While many Anteaters are taking the summer to relax and recharge before September rolls around, the UCI women’s soccer team is recharging a little differently. Their work didn’t end with finals week. Rather, it was only the beginning of a rigorous summer regimen that they hope will give them a competitive edge come this fall.
The spring season for women’s soccer ends in May. Afterwards, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) mandates a period of no in-person team practices until the preseason begins July 14. During that time, players train on their own to get into tip-top shape for the 2026 season, which begins Aug. 12.
In order to standardize each player’s solitary fitness journey, the team spends its last practices before each summer undergoing “beep tests,” which place their fitness on a number scale. Sophomore player Fiona Shin said that the test helps her shape her summer regimen by telling her exactly how much she needs to improve her fitness before next season begins.
“It feels like the pacer test. It’s two cones 20 meters apart, and you run. There’s an audio that plays and you have to run from one end back,” Fiona Shin told New University. “As the levels increase, then the speed will increase on the time you have to make it back.”
Early on in their training, players try to fall in the test’s 25-30 range, which indicates that they are in above average cardiovascular condition. Their goal is score a 40 by the end of their preseason, which indicates exemplary cardiovascular fitness. Since she is back home for the summer, Shin has been increasing her endurance by running sprints on the fields of her old high school.
Shin, who prefers morning workouts, admits that daily regimens aren’t always easy, especially when she’s training alone. To stay motivated during workouts she tries to turn her focus away from the present and towards the season that she’s gearing up for.
“After I warm up, I don’t even give myself a second to debate about it. I just start my watch and then start running,” Shin said. “Even though it sucks right now, but knowing what it can lead up to is one of the major motivators when I feel a little off or I don’t want to go out there and just run.”
While the players train, the team’s coaching staff are also hard at work in preparation for the 2026 season. Head coach Scott Juniper and his staff tackle all of the team’s logistics, like practice schedules, far in advance. That way, the only task players have when they show up to each practice is to try their best.
Juniper’s schedule is extensive and detailed. The team’s training regimen, matches and all other important dates up through the national final are already mapped out. But the most important element of Juniper’s calendar is indispensable: flexibility. The players are physical, emotionally and mentally dynamic. So, it’s impossible to predict exactly how they’ll feel, where they’ll be or what they’ll need at any given time in the year. As a result, the plan is always being fine-tuned.
The flexibility of Juniper’s calendar ensures that his players are pushed to new heights, but not so much that it injures them or burns them out mentally. Sometimes that means incorporating an extra day off, or changing workouts. Preseason and the season combined span six months, and so pacing the team’s progress is crucial.
Preseason formally begins July 14, when players will check back into practice on UCI’s campus and begin training together. The NCAA has extended the 2026 season by two weeks, giving teams more time to prepare and assimilate their new players. This year, the women’s soccer team is welcoming 13 incoming freshmen and four transfer students. These newcomers have just one month to integrate themselves into the team before the season opener on Aug. 12, so they have to be up for a challenge. Each new player has already been carefully assessed by the coaching staff to determine their compatibility with the team’s culture and their ability to rise to every occasion that collegiate soccer throws their way.
Juniper says that his team only admits fighters, and avoids what he calls “Hollywood players”.
“‘Hollywood players’ are focused on how they look, what people think about them, and whether they are being noticed on the pitch,” Juniper said. “‘Fighters’ relish every moment to compete regardless of whether those moments are in the spotlight.”
This season, new and returning players will be spending two hours on the field most practices. The first hour is spent on conditioning and the second running drills with the ball. Ball drills, scrimmages in particular, encourage the players to grow into a more cohesive team by converting their individual skills into actual play. Shin relishes the opportunity to play creatively.
“When [I’m] scrimmaging, I feel more free and I’m able to do different things or like take people on 1v1,” Shin said. “I guess [it’s] a different sort of dynamic than it would be with just possession drills.”
Playing creatively is Juniper’s primary goal moving into the 2026-2027 season. Last season, UCI placed fourth in the Big West conference, finishing with a 5-2-3 conference record and an 8-5-7 record overall. The Anteaters were a defensive powerhouse. They rounded out the season averaging 0.550 opponent goals allowed per game, making them the fifth strongest defense in the country. This season, the coaching staff are focusing on maintaining defensive momentum while diversifying their offense. Juniper says he plans to get through the experimentation phase of this plan over the summer so that the team can take minimal risks during fall season.
The team’s first chance to test out their new tactics will be Aug. 5, when they play the first of two exhibition matches. These matches don’t affect their season record, making them the perfect low-stakes environment for experimentation. Running different formations, giving newcomers playing time against real opponents, and profiling risks all help the team build what Juniper calls their tool kit.
The team’s season opens Aug. 12, when they will play Utah Tech University. Over the course of his career, Juniper says he has come to view new seasons not as cause for nerves, but as an opportunity to watch his players take initiative and hit the ground running.
“My default setting is positivity and optimism,” Juniper said. “This will be a very inexperienced team but a team full of great character and ability. We will be fun to watch and I’m quite sure this team will represent our amazing institution in the best ways.”
Shin feels the same way. She is determined to be a good role model for her new teammates and embody the UCI spirit for the school at every game.
“It may not always be the prettiest at times, but it’s just grinding it out and giving your 110% every single play, and every single tackle,” Shin said. “For me personally, I’m just going to put in the work and be the best player I can be for them.”
Cora Reyes-Castelloe is a Sports Intern for the summer 2026 quarter. She can be reached at clreyesc@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores and Melissa Gonzalez
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