With a deep roster and a plan to substitute liberally this season, Minot State University women's soccer coach Jason Spain doesn't have starters and reserves. He has an 'A' group and a 'B' group.
The plan is to have the 'A' group on the field at the end of games, much like it was at the end of an intrasquad scrimmage Friday at Herb Parker Stadium.
The 'A' team, wearing red jerseys, created several scoring opportunities against the green team, which was composed primarily of new players and those Spain plans to redshirt.
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Daniel Allar/MDN
Minot State University junior forward Jamie MacFarlane, left, blasts a shot around junior Taylor Carlstrom during a soccer scrimmage Friday at Herb Parker Stadium.
"The second half, I kept my 'A' midfield in the whole time and it was just one-way traffic," Spain said. "We're confident. We have a good roster."
Spain said his two senior center midfielders are particularly effective at keeping their side in attack mode and on the offensive half of the field.
"Lexy Kidd and Tara McPartland just control the game," Spain said. "They just sit there as two windscreens and pin everyone in."
Starting goalkeeper Marie Torres defended the net against the red squad, allowing a second half goal on a rebound.
"I think I did pretty well," the senior said. "You can't stop everything, but you have your 10 players in front of you and they help out a lot."
The green team hardly threatened to score, but Spain was still impressed with both sides.
"I think (the older players) just make less mistakes," Spain said. "I wouldn't say that they were better than those Bs when they were freshmen. Our young kids are pretty good."
True freshman Gemma Biasetto - a 6-footer from Albuquerque, N.M., who played both goalie and forward in high school - may earn the right to play this season. Spain said he plans to redshirt about 11 players.
"She creates a lot of havoc," Spain said. "She's athletic and I think she'll get some time as a forward this year. We were gonna make her just a goalie and redshirt her, but I think we'll activate her and play her as a forward this year and let her figure it out after that."
The Beavers travel to Iowa for a pair of exhibition games next weekend. They'll face Northwest Nazarene University on Friday, followed by Division I Idaho State University on Saturday.
"I know a lot of us are really excited, especially the redshirts from last year, just to get back on the field and work with those older players," Torres said. "It'll be fun; we're really looking forward to those exhibition games."