After climbing as high as No. 2 in the National Junior College Athletic Association rankings in 2018, the Salt Lake Community College men’s soccer team is poised to take the next step this year.
After a 5-0 victory over Paradise Valley Community College to open the season, No. 5 SLCC earned a 1-1 double-overtime draw against then-No. 1 Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona.
“[Looking back at the events in Arizona] we got two good results, but we are not where we want to be,” says Ty O’Connor, assistant coach of the Bruins. “We believe that we can and should be better.”
SLCC then returned home and picked up another five-goal game, defeating Northeastern Junior College 5-1.
With the preseason now concluded, the Bruins have set their sights on the Scenic West Athletic Conference. The conference schedule begins with a home match on Thursday against the 2-0-2 Utah State Eastern Eagles.
“We’re going to stay focused and continue improving heading into conference play,” says Mark Davis, head coach of the Bruins. “We want to focus on fitness for these next ten days or so. Fitness and working to get a few players healthy will make a big difference for us.”
SLCC will now use the next ten games to focus on team culture, fine-tune strategies, and figure out which players they can lean on in crucial moments.
“We’re going to take this one game at a time, but this team is hungry for the next win,” says O’Connor.
The Bruins will play four of their five home matches at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman. Saturday’s match against Colorado Northwestern Community College will be played at Taylorsville Redwood Campus.
Admission is free to SLCC home matches, and select events will be streamed for free via Team 1 Sports.
