Four-time all-state athlete, middle school state champion and a member of five Section IX championships are some of the remarkable accolades senior forward Gladys Loyas brought with her to the women’s soccer team. She was the first women’s soccer player from her high school that signed with a Division I school.
Loyas described her transition from high school to college as a big change.
“From high school to college, it was definitely a lot faster,” Loyas said. “The speed of play and adjusting to the seniors and them already having a good touch and speed of play.”
In Loyas’ freshman year, she played in 15 matches, making eight starts. Her first career start was against East Tennessee State, and the Pack won the game 3-0. Over the course of the year, she played 904 minutes averaging 60 minutes per appearance.
Loyas’ sophomore year was cut short by an ACL injury. She only appeared in six matches with five starts. Loyas described how one of main focuses while being injured was staying positive on and off of the field. She really wanted to make sure that she was there for her teammates whenever they needed her.
“Tearing my ACL had a really big impact on me and my soccer performance,” Loyas said. “I came back from it being positive and did not let it affect me or my attitude towards the program or my teammates.”
Coming back from injury junior year, she was still limited playing only six matches totaling 149 minutes. She still remained positive and kept cheering on her teammates, including senior forward Rachel Cox.
Cox came out of high school with remarkable accolades as well. She was named Metro 4-A All Conference as a senior, led the team to conference titles in 2010 and 2012 and was named all-state and All-South Region by the NCSAA as a sophomore and junior.
Cox described the transition to college as difficult, but stated that it was a little easier with all the accolades that she acquired.
“The girls were a lot stronger and more aggressive,” Cox said. “Then school-wise, basically just really busy and school is a lot tougher.”
In her freshman year, Cox appeared in 12 matches while getting her first appearance in the season opener against Navy. Later in the season against Virginia, Cox played a season-high 60 minutes.
Cox took a semester off her sophomore year and returned to the team in the spring. She described how the semester off felt as though she was missing a piece of her. Cox said that she took the semester off because the transition from high school to collegiate freshman was academically challenging. Cox was eager and ready to rejoin the team at the beginning of the spring semester.
“When I didn’t have that semester, I kind of felt lost without soccer and wanted to come back,” Cox said. “When I came back I worked really hard to get back to where I was.”
Cox further described how she really was focusing on staying positive her junior year. She talked about how she was very negative during her freshman year and did not want to continue or bring that type of energy into the next year.
Cox’s positive energy benefitted her during her junior year. She played in all 19 games and scored her first career goal against Miami. She demonstrated great sportsmanship and great teamwork that year, going through the entire season without a yellow card.
Cox and Loyas entered into their senior year with great enthusiasm and hope for the team. The soccer team this year consists of 11 freshmen, and they were excited to take on that leadership role.
Cox and Loyas primarily focused on making sure that the freshmen felt welcomed and loved. This was important to ensure that when the season started, the team could be unified.
“We wanted [the freshmen] to feel comfortable as soon as possible because we knew that they were going to make a great impact on the team,” Loyas said.
After describing how they felt leading the freshmen, they gave a rundown of how much they have grown since freshman year.
They mentioned how they both have adjusted to the speed of play and keeping their head in the game. They really feel as though the team has grown a lot as well, due to the recruits the team has brought in by seeing the level of competitiveness rise.
As they enter the final games of their college career, they described one memory that they will never forget. That memory was beating UNC-Chapel Hill.
“It was a great feeling,” Loyas said. “It was like a turning point for both of us.”
With the growth, hard times, great moments and challenges that they have faced throughout their tenure here, they want to leave a piece of advice for the team and the recruiting class.
“Don’t ever get complacent; you can always get better,” Loyas said. “You can improve as a team and individually and you can always reach new goals.”
The seniors take on Pittsburgh in their last home game of the season Thursday at 7 p.m.
