After a four-year stint at the University of San Francisco, new Metro women’s Head Coach Tanya Haave is taking the reins of the program — with a slightly different approach.
“[Former Head] Coach [Linda] Lappe left a very good foundation,” Haave said. “In kind of a nutshell, we want to play hard, play smart and play together. That’s what I am envisioning.”
Haave said that she does not plan to change the women’s basketball program significantly, stressing team play on both sides of the ball.
“There’s still going to be an emphasis on defense,” Haave said. “We want to be disciplined offensively, disciplined defensively, take care of the basketball, play team defense [and] play team offense.
Haave, who went 36-86 with USF, is looking for a new start to her coaching career. Having learned from some notable Division I coaches, such as former University of Colorado at Boulder Coach Ceal Barry and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, she brings experience and her own belief system to Metro.
“I’m excited,” Haave said. “We’ve got a great core group of players that are returning. [They’re] a really great group of women that are here now, and the newcomers that are coming in. I think the future looks bright.”
Junior guard Jasmine Cervantes feels confident in what Haave can accomplish.
“I feel like she knows the game really well,” Cervantes said. “She’s just going to pick us up more on offense because I feel like our six returners that are coming back have a good sense of the type of defense we need to win games. She’s going to give us more of an edge offensively and she’s only going to give us more talent and more experience.”
Sophomore guard Kristin Valencia feels that playing under Haave will be a significant adjustment but feels hopeful about this upcoming season, since Lappe got a good start on recruiting before she departed for CU.
“I’m expecting a good team because our returners are good,” Valencia said. “We’re close [as a team].”
Metro recently added three new recruits to their squad and managed to pick up some much-needed post help in 6-foot-3 freshman Chelsea Libonati.
“We have a 6-foot-3 player from Cherokee Trail [High School] here in Aurora,” Haave said. “I haven’t seen her play that much; she’s got some great length. She’s got some good hands, an ability to get offensive rebounds, get some shots for us.”
Valencia and Cervantes are also excited to play with the new recruits.
“They all seem like they would all fit in really well,” Valencia said. “We’ve seen a couple of them play. I think they can contribute a lot to this upcoming year.”
Cervantes is confident that Libonati will adjust to the college game and contribute a lot to the team.
“She’s going to have to adjust to a whole different level of play, but I think she’s going to fit in just fine with us,” Cervantes said of Libonati. “I played a little bit with her this summer, and she seems like a strong competitor. I’m excited for what she’s going to bring to the table.”
Despite the adversity that both Haave at San Francisco and Metro women’s basketball went through last season, there is reason to believe this upcoming season could be different for Haave at Metro.
“I think Metro’s going to be a tough team and a team to look out for,” Cervantes said. “We might be the underdog team because we did struggle last year in our post. Now that we have a new coach, she’s going to make us better.”
The team has talent…if they work together and play they hard, especially now that they will have some size in the middle on defense, they can have a special team. Change is never easy and can be a catalyst for improvement.