SAN ANTONIO – Taking the pitch for the first time this season, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer program will travel to UTSA for a 7 p.m. exhibition match at the Park West Athletics Complex.
It will be the first of two exhibition matches for the Islanders who will also travel to Texas on Aug. 12. The regular season opener is Thursday, Aug. 17 when A&M-Corpus Christi hosts Texas Southern at Dugan Stadium.
"We're going to give everyone minutes that we can that's healthy and try and get their nerves out. I'm not worried about the result, I want us to go out there and play the way that we want to play. If mistakes happen, it's great to be honest because we can learn from mistakes and that's what exhibitions are for," said head coach
Craig Shaw.
The Islanders return all 11 starters from a year ago. Forwards
Morgan Westbury,
Maggie Murray and
Megan Guy combined for 21 goals, including nine from Westbury which tied a school record.
Guy is one of three returning All-Conference selections from last season. Midfielders
Molly Arens and
Rachel Loetzer earned the recognition after combining for 27 points. Arens broke the school record for assists in a season with seven.
In the back, the line of
Reese Cross,
Emma Crump,
Emma Herrera and
Jayden Rea were top-four in minutes played for the Islanders last year. Herrera led the team with 1,352 minutes, while Cross was the only Islander to start in all 18 contests.
The Islanders brought back all three goalkeepers including
Kennedy Stelling who saw the bulk of the action with 11 starts. A&M-Corpus Christi also added a freshman goalkeeper in
Faith Perry.
"We're doing great – everyone's doing great and we're thankful to be here. We've got a ton of new faces and a ton of returners, and we're all meshing really well. The culture of the team is something we've worked really hard to craft and the new additions have added a lot of positivity to that," Stelling said. "It's going to take a constant hunger from the team to win every game. Every practice is an opportunity to be one percent better and really push yourself, and every game we have to treat like our last."
Perry is one of 12 newcomers for the Islanders including eight freshmen.
Olivia Hughes arrives as a graduate transfer after serving as a starter the last three years at Wofford.
UTSA is coming off a banner year after winning the Conference USA Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2022.
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