SMU women’s soccer head coach Brent Erwin took a trip to Los Angeles a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t to check out Disneyland, to learn how to surf in the Pacific Ocean or an effort to try to straighten out his tee shot at Pebble Beach.

Erwin headed to California, of course, to watch soccer … make that soccer to watch practice.

The leading returning scorer from last season, senior Kaitlyn Eidson will be one of two SMU captains in 2011 (photo by SMU athletics).

“Real Madrid was in Los Angeles, and their coach, José Mourinho, is the best coach in the world,” Erwin said. “We use a lot of the same methodology in our training, and if you have a chance to see the best in the world do business, you go.”

How the pilgrimage will pay off for Erwin, whose team kicks off the 2011 season at 7 p.m. Saturday night when SMU hosts an exhibition game against Oklahoma State at Westcott Field, remains to be seen. But the fifth-year head coach is optimistic that the 2011 season is one in which the Mustangs have a chance to climb into the elite of Conference USA, at least.

“I think we have a chance to be a good team,” he said. “We made one of the biggest jumps in RPI (76 spots, from 129th in 2009 to 53rd in 2010) of any team in Div. I, and we were one of the highest-rated teams to get left out of the NCAA Tournament. Conference USA is a much better league than a lot of people realize. I wish we had won one more game out of our games against UCF, Houston and Rice. I think if we had, we would have gone to the NCAA Tournament.”

Erwin’s Mustangs, who finished 11-7-4 in 2010 and 6-4-1 against C-USA opposition, only lose two seniors from last year’s roster, but they were two integral parts of the improved Ponies last season.

“I would have liked to finish the entire rebuilding process to the point that we got into the NCAA Tournament last year, because Lauren Shepherd and Kristin Medeiros were here for the entire process, and they were vital to what we have done here over the last four years.

“The leadership and experience they brought to this team is immeasurable. Lauren was the best right back I have had in a long time, and a player who converted to that position (she started her SMU career as a forward) and was incredible there. Kristin was a vocal leader for us, a player who kept the standards very high in the way we practiced and the way we played.”

Stepping into the leadership role as captains in 2011 will be defenders Katherine Cox and Kaitlyn Eidson.

“They have come through it as well,” Erwin said. “They both bring different characteristics, different styles, so I think they’ll balance each other well, but they want the same outcome. We all want the same outcome.”

Eidson and Cox might be the Ponies’ captains this season, but Erwin said it would be inaccurate to suggest that the pair would be the team’s only leaders. Senior goalkeeper Courtney Webb played every minute of every game over the last two seasons, plus 12 games as a freshman, and has 13 shutouts in her first three seasons, including eight last year.

“I’m immensely proud of how Courtney has developed during her career at SMU,” Erwin said. “She’s as good a goalie as you’ll see in our league, and has the potential to be even better than that. Remember, she also was all-league as a forward in high school; she has a lot of skill, with her hands or with her feet if she has to play it that way.”

In addition, Erwin pointed to five players — sophomore defender Katie Bass, sophomore midfielder Jessica Bartol, junior midfielder Mallory Baum, redshirt freshman forward Shelby Redman and sophomore defender Courtney Smith — whose maturity should exceed their experience after they helped lead their club team, the Dallas Texans ’92 Red team, to the U-19 national championship in Phoenix, Ariz., in July.

“That’s a very big accomplishment for them, and we’re really proud of them and the fact that they represent SMU so well,” Erwin said. “That’s a tournament in which they face some very good competition, and that can only help them develop as they return to play here this season.”

Medeiros was the Ponies’ leading scorer in 2010; with her graduation, Eidson is the team’s leading returning scorer after a season in which she scored five goals from her defensive position — four more than she had in her first two seasons combined — and had a streak of goals in four consecutive games, including three game-winners and a pair of scores against Colorado College, a performance that earned her C-USA Offensive Player of the Week honors. Following the season, Eidson was named second-team All-Conference USA.

Other returnees who will be counted on in the offensive end will include sophomore forward Amanda Burgardt, who finished third on the team last year with nine points on four goals and an assist; junior forward Kenzie Scovill (seven points) and junior forward Ryanne Lewis (five points). Junior Shelby Hartweck returns after a season in which she chipped in with eight points, but she spent the spring season filling playing in the right back position vacated by Shepherd’s graduation.

Redman and Bartol also return after torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries limited them to five and seven games, respectively.

Senior goalkeeper Courtney had 13 shutouts in her first three seasons at SMU, including eight in 2010 (photo by SMU athletics).

The strength of the team, however, might well be in the defensive end, where Webb will play behind a quartet that will include Smith on the left side, Eidson and Cox in the middle, and quite possibly Hartweck on the right side.

“That’s a solid group,” Erwin said. “We feel very good going into the season with those players guarding our goal.”

Not all of Erwin’s optimism comes from the Ponies’ returning players. The Mustangs also welcome six freshmen to their rotation, including attacking midfielder Rikki Clarke, Olivia Elliott (who Erwin said might have been the best high school forward in Texas last year), forward Briana Gaines, defenders Rachael Larson and Lauren White, and midfielder Shannon Canty.

Erwin said UCF and Memphis likely will be considered the favorites to claim the top two spots in Conference USA, but said the Mustangs’ increased talent allows SMU to enter that conversation, as well.

“You look at the players we have. Kaitlyn Eidson, Katherine Cox, Courtney Webb, Mallory Baum, (midfielder) Taylor Robinson, Jessica Bartol, Shelby Redman, Amanda Burgardt — they all have a chance to be among the best players at their positions in C-USA, or some of the best players overall,” Erwin said. “Then you look at people like Rikki Clarke, Olivia Elliott, Shannon Canty … we have a few players who could be among the best freshmen in the league.”

Erwin stopped short of predicting a record, or even a specific place in the C-USA standings for the 2011 Mustangs, but he freely said that this year’s team has a chance to make some noise in the conference, if not beyond.

“Memphis and UCF are very good teams, and I think Rice is going to be very good this year, too. But we’re a talented team, too, and if we can stay healthy, I think that when you talk about the group of teams that can win our league, we have to be in that group.

“Alex Ferguson, the coach of Manchester United, said you should never talk about winning, but talk about putting yourselves in a position to win. I think we’re in that position now, and it’s up to us to see what we do from here.”