It was hard not to notice Head Coach Emiria Salzmann of Sonoma State Women’s Soccer was absent for the team’s 2-1 win vs. Western Washington on Saturday afternoon in Rohnert Park, Calif. Salzmann, in her eleventh year at Sonoma State, is known for her relentless dedication. Assistant Coach Kristal Luna, who filled in for Salzmann, clarified the reason after the game, “Her mom, unfortunately, passed away this morning, so she obviously had to spend that time with her family.”

“Their leader is out, and we had the quote of ‘together we overcome adversity,’ which is one of our core values, and they stepped up,” Luna said after the game. The team bought in. Freshmen, Annette Sotelo, echoed Luna’s message, “This game was kinda dedicated to her. We felt like she’s been through a lot of trauma with her family. So we had to give something to her when she wasn’t here. She’s our leader, so we had to let her know that even without her, we still have her back.” Sophomore Captain, Ashley Frye put it this way, “We talked about it before the game, and we kinda knew she was going through some stuff like this. So we obviously had to step up, and with Luna coaching us. She did a great job, and we knew as a team we had to rely on each other this game, and we wanted to step up for her and win this for her.” Senior Captain, Julia Pritchard, had the same mindset, “When our coach isn’t here, it’s not always good for us; we played for her today; we played for each other.”

The significance of the win goes beyond just Salzmann’s absence. In recent history, Sonoma State hasn’t had much success against Western Washington. The team’s record in their last 10 matchups amounted to 1-8-1. A Salzmann coached squad had yet to defeat Western Washington before Saturday, going in with a record 0-6-1.

Western Washington went into the 2022 season ranked tenth in the nation and SSU’s win over them had big playoff implications. The team and Salzmann were very aware of the weight of the game. Salzmann explained on Tuesday, “This is going to be one of the biggest games for sure in the region, but maybe in the country. Because in division 2 to advance to the national championship, you’ve gotta win your region. In order to win the region, you have to beat the Western Washington’s and the Seattle Pacific’s, and the point Lomas.”

Salzmann has recently added an attacking formation to the team’s arsenal. Frye sees it as a work in progress, “On offense we didn’t get as much attack as we wanted, in the coming games we want to get more balls up in the attack with our midfield. Making combinations with our forwards, but I think we’re getting better; we’re learning and I think we were able to get a lot more 1-2 touch balls which is what we want to do and get it up in the attack.”

The team was certainly enjoying the moment after the win. Frye described it as “Amazing… to win a game like this, especially with what’s going on with our team.” Pritchard, who rolled her ankle in the final minutes will look to make sure she’s ready to go for the team’s next game. Sotelo, turning the page, is focused and “ready to win the conference”.