Two years ago, the only thing taking Wherry and her Cal State San Marcos teammates to Daytona was a spring break junket.

As a freshman, Wherry watched her team go 7-8-1 in its first year of existence. She still loved the campus, was still happy to be in San Marcos, but wasn't making any playoff plans for the near future.

“Definitely not, especially after our first year,” she said. “I wasn't expecting to even look at the playoffs.”

Ditto, Katelyn Krauss. The team's lone senior sat out that inaugural season with a torn knee ligament, but she saw the same thing from the sideline Wherry experienced on the field.

“Even at the beginning of this year, we didn't think we could get here,” Krauss said. “It doesn't usually happen after three years.”

But then the Cougars started the 2008 season with a 3-0 shutout of San Diego Christian. Followed by a 1-0 triumph over Cal State Los Angeles and a 0-0 draw with Cal State Stanislaus.

The shutouts kept coming – UC San Diego, The Master's College, Kansas Wesleyan. It wasn't until Sept. 21, seven games and 632 scoreless minutes into the season, that the Cougars surrendered a goal.

It was then that they knew.

“I thought (the streak) was definitely the turning point,” said Krauss, who transferred to CSUSM after her freshman year at Cypress College.

Even the most optimistic of the Cougars' recruits hadn't counted on winning so much so quickly, but somewhere in that six-game scoreless streak, victory became the norm.

Opponents noticed it, too.

“Most of the smaller NAIA schools don't want to play us anymore,” Krauss said. “Teams we played last year don't play us this year.”

Who could blame them?

CSUSM flattened Cal State Pomona, 3-1, this year, after losing by the same score a season earlier. The same Master's College team the Cougars shut out this fall scored four goals when the two sides met in 2007.

“The team chemistry is a lot different,” Wherry said. “Everyone puts in the time, and everyone cares about the team.”

Head coach Ron Pulvers just wants to keep the good feelings flowing for one more week in Florida, where CSUSM is just three wins away from a championship game berth.

“There's nothing we're going to do different tactically,” he said. “It's about keeping them excited and focused. It all has to do with keeping their mentality.”

After surviving the pressure of their first home playoff game Nov. 22 (a 2-0 win over Benedictine College), the Cougars say they'll face Azusa-Pacific tomorrow with nothing to lose.

“We're still the underdog,” Wherry said.

With the championship game looming Dec. 6, Krauss said she'd be happy to extend her first visit to Florida for an entire week.

“That's the plan,” she said.

 Zach Jones: (760) 752-6751; zach.jones@tlnews.net