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Betty Bavagnoli’s side travel to Orobica on Saturday looking to continue their push up the Serie A table, before returning to Stadio Tre Fontane on Wednesday to host Roma CF in the second leg of their Coppa Italia quarter-final.
Bavagnoli will have to cope without a number of key players for those games – midfielders Manuela Coluccini, Claudia Ciccotti and Trudi Carter are all sidelined with knee injuries, while Flaminia Simonetti has a knock – but Zecca is confident the spirit of the group will help offset those absences.
“We have suffered a few serious injuries, but I think the team does a great job of working hard and working together, fighting for each other and to really do their part, to play for the girls that want to be out there but can’t be,” Zecca told Roma TV. “So I think the team is ready and prepared.
“[In attack] we all get along really well. I mean, it’s highly competitive, but we each bring a lot of unique talent to the pitch and we know that when the coach calls on us we have to be ready – which we are. But we get along well, we are very supportive of each other.”
Zecca scored her first goal for the club in the first leg meeting against Roma CF, which the Giallorosse won 6-3. With a few weeks to reflect on that moment, she acknowledged that it had been a big moment for me.
“It definitely gave me more confidence – because I’m a forward, and we love scoring goals,” Zecca said. “Scoring goals, it’s a feeling like no other.
“[It gave me] motivation, too, to get another one – but I feel like I’ve always been motivated to play well for the team and the shirt. Putting on the shirt, and having the badge on my chest, is a feeling like no other.”
After coming through the collegiate system in America, Zecca is enjoying her first real experience of Italian football – although her time with the Italy Under-19 squad helped her prepare for the challenges she has faced.
“I think it is a very strong league,” she said.
“I actually played on the Under-19 Italian national team – I was playing with Vale [Valentina Casaroli], Chicco [Federica Di Criscio], Luisa [Pugnali], so from that experience I kind of realised what to expect. I could draw from that. But honestly what I’ve noticed too is that the game is played with a lot more passion a and heart, and is perhaps more technical than in the US.
“In August, when we first got together we were a brand new team – so we were getting used to playing with each other. Now we’ve got used to each other – we are good at doing give-and-goes, running into space, we know if we play a through ball than Agnese [Bonfantini] or Anna [Annamaria Serturini] will be onto it. So we’re just getting more comfortable playing with each other, and as a team.
“I have a great relationship with coach, she’s honestly one of the best coaches we’ve ever had. I’ve never met a coach that cares not only about their player on the field, but off the field too.
She has done a great job of helping me mentally: because I’m someone who doesn’t like to make a mistake, so when I make a mistake I get down on myself, but she sees that and she pulls me out of that.”
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