The Frogs soccer team will be hungry and determined for revenge when it hosts the Wyoming Cowgirls tonight at 7 in the Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium.Although the Frogs (5-6-2, 0-1-1) fell to the Cowgirls (6-5-2, 1-0-1) in the 2005 season 2-0 in Wyoming, senior defender Breanne Kaldheim and senior goalkeeper Katy Buchanan said they have high hopes that the team can come away victorious against the Cowgirls in this early season conference showdown.

“I’m pretty confident about our chances against Wyoming this week,” Kaldheim said. “We have a completely different team than we had last year, with a different mentality, and we play in a different way.”

Kaldheim said she feels the team’s defense is a lot stronger compared to last year, and Buchanan agrees.

“By now, our defense is completely organized and ready for whomever we play,” Buchanan said.

Head coach Dan Abdalla said he feels the defense is in the right place as well.

“Defensively, we’ve been very solid,” Abdalla said. “We haven’t been giving up a lot, and we’ve gotten better with our defending formations and attacking formations.”

As far as practices go, Buchanan said the team has focused on finishing in the final third – something it had trouble with against New Mexico last weekend.

The final third is a common term used in strategy that refers to the part of the field containing the other team’s goal.

Abdalla said the team has improved its final third combinations.

“If we can just get more comfortable with our decisions in the final third, that will put us in position for this last haul of the season,” Abdalla said.

Kaldheim said the change to cooler weather should be more comfortable for the team but said the players have gotten used to playing with and against the heat.

“The cooler weather is a nice change,” Kaldheim said. “But being from Texas, we like to use the heat to our advantage against teams that are not used to such hot temperatures.”

Abdalla said he feels the Frogs are ready for the challenge against Wyoming.

“I think our heads are in a good place right now,” Abdalla said. “We are creating good chances on the field, and we just have to follow through and finish them.