OTTUMWA —
For each of the previous two seasons, head coach Doug Seigle has felt the same level of excitement to start a brand new season of Indian Hills men’s and women’s soccer.
This season, there’s a new reason to get excited. And it’s not hard to see what it is.
It lies right in front of the school’s east entrance and is a sprawling sign of the growth of one of the school’s youngest athletic programs.
The upcoming sixth season of IHCC soccer will feature a new home on campus for the Warrior men and women. Located right along Warrior softball’s R.L. Hellyer Field and Warrior volleyball’s Tom Arnold Net Center, Indian Hills soccer will be playing on their own home pitch for the first time this fall.
Seigle admits the beautiful new soccer field is a huge step in the continued growth of Warrior soccer.
“It gives us a couple of things. It gives us a presence in our student life,” Seigle said as he prepares for his third season as Warrior soccer coach. “Students know there’s a team here, they know where we play and they’ll see us on a regular basis. When we were playing at Walsh, we only got a handful of those students to come out and support us.
“We also now have a sign to let the community know that they have a place to watch some really great soccer,” Seigle added.
The Warriors have certainly come a long ways already in a short amount of time, which will be evidenced on Aug. 24 when the IHCC men open their season with the first game ever on their new soccer field. That game against Iowa Wesylan’s JV squad will see a team playing on their own field in their own uniforms, something that wasn’t the case not too long ago.
“We started out having to borrow time at Walsh (Soccer Complex) and having to borrow uniforms to wear for games,” Seigle said. “We were just putting players together to field a team and in five years, we’ve progressed a long way.
“When Indian Hills says they’re going to do something, they make sure they see it through.”
Having a beautiful new field, which is overlooked by an amphitheater like setting below a hill to a newly built pond and waterfall, is expected have an immediate impact in the Warriors becoming a competitive force in the ICCAC. Seigle has already seen the new facilities pay dividends on the recruiting trail.
“Recruits that I can get here to make a campus visit that see this field and the surroundings really get excited to play here,” Seigle said. “It also gives us advantage with our players. They have somewhere to come right after class to prepare and play as a team.
“It’s a field that really sells itself.”
While Seigle expects to see immediate improvement this season from both teams, there are different expectations to what that improvement will lead to by the end of this season. The Indian Hills women had just five freshmen on last year’s 3-12-1 squad and will have just three returning players on the women’s squad.
“I think this year, we’ll have more people that can step up and be threats for us,” Seigle said of the IHCC women. “Last year, there were only about seven players that were on a similar level before things dropped off. This year, I think we’re on much more even ground with the caliber of talent we expect to put on the field.”
For the Indian Hills men, consistent success is something Seigle is hoping his squad can maintain throughout this season. IHCC got halfway there last year, opening its season with seven wins in their first 10 games before a six-game losing streak kept the Warriors from a winning record.
After going 7-9-1 last fall, Seigle believes his team can find that full-season success this year.
“It seemed like last year, we played at this extremely high level and all of a sudden let some circumstances bring that level way down,” Seigle said. “It’s a matter for both teams of having that high work ethic. We’ll get to work immediately in the preseason and begin preparing to reach that high level every day.”
Seigle is also preparing to use the Warriors new home field to his team’s full advantage, starting with the Warriors first women/men doubleheader on Aug. 26. Plans are already in place for plenty of seating for Warrior fans to comfortably encompass the pitch to root on both squads.
And there are some other plans Seigle has in store for teams that truly will be visiting Indian Hills as the Warriors look to protect their first-ever home field.
“I’ve got a D.J. lined up for games this year to play some music. I want everyone around the community to come out and make each of our home games a festive atmosphere,” Seigle said. “This school did so much to put ahead of where I thought we’d be at this point as a program. Hopefully, we can do what we have to keep it moving forward.”
Sports
August 8, 2012
New season, new home field awaits Indian Hills soccer
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