Coming off a banner season in 2018, the Wyoming Cowgirl Soccer team opened practice for the new 2019 season Tuesday in Laramie.

The Cowgirls won their first-ever Mountain West Championship of any kind last year when they were the co-MW Regular Season Champs. Gone off that team were seven seniors, eight starters, and nine total letter winners.

Head coach Pete Cuadrado enters his eighth season at UW. He said last year completed one goal, but now they look to set higher goals. Cuadrado’s very proud that the Cowgirls still have the nation’s longest nonconference home winning streak. He knows they’ll be tested with their schedule. Cuadrado also pointed towards their “outreach” game in Gillette versus South Dakota on Sept. 19 and more in the video above.

Wyoming has some rebuilding to do as they enter a new season. Leading the charge will be senior captains Summer Taube and Michaela Stark. Taube is one of three returning starters along with sophomores Adalyn Vergara and Savannah Warner. A total of 15 letter winners return, but this will be a young team with 19 of the 28 players on the roster in their first or second year.

Taube started all 20 games last season for UW. She scored three goals and assisted on two in a very balanced attack that saw the team leader with four goals. She finished with 19 total shots and 12 of those were on goal. Taube visited with KOWB’s David Settle about the upcoming season. She knows they’ve got a lot to replace and knows everyone has to be on the same page to be successful. Taube believes “buying-in” will be key for 2019. She also knows the schedule is another tough one. Plus, David tried to throw in some fun questions.

Wyoming soccer opens with an exhibition match in Laramie versus FC Boulder on Saturday, Aug. 17 at 3 p.m. The official start to the 2019 season is Thursday, Aug. 22 at UTEP. The home debut will be Wednesday, Aug. 28 against Northern Colorado.

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