When Terri Patraw took over as head coach, she inherited a team that had never recorded a winning season nor qualified for postseason play. However, from day one she vowed that she would turn the University of Nevada soccer team into a competitive, talented and exciting program and in three short years, she did just that. She turned Nevada from a team that had never recorded more than four wins in a season into the most improved team in the nation, WAC Tournament Champions and NCAA Tournament participants.

With 10 letterwinners and eight starters returning from Nevada’s 2006 WAC Tournament Championship squad, including defenders Patrice Godwin, Devin Noe and Jessica Wilcox, midfielders Blaine Dugan, Jessica Thompson and Miranda Montejo and forwards Karen Zmirak, Kenishia Warren and Samantha Miller, and the Pack’s third consecutive Soccer Buzz top-ranked recruiting class in the conference, the 2007 Nevada soccer team was poised to be the most successful team in program history.

“I think every year we expect to do better than the last year, obviously this is going to be the highest standard we have to achieve,” Patraw said then. “We’d like to win the regular season conference championship, win another tournament championship, qualify for the NCAAs and continue to knock off Pac-10 teams like we have.”

While Nevada lost five seniors from that season including team MVP and captain Aivi Luik, Nevada’s career leader in assists, Lauren Kinneman, and captain and four-year letterwinner Terran Hadlock, the team returned four of its All-WAC honorees from 2006, first team members Miller and Wilcox and second-team honorees Montejo and Zmirak, from the 2006 team that posted a program best 13-5-4 record and set numerous program records both offensively and defensively.

Nevada’s talent level in 2007 was the best it had ever been and established the Pack as the team to beat in the WAC. Nevada was picked to win the conference in the preseason coaches poll.