Attacking coursework in advance, sacrificing some of her first collegiate off-season and some summertime, Andrea Zelinski's been content to make time for what matters even more to her. Because this fall she'll likely be enjoying a lot more of it.
"After our season ended we had, like, a week off, and then we went into weightlifting three or four times a week. And we had conditioning workouts too," the former Bayfield standout, primed for a second season at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, said Monday. "Then when school ended we were given a packet, basically a lot of sprint work and lifting to keep up with - what I need to do - for my sophomore year."
Because, in a nutshell, the Mountain Lions want to force opponents to keep up with them in 2016.
UCCS went 11-7-2 overall last fall, and a surprising third-place 6-3-2 in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference when the squad was first anticipated to finish only seventh. Still expected to ambush some unsuspecting prey this year, the Mountain Lions received a little more initial respect - a fifth-place billing - when the RMAC's 2016 Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll was released last Tuesday.
As voted by the conference's 13 coaches, UC-Colorado Springs was awarded 105 total points, trailing early favorite Colorado School of Mines' 10 first-place votes and 142. The Mountain Lions are led by senior forward and preseason Player-of-the-Year Michaela Mansfield, the RMAC's top gun in 2015 with 21 points (9 goals, 3 assists). "To win the RMAC is one of our set goals," Zelinski said, "so we're really going out for that this year."
"We actually are required to set certain goals - like, we write them down on paper - and we work all season to try and meet those," she noted. "Like, for me, my goals are to work on my first touch - that's really important and essential for me in the midfield."
Because as hinted earlier, she'll be out there a lot more after already having seen more action - 132 total minutes in seven matches, with one start (and even one shot) - than a typical true freshman from a smaller town and high-school program probably would.
"Well at first I was definitely, like, nervous," said the second-ever Wolverine to earn a college roster spot. 2016 graduates Maddy Duran and Bryannah Isiordia are the third and fourth.
"A freshman coming in.you don't know anybody. But I picked up on it and I guess I did well, because I started playing!"
"It's a lot more physical, and everything's faster," Zelinski said of college play. "Coming in it wasn't very hard to pick up on, but now I feel really good about it. My position's changed; I'm a center defensive-mid.instead of in the attacking-mid and outside areas."
And Zelinski, sister of longtime BHS boss Jen Zelinski-Moore, hopes the old adage holds true:
Offense wins games, defense wins championships - RMAC championships.
Said defense will be tested right away; UCCS' season begins Sept. 2 versus #16-ranked Angelo State University of Texas, with kickoff at Mountain Lion Stadium set for 7:30 p.m. Champions of the D-II Lone Star Conference in 2015, runners-up in '14 and co-champs in '13, the Belles went 14-4-1 overall last year.
Something of an easier challenge follows on the 4th, with Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference reps Wayne (Neb.) State College - just 4-11-3 in '15 - visiting town for a 4:00 p.m. test. Emporia State comes out from Kansas next on 9/11 for an 11 a.m. battle, before UC-Colorado Springs then travels for its next four matches, starting with its RMAC-opener Sept. 18 in Spearfish, S.D., at Black Hills State.
The Mountain Lions then clash with CSM on the 21st (7:00 p.m.) in Golden, with Colorado Mesa University on the 23rd (7 p.m.) in Grand Junction, and with conference newcomer Westminster College on the 25th (12 p.m.) in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ending the month at home, UCCS hosts Fort Lewis College - with Duran a walk-on freshman - on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.
Picked in the preseason poll to repeat last year's second-place result, the Skyhawks swept the sides' regular-season meetings (1-0 in overtime at Dirks Field in Durango, 2-1 in El Paso County) last fall and ultimately ended UCCS' season, 2-1 in the RMAC Tournament semifinals played at Mines.
"I still read the newspaper there and I see everyone committing to other schools," Zelinski said, of Duran and Isiordia being the newest Bayfielders snapped up to play next-level soccer. "It makes me really happy they did that, because it's such a great opportunity."
"I'm really excited to play Fort Lewis, mainly because someone I used to play with is now playing there. So I'm really excited, really looking forward to that. It's going to be a tough one and I think we can do it."
Addressing an obvious question, Zelinski indicated adjusting to life and the sport last season with her older sibling - a former RMAC veteran with FLC - a phone call away rather than physically nearby wasn't always easy.
"It was very different, just because I'd been around my sister all the time," she said.
"So I guess I never really had a coach that I didn't exactly know. In Bayfield everybody knows everybody, and coming up here - it's definitely different, a change of pace."
Also included in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Preseason Div. II Rankings was West Virginia Wesleyan College at #22, one spot above Colorado School of Mines.
In 2015, former Bayfield star Keenan Moreta's final collegiate season, WVWC went 14-0-2 in Mountain East Conference play and also won the MEC Tournament before finishing 17-1-3 overall following a 3-nil loss to East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University in the NCAA Tournament's second round.
In the Bobcats' 21 matches last fall, Moreta (one of eight seniors) netted four goals, one making for a 1-0 overtime triumph at home over Notre Dame College on Oct. 18.
Still with graduate-level eligibility, Moreta - who earned a bachelor's degree in marketing in 2016 - added a new chapter to her athletic saga this spring as a member of WVWC Women's Golf for the latter half of its 2015-16 season.
While presently a Sports Information Director graduate assistant at Wesleyan, she will continue playing in '16-17 while pursuing her master's degree in business administration.
