Two Coyotes Learn Valuable Lessons in Summer League

Ahead of the 2021 season, I sat down with soccer’s Alexis Mitchell to recap her final summer in the United Women’s Soccer League and Janaina Zanin to recap her first season in the Women’s Premier Soccer League. 

For some college players across the country, they get the ability to compete in different summer amateur leagues. The two popular ones are called the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) and United Women’s Soccer (UWS). It gives the athletes a chance to compete as a team against other elite athletes for two months. 

Two members of the South Dakota soccer program competed in both leagues this past summer with one finishing up her career while the other just starting. Senior Alexis Mitchell wrapped up her third season with the Lansing United out of Michigan in the UWS while sophomore Janaina Zanin played for the Mankato United out of Minnesota in the WPSL. Both stepped out of their comfort zones and loved their experiences with their club teams.   

For Mitchell, she knew right away she wanted to play in a summer league after her freshman season in Vermillion in the fall of 2018. So long story short, Mitchell has a best friend who had a boyfriend at the time that played in Michigan and the friend had family in the area as well. Her friend Briana had heard of this new team that was forming in this league that had only been around since 2015. The pair decided to go to Michigan for the summer to play for this new team. 

Mitchell stayed with Briana at Briana’s grandma’s house for the first few weeks. Shortly after Briana tore her ACL in the first game and Briana decided to go home to Missouri. Mitchell chose to stay in Michigan and was able to sleep on the couch at one of the local player’s houses.  

In a new state, sleeping on a couch, new team, new coaches and being one of the only players not from Michigan, it was a lot. However, Mitchell loved every minute of that summer. 

“It was a brand-new team and my first time being in the area,” Mitchell said. “But we had a fitness test and then practices where I was able to talk soccer with the players and get comfortable with my surroundings.”

Mitchell’s first season with the team, they only lost a few times, but it was her second season with the team that she made a name for herself in the league. 

That season, Lansing United went undefeated and Mitchell made the UWS Midwest First Team and the UWS National Second-Team. This past summer season the team struggled going 3-4-1 in its last season of competition. 

“Sadly, we didn’t have a great final season,” Mitchell said. “Having three seasons in a year with most teams playing this past spring takes a toll on the body. But we were able to make a lot of memories and I have made lifelong friends from the team."

One of the connections she made while in Michigan was with Bethany Balcer, the NWSL Rooke of the Year in 2019. Balcer’s coach in college was Mitchell’s coach at Lansing United so she was able to practice and get advice from Balcer her first season. 

“I was able to practice with Balcer as well as get individual coaching from the Lansing United coach,” Mitchell said. “He told me to be more confident with the ball and that the summer is where you can be a little riskier and try fancy kicks or moves you necessarily can’t during college games.” 

Being able to practice with pro soccer players as well as be teammates and play against some Power Five athletes has helped Mitchell’s game the past three seasons she said. 

“The last three summers has helped me grow as a player,” Mitchell said. “I have had the chance to play with different players and continue to train and keep my fitness up. I was able to explore different coaching styles and helped me build connections with people outside of Vermillion. I was also able to explore Michigan more with the different trails and the Great Lakes." 

Mitchell said that above all of the soccer training and connections she built the most important thing was it also helped her as a person. 

“Playing in Michigan definitely helped me as a person more than anything,” Mitchell said. “I lived on my own for three months of the last few years. I was able to grow as a person and learn a lot about myself as a soccer player and as a person. I learned more about the game and grew great connections and friendships in a way that I could never had imagined possible. I would do it again 100%. Every time.”

For Zanin she didn’t have quite as crazy of a story as Mitchell did in her first season. A high school teammate of the Zanin sisters plays for Minnesota State and told Zanin about the opportunity to play in Mankato over the summer. 

“She told me she was planning on playing for their WPSL team, so then I was also interested in playing,” Zanin said. “I asked our assistant coach Maddie Gaffney about the team since she played for the Minnesota Gophers and knows the area and she got me in contact with them and I was able to stay with my friend during the summer.”

At the beginning of the season, they were able to practice a good amount but once games started, they were hardly able to get in a lot of practices. 

“There was one week where we had three games during the week and only had one practice during the week,” Zanin said. “It was a little bit of a struggle not getting to practice, but it was good to focus on getting not only physical rest but mental rest between the games.”

Just like on Mitchell’s team, most of the players lived in the area and were able to drive from their homes. Zanin and an Omaha soccer player were just about the only ones that stayed with host families. 

A Pierre, South Dakota, native Zanin has always been coached by her dad and has mainly played with her sister, but this was a brand-new experience and one she has learned from. 

Outside of getting advice from the coaching staff, Zanin was able to learn from her teammates that were from bigger schools. 

“One thing that stood out to me was they are taught similar things that Michael teaches us at USD,” Zanin said. “They receive the ball and make a quick decision and that’s something I remember we were told at USD to do.”

She also remarked on how confident players were with the ball and how that’s something she is going to work on in the future at USD. Also playing against other players and with her teammates helped her build her confidence throughout the season.

“I wasn’t very confident at the beginning but towards the end I was getting more and more confident,” Zanin said. “Getting to know the girls and learn their style of play and getting coached by the coaching staff was a great experience and I learned a lot this past summer.”

She said that outside of learning from the players and coaches, it was nice to be able to play a full game. She was able to take the things she learned and implement them into her game during the summer. 

In a normal year, the WPSL crowns league champions, but they didn’t play as many games due to COVID-19. So instead of playing for a league title, the WPSL ranked the teams at the end of the season. Out of seven teams in the Northern Conference, Mankato United finished third. 

Zanin said that if they had a few more practices to build team chemistry that they could have competed for first place in their conference.

As for the upcoming season, Zanin doesn’t think the quick turnaround will hurt the team, she thinks it will help them more than harm them. 

“I think it’s going to help us a lot because it is still fresh in our minds,” Zanin said. “Everything that we built up in the spring should be fresh in our mind to continue into the fall. I know a lot of the players also played in summer leagues and that will be good for us also.” 

The one thing Zanin would tell someone if they were curious about wanting to join a summer league is that is an amazing experience, and you won’t regret it. 

Mitchell, Zanin and the rest of the Coyotes start their season with three exhibition games before opening the regular season at home vs. UTRGV on Friday, August 20 at 6 p.m.