SAN DIEGO — Normalcy returned in bits and pieces for San Diego women's soccer, marked by the type of events and milestones that scholar-athletes cherish.

The reappearance of the beloved "Gear Day," for example, when Toreros receive a heap of team swag and uniforms in the spring. Being able to once again hold the player-led, sans-coaches "Captain's Camp" in July, preparing USD for their rigorous late-summer official practices and eventual set of games. And once the fall roster was assembled, the first in-person team dinner, one that was perhaps long-delayed. All elements of college athletics that in one way or another, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted for San Diego and programs across the nation. Elements that now, as life eases back to a new, more welcome normal, point toward the last few months' most important development of all — that USD is slated to play a traditional, 18-game regular-season schedule in front of fans at Torero Stadium and beyond.
 
"Because of what happened with COVID in the spring, we are doubly excited for the fall," head coach Louise Lieberman said, just three months removed from an unconventional, pandemic-marred "spring" campaign that tested her program's resolve. "Finally being able to put our team together as a whole…playing with a full roster will allow us to hopefully find both individual and team success."
 
Just two seasons ago, a full roster would have been considered a given. In today's pandemic-altered world of college athletics, however, it's been no sure thing. Lieberman and her team found that out firsthand earlier this year, playing just nine contests across February, March, and April after cancellations due to COVID-19-related protocols.
 
"Playing with 12 and 13 players over the COVID season is not playing as a whole, we were missing a lot of people," the sixth-year head coach reflected, taking a somber tone before striking a more optimistic one a sentence later. "We did what we could."
 
Though results-wise not one for the record books, the Toreros' effort this past spring has set the stage for a resurgent fall schedule, one that the 25-player roster will undertake with a renewed sense of resilience and toughness. Simply put, if USD made it through the difficulties of last season, they can make it through anything.
 
"I think we're gonna come out and just be stronger," said junior midfielder Eden Quiroz, a team captain who is now in her third season with the Toreros. "Last year had its ups and downs but now it's like, 'what do we have to lose?' Our seasons the past two years haven't been what we hoped them to be, but I think that failing allows you to grow and just be stronger than the years prior."           
 
With this mental strength at the forefront, San Diego will begin their 2021 season by taking on a diverse set of nonconference opponents, a group that includes two crosstown rivals (San Diego State and UC San Diego), five California schools (Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara), and three home games against institutions that will each travel more than 1,000 miles to get to San Diego (Army, Seattle, and Denver). In total, eight home games and only two away contests, with the farthest road trip coming in late September to take on the Gauchos.
 
"It's a pretty local nonconference schedule," Lieberman said. "That's on purpose. I'm excited about and grateful for all of the talented soccer we have around us to be able to create such a good nonconference schedule. The two teams that are coming from distance are incredible, they are at the top of their league every year. I think it's the right blend to help push our team and improve us to then foster more confidence going into conference."
 
The aforementioned West Coast Conference remains as formidable as ever, with defending national champion Santa Clara at the top, followed by the likes of BYU, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, Gonzaga, San Francisco, LMU, Portland, Saint Mary's and Pacific.
 
"I would not want to play anywhere else, you can tell this is a great league to be a part of," said Quiroz. "It's a challenge. There's never an easy game. It goes to the team that has the most heart at the end of the day. I think that's what I love the most about these games, you just don't know what's going to happen."
 
With nine freshmen, four sophomores, six juniors, five redshirt juniors, and one senior, look for the Toreros to employ a balanced approach on the field as they begin their season.
 
Leadership figures will be key, with Lieberman leaning on players like Quiroz, crafty midfielder Aryssa Mahrt, captain and defender Michaela Foster, who has played nearly every minute since arriving at USD in 2018, Maronne Suzuki, who was selected to attend the U20 Women's National Team Virtual Meetings, and redshirt junior Jamie Goralski, who the head coach characterized as a "handful" for opponents to defend.
 
"It's a good blend, we have a ton of leaders," Liberman said of her roster, which also includes a new group of Toreros who are eager to make their mark at USD. "That's going to separate us in ways that I find valuable. When you have great people leading each other, you can go that much further."
 
As for the team's playing style?
 
"My goal is to have the ball as much as possible, and be able to create opportunities that result from incredible movement of the ball and incredible movement of the players, to be able to create those advantages," she added.
 
The Toreros will be on the smaller side of things, with no player over 5-foot-9 and seven playing at 5-foot-4 or under, but plan to make up for their lack of height with speed, intensity, and a lot of heart.
 
"We will get the job done, we will put all our heart into it, we will be gritty, make those slide tackles, do anything to make sure that we win and that we do what we want to do," Quiroz said. "When you see us on the field, you won't want to stop watching. You'll want to continue watching and finish out that entire 90-minute game."
 
Come August 19 versus Cal State Fullerton, USD will have a chance to put all that into motion and begin their pursuit of greatness anew. They'll be at Torero Stadium, home in front of the San Diego faithful for the first time in 639 days.
 
"Be on the lookout for USD women's soccer," Quiroz said, the excitement evident in her voice. "Be prepared for what we can do and accomplish."
 
Fans in the stands, a full contingent of players on the roster, a full slate of games on the schedule. A chance to put it all together and have the type of season USD women's soccer knows it can have.
 
Normalcy, at last, for the Toreros.