WINONA LAKE - By no means, said coach Michael Voss, has the Grace College women's soccer team "arrived."
The third-year skipper certainly has the Lady Lancers headed in the right direction, though."We're the underdogs," said Voss, whose teams opens Mid-Central Conference play today by hosting the Bethel College Lady Pilots. "We're pushing ourselves to be the best we can be, we're building a program, but by no means have we arrived. We've got a crew that's working hard, and we're headed in the right direction."
Yes, the Grace College women's soccer program is headed in the right direction.
In Voss' first season, the Lady Lancers were 5-10-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the MCC.
Last year, Grace posted an 8-12 record, including a 1-7 mark against conference teams.
Heading into today's MCC opener with rival Bethel, the Lady Lancers are off to the best start in program history.
Grace is 9-0 and has outscored its opponents 34-2 so far this season.
"When I took the job, I got here seven days before camp started," said Voss, who came to Grace College with plenty of coaching experience, including a stint in Central America where he was a coach and missionary. "Last year we brought in a handful of recruits, this year we brought in 10."
Some of the recruits Voss has brought in include junior Rebecca Mondich and sophomore Victoria Casey.
Mondich, from Edwardsburg, Mich., is a transfer from the University of Michigan, while Casey was an All-American while playing for Heritage Christian High School in Indianapolis.
"Above and beyond anything else, we're here to glorify God," said Casey. "This is a very close team. Our unity has really helped us."
The Lady Lancers opened the season with a 5-0 win on the road over Cincinnati Christian, followed by a 6-0 win over Concordia University and a 5-0 victory over Trine University.
After outscoring their opponents 16-0 in the first three games, the Lady Lancers surrendered a goal to Olivet College in the Trine Tournament, but still came away with a 2-1 win.
Grace then beat Marygrove College 6-0 and Oakland City University 1-0 before a 2-1 victory over St. Francis (Illinois).
In their last two games, the Lady Lancers have defeated Holy Cross 6-0 and Indiana Tech 1-0.
While they don't come across as arrogant, the Lady Lancers are plenty confident in their coach, their teammates and themselves.
"This year is different," said senior Amy Abbitt, a Warsaw Community High School graduate. "There's more confidence that we're going to get it done on the field."
At the time of this interview, three teams in the MCC - Indiana Wesleyan, Spring Arbor and Marian - were either ranked in the top 25 or getting votes.
If the Lady Lancers continue their dominant play and turnaround of the program, one would think Grace would begin to get some national attention.
It's on the national stage that Voss wants to see his team play.
"We want to go to the national tournament and win it," said Voss. "Anything shy of that would be disappointing. The whole season is a journey, and we want our journey to end with us winnng the national tournament."
Not only are the Lady Lancers getting it done on the soccer field, they also excel in the classroom.
Grace's women's soccer team is ranked seventh in the nation in GPA.
"These are very quality people," Voss said of his players. "They honor God, they're getting it done in the classroom and they're working very hard in practice and the games. They're representing themselves very well."
"Soccer isn't all we're about," said Mondich. "We're here to glorify God, and we take our education very seriously."
Following today's game with Bethel, Grace will play at Indiana Wesleyan Saturday and host Taylor Wednesday.
