Isabel Hodgson made her Adelaide United debut as a 17-year-old. She recognises just how far the team has developed in the seven years since then.
“The club has progressed immensely since the time I first started playing. The amount of support we get from the community now at games is incredible. Back in 2013 a lot of people didn’t seem to know there was a girls’ team at United. Now we are well known and the public comes to watch us in good numbers.”
After that early spell with the side, Hodgson moved to East Tennessee State University. “As a footballer, that really helped me to grow my game. It allowed me to go away from the local league and help myself improve as a player. I played against some really talented and athletic players. I became stronger and faster from playing at a higher level.
“Personally, moving away from home to the other side of the world as a teenager helped me to become more independent and work out what I wanted to do with my life, and set me on the path to becoming the best soccer player that I can.”
Focusing on the season just gone at United, Adrian Stenta made the step up from assistant to head coach. To Hodgson, this felt like a very positive step.
“It was great to get a new head coach that already knew us as players rather than it being a brand new person coming into the club. He knew us and already had a lot of faith in our abilities.
“He was able to bring out the best in us as he had known us for a couple of years. He was able to give us the confidence to play how we want to and as well as we can.
“The biggest thing was that he had so much faith in us winning games. He always backed us as players. We felt that if we were going to make mistakes it would be fine and that he would have our backs.”
Looking back, there were a number of things that pleased Hodgson about the campaign: “On a personal level, I was a consistent starter which was really good and I played in every game. I didn’t have any injuries or anything that held me back.
“For the team, it was our most successful season ever. Whilst we didn’t make Finals, we did earn 22 points which is a massive amount.”
The other massive positive for the club was the record-breaking crowd for a stand-alone W-League match. Adelaide United achieved this when 5,159 people attended their final home game with Western Sydney Wanderers at the club’s A-League regular venue, Coopers Stadium. It was an afternoon that Hodgson will never forget for many reasons.
“It was pretty awesome! I had been mainly been playing in defence during the season, but due to some injuries, I got pushed forward. I think moving positions is always difficult, but the main thing was that Adrian Stenta was very confident in my ability to play up there and that made me very confident going into the game.
“Then I scored and it felt like any pressure immediately left me and I could play freely. Scoring in front of a home crowd of that size in front of all my friends and family – the crowd was going wild – it was the best experience I have ever had on a soccer field.
“Knowing there was going to be such a big crowd there was pretty nerve-wracking as well as being such a big game for us – we had to win to keep Finals’ hopes alive. Playing at Coopers Stadium [the men’s A-League side’s home ground] always has that special feeling.
“Just walking out onto the pitch gave me goosebumps to see how full it was and everyone cheering for us to get going – it was amazing!”
Finals football is the next step that Adelaide United needs to make in their progression and Hodgson is clear about what needs to happen in order for them to achieve that.
“The most important thing is that the girls who were in the team this year keep improving as players. We need to go away and try and find the best ways to improve, whether that’s going overseas, going interstate, or working on different things.
“The best thing is for us to keep the ball moving forwards, not to go backward. If we keep moving forwards, we’ll definitely make Finals next year.”
Hodgson is presently playing in the NSW NPLW with Bankstown City. “I was offered a gig there and I think it was the best thing for me in order to keep trying to improve and then come back to Adelaide United and hopefully get a run next season. From there, the goal would be to play in Europe, but we’ll see what happens.”
