The ISU men’s and women’s club soccer teams have already started the year strongly and both are 2-0.

The men’s team beat Morningside College 8-2 and Simpson College 1-0. The women’s team beat Drake 6-0 and Northern Iowa 0-0, with the winning goals in penalty shoot outs. Both the men and women are coming into this season humbled and excited from the previous regular season as the men went 9-0 and the women 6-1-1.

“We are excited for this year because of the skill and talent level from everyone this year,” said Kayci Woodley, co-vice president of the women’s team. “This is the most talent I have seen in all the years playing for ISU Club Soccer, and we are very eager to get out on the field to show everyone what we can do.”

Woodley, a senior that has played on the team since her freshman year. She said she is doing everything she can to help the team along with the other co-vice president, Nicole Brush, a senior, and team captain Molly DePrenger, also a senior.

“Our goal is to go undefeated during the season, advance in nationals and eventually win at nationals” Brush said.

DePrenger also talked about nationals, and stressed the importance of getting a win in the tournament, something that has been elusive in years past.

“The past couple of years we haven’t been able to win a game at nationals,” DePrenger said. “We are all motivated to change that this year.”

The men’s team also have reason to be looking forward to a great season after picking up 11 new players to add to the team, while nine of the 11 starters are back this year.

“We have a lot of young guys that are ready and willing to play this year,” said Jacob Misel, men’s team president and 2010-11 leading scorer. “It really makes our team stronger when we can get great competition in to push all of us for playing time.”

The men’s team has also struggled at its national tournament the last few years as well. The team’s mission to advance is just as focused.

“We are a lot more organized now than in previous years,” said Andrew Krog, team treasurer, who currently cannot practice with the team due to a torn hamstring. “We have a certified coach that comes in once a week that works with us and the girls team to help improve on specific skills.

“I may not be able to practice, but I still come to practice as a motivator because I truly believe that this team can go undefeated again and make a run for champions and nationals.”

Both the men’s and women’s club team have no official coach. Being dedicated to the sport of soccer and having heart is what makes the club soccer teams. All the paperwork, most of the money, schedules and travel are done by the players.

“Having an executive position is a lot more responsibility because we have to be players and have the responsibility of coaches, but we do it because we love the game and everyone on the team,” Woodley said.

The executives on the team call the shots in a group effort and make a joint decision on the roster and starting lineup.

“We had to make some changes this year from last year,” explained Garret Hugel, vice president. “We made a decision to switch to a 3-5-2 formation instead of keeping our 4-4-2 formation from last year, because we all felt that our defense was strong enough to hold its own with three players. Our midfield is now stacked in the middle with big bodies and on the outside we have the speed for a quick counter attack.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams expect to have nothing less than winning records and a fight for winning the NIRSA National Soccer Championship in Arizona on November 17-19.

Both teams will be playing games weekly, and everyone can check out the dates of games, scores and times for both teams via Facebook: ISU Men’s and Women’s Club Soccer teams. They can also be followed on Twitter at @ISU_SOCCER_CLUB.