Plattsburgh State women’s soccer is going through a change.
This year, the coaching staff is all new with head coach Tania Armellino and assistant coaches Frantzy Noze and Gene Bushy. The play, makeup and philosophy of the Cardinals will look different.
The team will also have a change of scenery to start the season. The games will be held at Plattsburgh High School until October because the field by the Fieldhouse is having new sod put in.
Armellino, coming into her first season as head coach at any college, is excited for one of the hardest-working teams she has ever been a part of.
“They came into preseason ready to go and really eager and kind of hungry to win,” Armellino said. “So from this season, I really expect to build on that from last season.”
Armellino is going to be bringing in a new formation for the team and said she hoped with this new strategy that the team will be able to emerge as one of the best teams in the conference.
Noze, who has worked with Armellino before at Kennedy College, is happy with the group that the new coaching staff has.
“It is really great for us to walk into an opportunity like that because sometimes you take a coaching job, a new staff,” Noze said. “You don’t get those types of talented kids out of the program. I thought it was pretty good.”
Noze said the team showed that they are ready to play this season from the beginning.
Even after the preseason was over and the cuts were already made, players were still being competitive in practice and making it difficult to choose who would go out and be the starting 11.
The season is going to be a huge change for the athletes.
Junior mid-fielder Cassidy Clavet is excited with having a new coach and said she is bringing the team together.
Clavet said the biggest thing after the first weekend is to make sure the communication between teammates is kept up between the players, which will be vital to the team’s success.
“You know sometimes on a hot day everyone gets a little tired, so communication is definitely one of those things you have to keep up,” Clavet said. “Besides that, we just have to keep working out the kinks.”
After the first weekend, when the team went 1-1 with a win against Clarkson and a loss to St. Lawrence, Armellino could see that the team just needed to work on getting more comfortable with the new formation, keep possession of the ball more and just gain confidence in the new style of play.
“After this weekend I think I am seeing that the growth is there and for us to continue to grow,” Armellino said. “That is the kind of thing we have been coaching them in the last couple of weeks.”
On Wednesday, the Cards were able to take a 10-0 victory in their first conference game against Canton.
The PSUC team had 23 shots on goal with the main contributors being Lindsey Bushey and Brooke Knight. Knight was able to come off the bench and contribute two goals and two assists for a six-point night.
Bushey is the leading scorer on the team with three goals despite coming off the bench in two of the games. The team moved to 2-1 on the season.
The next game for PSUC will be a home game against Elmira College Friday at 7 p.m.
Email Nick Topping at
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Interesting article gave me all I would want to know about a change in coaches and coaching. The team goal is stated clearly and the focus on what it needs to improve for the coming season. Good job reporting!