when the Zags play host to Washington State University at 10 am. With a friendly against the men's club team in between, the next friendly will be against Spokane-are foe Eastern Washington University on April 13. They wrap the full-sided slate on the road the following week against Seattle University.

A week later, April 27, Gonzaga plays host to their 7-v-7 event which will include teams from Central Washington University, EWU, Walla Walla University, Community Colleges of Spokane and alumni from GU, CWU and EWU.

"We are excited to have been invited back," said CC Spokane women's head coach Jim Martinson, who led the Bigfoot to the NWAACC Final last fall after ending the nine-year reign of the division by Walla Walla CC.

"With several of our players wanting to move on and play after leaving the community college, this tournament is a great gauge for our players to see what the talent level is at the university level. This gives them an opportunity to showcase their talent against a competition level that pushes them to become better players. We look forward to playing and extend our gratitude to Gonzaga University for the opportunity."

Gonzaga won the first two editions of the 7-v-7 event, but saw the run come to an end last year when the Grizzlies, who later went on to claim a share of the Big Sky title, won via penalties against GU in the final.

Last fall, the Zags travelled down to Pullman for their non-conference contest, a 3-0 loss, against the Cougars.

Gonzaga played Seattle University twice last year, winning the spring friendly 2-0, but fell 1-0 in overtime in their non-conference match-up during the season.

Edwards embraces departing Dolcetti

Gonzaga played EWU twice last year, slipping by the Eagles 1-0 in the spring friendly and posting a 4-1 victory in another friendly that was the season finale for both.

That final game proved to be an emotional affair for Gonzaga head coach Amy Edwards, who struggled a few times to find words as she spoke about the departing class.

"Well, this group of seniors is pretty special," Edwards said, nearly coming to tears. "This group spent four years with me, gone through a lot of struggles, but they stood with us to change the culture and take some strides in a different direction. The leadership by Emma Dolcetti and Morgan Manchester is going to be hard to fill. And then Susan Brown (pictured above) coming along, joining us two years ago when we needed some experience in goal was definitely huge for us, and she stepped up into a big leadership role for us, especially this year.

"It's just a special group. They put a lot of time, and effort - lot of ups and a lot of downs, but it was great today to finish on a positive note for sure," she said of that final game. "I think they've helped us take a little step forward. It might not always show on the actual results, but we are closing the gap. We are closing the gap on some pretty significant teams in our conference (that) were beating us handily, and we're closing the gap and we're starting to see that. I think what we'll see is that they've laid that foundation and I think that in the future now we'll start getting some positive results on that. But it all starts from them leading us in that right direction.

Morgan Manchester

"They were great mentors and great role models for the younger players and I think you see the growth in someone like Kasey Rubosky, Tori Lee - that growth in those players, it all comes from (the seniors') leadership. So that's what they've given to the program; to understand what it really means to work and give everything, and how to go about this professionally. Simple little things like how to recover, how to be smart, nutrition, how important the scouting reports are, video is - they led the way, that's what they've done for us

Though the team has been training the past few weeks, they won't get a real feel for how things will begin to play out next fall until they step on the pitch against the Cougars.

"I think we've got some great things ahead of us," Edwards said at the end of last season. "You look at that sophomore class. We're gonna be a little thin with our senior class, but you see a lot of sophomores playing for us, you've seen the impact on some of our young freshmen.

"And I'm super excited about our 2013 class. I think we've got a lot of things to be excited for moving forward."

The incoming freshman obviously won't be on hand for the the spring season, but the Zags have named six players who have signed Letters of Intent. It is a balanced group with two each from Washington, Oregon and Utah.

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