Abstract

Women’s soccer is very popular in the United States, but little data exist on the match demands.

The purpose of this study was to examine the physical match demands of Division III Women’s College Soccer by position and period of play.  21 Players were fitted with wearable global positioning system (GPS, 10Hz) tracking devices (Titan 1, Integrated Bionics, Austin, TX) to track total distance, high-speed running distance (>14.4 km/h) (HSR), and top speed. Mean playing time recorded by game officials was 64.7 ± 15.7 minutes.  GPS data were collected during 17 regular-season matches where the team had a 5-12 record. Based on timestamps, data were cropped to only include regulation time (97.9 ± 6.9 minutes per match).  Overtime periods were not included in this analysis.

The first independent variable selected was position (defender, midfielder, attacker).  The second independent variable was time (2-45-minute halves).  Cohen’s d were calculated to provide practical meaningfulness (< 0.2 trivial, 0.2-0.6 small, 0.6 to 1.2 moderate, 1.2-2.0 large, 2.0-2.4 very large) (Hopkins, 2002). Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Chicago, IL).  

The mean and standard deviation for total distance, HSR distance, and top speed were 7062 ± 1486m, 910 ± 366m, and 24.4 ± 1.88 km/h, respectively.  Total distance values were approximately 2000 m lower than Division I and Division III levels, but HSR distance was similar.