For the Southern Oregon University Raiders soccer team are coming off their second straight winning season, third ever, in school history from last season and are hoping to carry this momentum in this season.

Coach Jon Clement believes the 2012 Raiders soccer team has what it takes to be better than any of the squads he as coach since his arrival in 2006.

“We got something special here,” he said, “potential is through the roof, if they can put out every ounce of commitment, this could e the team the school has ever had.”

Under Clement the Raiders are 52-48-9 in six seasons, and are 23-12-3 in the past two seasons with a playoff appearance last season.  They are also predicted to finish second in the Cascade Collegiate Conference with eight returning starters from last season’s 11 win team.

“I think we have a lot of good players, good potential,” said Clement continuing on his team, “[the players] have trained hard, creating a inter-circulated competition environment.”

Heading into later this week, the Raiders will open up the regular season against NAIA opponent’s Trinity Lutheran College on Thursday at 2pm with The Master’s College on Saturday at 11a.m.

The hard part of college soccer, according to Clement, is getting a hand on film because it is few and far between at this level.  Any type of film is helpful however.

“For these first few games, we got to focus on us,” he said, “we will focus on us on the fly and see what we can do.”

Players to watch for this year for the Raiders are:

Stephanie Carr.  The senior forward was an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American last season.  She had led the Raiders with 11 goals, three in which were game winning and 21 total points last season and as a chance to get the all-time SOU goals record this upcoming season.

Stacy Hamer.  Clement likes the senior’s middle fielder’s commitment and hard effort.  “[She] really tries hard” he said of Hamer, “ she puts in a legitimate effort every day.”

Heading into the season with all this confidence and potential, the chances of going deep this season are high for the girls of Southern Oregon.