Chapman women’s soccer: success driven by strong leadership

Jessie Roux (left) and Riley Pidgeon (right), two of four team captains on the women’s soccer team, discuss their roles and how they keep the team focused on success. DANIEL PEARSON, Staff Photographer

Chapman’s women’s soccer team had to balance the transition from online to in-person classes with recruiting athletes, building team chemistry and helping freshmen and sophomores adjust to campus life and compete at a high level. Despite these challenges, the women’s soccer team is 7-4-2 on the season, and looking to make a deep playoff run in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) tournament. 

Jessie Roux, a senior software engineering major, recognized the team’s expansive accomplishments thus far and pointed out how freshmen and sophomores have rapidly adapted to playing on the university field. 

“Everyone’s been working super hard; our team motto has been all-in this year, and I feel like we really can see that in practice and in games,” Roux said. “It’s cool to see a lot of the underclassmen step up to the starting roles and positions and come together to play as a team.”

Roux has been team captain for the women’s soccer team since her junior year. She also had some prior leadership experience as a sophomore with Panther council as a spokesperson for her sophomore class. She said this position was a great experience for her leading up to the team captain role, and now she enjoys being able to take on a more active role connecting with teammates and coaches.

“It’s a fun leadership role, (but) I would say definitely we overall have a very strong senior class, and everyone has their own kind of role as a leader too,” she said. “It’s just fun to be someone that people come to talk to and also to be able to talk with the coaches and bounce ideas off (of them about) what my teammates need, hear (or) want.”

Women’s soccer team captains Riley Pidgeon (left) and Jessie Roux (right) pass a soccer ball back and forth during practice

Riley Pidgeon, a senior strategic and corporate communication major, further emphasized how all the seniors on the team equally play an active leadership role, especially given how many underclassmen are on the team. 

“I feel like it’s super important just to make sure (underclassmen) feel included and put in work on the field but also be a leader off the field,” Pidgeon said. “Whether that’s stepping up and helping (underclassmen) in their personal lives (and) off the field (or) showing up on practice and game days and… making sure they’re good and ready to play.”

Pidgeon said a new tradition the team has started this year is team dinners before home games, which is a great way for teammates to get to know each other better and meet in a space outside of soccer and school. She also said it’s a great time to check in with players and provide them with any extra support.

Helping teammates feel like they belong can also come in more personal forms: for Roux, she said reaching out to players individually is where her personality ties into being a team captain.

“Whether it’s texting a player, like, ‘Hey, how’s your day going?’ or ‘I’m thinking about you,’ so that whether they play 90 minutes or they don’t, they still feel heard and acknowledged as a player on the team,” Roux said. 

When it comes to game day, all the team captains play an active role in keeping the team together and focused on winning. Pidgeon said everyone provides great advice and does a good job of encouraging one another. 

“Before games and during half time, we all speak on behalf of what we need to improve on and what we can contribute to the next half or the game in general,” Pidgeon said. “I feel like we’re all super hyped and hype everyone up …  So, I feel like it’s a collective effort.”

Not everything can go perfectly throughout the season, and challenges such as getting everyone back together in an in-person environment and dealing with injuries certainly arise. But Pidgeon spoke about these challenges, pointing out the unceasing support that teammates have for each other in these situations.

“We have the most camaraderie on the team that we’ve ever had,” Pidgeon said. “There’s no drama at all, which is always a plus. It’s definitely difficult physically — (and) even more (so) emotionally — sometimes on those players, but everyone’s still together 24/7 supporting each other, so that’s super beneficial.”

Both Roux and Pidgeon believe that leadership comes naturally to them, but it is also something they continue to cultivate through experience.

“I have been in a leadership role my entire life growing up on club teams … and it’s led me to now — (the) success of being a captain and a leader on the Chapman women’s soccer team,” Pidgeon said. “It’s super important as a leader (to make) sure everyone is motivated, determined and staying on track of our one goal (of winning the SCIAC Tournament).”

The women’s soccer team is on their way to this goal, as the SCIAC tournament begins Nov. 4.