Women's soccer team third in nation heading into Utah trip

The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team is heading to Utah for a showdown between three of the top five teams in the nation this week.

The third-ranked Titans will play No. 2 Salt Lake City Community College and No. 4 Snow College this week, both of whom made it to the national tournament semifinals last season. The Titans will open the regular season Thursday against Snow College who lost to the eventual national champions, Tyler Junior College in the semifinals last season.

Then on Saturday the Titans will get a rematch with Salt Lake City Community College, who ended their season last year in the national tournament semifinals.

"We like what we have seen in the first two games, had a good game against Keiser and some of the new girls came in and made an impact," Eastern Florida State College women's soccer coach Scott Carswell said. "We think they are going to be able to come in and contribute well," Hopefully they are just as worried to play us, but we are excited about the week. We think we are fit but playing in altitude will be different."

The Titans, who went 11-1-1 last season, return most of the starting 11 from last season's team including All-Americans Marthe Taugbol and Kurumi Arakawa.

"We are going to miss the four players we lost last year but we have brought in a lot of new girls that are doing well so we are excited," Carswell said.