The Weber State women’s soccer team is one of many teams affected by the Big Sky Conference’s decision to postpone the fall season. Because of the season’s postponement, the women will have only played one competitive game in 2020.

Although they won’t be playing games in the fall, the team is working hard. The women’s soccer head coach Craig Sanders said that the team has had an opportunity to do system analysis and look at how they want to play, which they normally don’t have time for.

Sanders doesn’t see the whole situation as necessarily bad; the downtime can help the team be better prepared for the season when it returns.

Games are expected in the spring, but that is assuming the coronavirus situation does not worsen. The team wants to keep everyone safe and not spread the coronavirus.

“We screen before every practice,” Sanders said. “We maintain all the protocols that we can while training.”

He says that during practice, the team wears masks if they are training within six feet. The team is also required to wear masks during team meetings.

“Thus far, we haven’t had anyone who has had any COVID problems,” Sanders said. “That’s been good for us.”

Sanders said the team holds each other accountable to following the protocols. He believes they have handled this coronavirus pandemic well so far.

Though the team’s fall season — which Sanders noted is their main championship season leading into Big Sky — has fallen apart, they are excited for spring.

The team has been notified that the plan is to play in the spring, but Sanders has concerns about the weather. He says they would have to train in January to prepare for games in February, but they will not be able to play outdoors during that time.

They will have to play indoors, which means they will probably need to train off campus for a conference season and a championship, which feeds to the NCAA tournament.

“Our goal is to win the conference,” Sanders said. “We think it’s possible.”

The team might not have done as well as they wanted to last season, but they saw lots of good plays they think will move them in the right direction. They were also dealing with a coaching change last season, but with the time to review and practice, they believe they can come out of the conference to compete in the tournament.