Ordonez now a 5-star prospect as expected. Pretty amazing rise for her so quickly. Also updated some other A&M commits information and rankings.

Are we missing a 2018 girl from the list? Looks like the pictures of the recruits last weekend had an extra girl. Maybe one was from a different class though, or not committed yet.

I noticed that Tera Ziemer is from Santa Rosa, California. I hope she and her family are okay because isn't that where the wildfires are?

We just got a commitment for Jordan Burbank, a goalie in the 2018 class from Oklahoma. She was committed to Utah, but I guess upon seeing that College Station also has snow she decided to switch to the good guys.

That is good news. After next year we would only have Olivia and I was wondering if G was looking for a keeper.

Looks like Jordan played for the same club team as Jenna Byers and 2019 commit Katie Smith.

Finally updated last couple of commits Chloe Davis and Jordan Burbank.

I watched the Virginia-UCLA game and they mentioned Taylor Ziemer who is incoming freshman Tera Ziemer's sister. In Hidden's profile he mentioned Tera's sister had signed with Virginia.
Also, is Chloe Davis related to Briana Davis? They are both from Belton.

G twitted out a #yessir

Saw that while playing Santa early this morning. Nice present for the Aggie Soccer fans.

Not sure who it is though. I tried looking through the list of accounts that G follows to try to determine but didn't come up with a sure name. There are some possibilities in there though.

I'm expecting at least 4 of the incoming freshmen to start school next week. Announcement is typically made after the firs day of classes which is next Tuesday.

mullokmotx said:

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I watched the Virginia-UCLA game and they mentioned Taylor Ziemer who is incoming freshman Tera Ziemer's sister. In Hidden's profile he mentioned Tera's sister had signed with Virginia.
Also, is Chloe Davis related to Briana Davis? They are both from Belton.

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I don't think Briana is on the team anymore.

I was snooping around on TDS and it has Diana Ordonez committed to Virginia. Did I miss something?

Edit: Turns out she swapped her commitment.

Here4goodSoccer said:

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I was snooping around on TDS and it has Diana Ordonez committed to Virginia. Did I miss something?

Edit: Turns out she swapped her commitment.

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Bummer.

That's a shame

Five early enrollees http://12thman.com/news/2018/1/16/soccer-aggies-add-five-early-enrollees-for-2018-campaign.aspx

Updated the decommitment of Ordonez, a truly devastating setback to the 2019 class. Wow, this one really hurts and is a gut punch to the class. Not sure what Virginia sold her on but it worked. The forward position is still good for the most part, but after Watt leaves in 2019 there will be some uncertainty.

Right now A&M is struggling to land the elite kids in the state of Texas. For 2019-2021, A&M has so far struck out on any Top 30-40 national prospects from in-state. I know TDS isn't the sole decider of talent, but let's take their rankings for sake of argument to see the issue unfolding for A&M:

2019
#16 Diana Ordonez - Virginia (lost commitment)
#19 Sarah Piper - Duke (despite having her older sister at A&M)
#30 Jaida Thomas - West Virginia
#36 Hollyn Torres - undecided (ACC)

2020
#5 Samantha Meza - undecided
#11 Samar Guidry - undecided (out of state)
#17 Abby Allen - North Carolina
#21 Jillian Martinez - UCLA

2021
#2 Alexis Missimo - Texas
#9 Trinity Byars - Texas
#14 Olivia Pena - TCU
#24 Azul Alvarez - undecided

So, right now, there are only 4 of these prospects still available from 2019-21. Texas has locked down the '21 class in state and UNC and UCLA gobbled up two elite kids in '20. Torres, Meza, Guidry, and Alvarez are undecided, but looking at their profiles my guess is that A&M is not really in contention for any and if they stay in state they are going to Texas (Solar Soccer Club connection/pipeline). Our only hope is that the Texas coaches won't be there in a couple years.

Just as an aside, UCLA now has 8 of the Top 25 prospects in 2020 committed. That's ridiculous and that's who we have to beat to win a national title. We're falling farther behind.

Obviously this doesn't take into account out of state prospects but we haven't been landing elite kids in California anymore and the Oklahoma kids have been misses lately. I'm getting concerned about the general trendline because although we've signed solid classes that will keep A&M in the top half of the SEC, we're not signing the difference makers anymore that can help us compete with the elite schools in the NCAA tourney. The stated goal is to make it to the College Cup but it's going to be a real challenge in the coming years if the coaching staff doesn't pick it up on the trail by selling elite kids on A&M, especially in-state.

I can understand girls picking East or West coast schools, this is an East/West coast sport. But girls picking Texas over us hurts. We need to play them again to reestablish our dominance. I know G is up for it, just wish Texas was too.

Did some asking around and learned that Diana Ordonez actually de-committed back in September. There were some concerns raised about a couple of areas (style of play, coaches, and future playing positions) and she opened her recruitment back up. She ended up getting contacted by every school in the country (pretty much) and had plenty of options. She turned down all Big 12 early, and settled to Pac-12 or ACC, then style of play became critical to the choice. She chose Virginia.

Also was told that A&M has a good class but not great. Here's a summary:
Sample is purely an athlete playing soccer and will need help technically.
Bates isn't as good as her sister and won't find much time in the midfield A&M has currently. Might need to move outside in college the way A&M plays.
The Zeimer kid is big time and will end up the best in the class.
The GK is good but get nervous in big games.

Here's some info on the future classes:
Jaida Thomas got offered by WV and was never going to turn that down. A&M can't compete with that offer.
Hollyn Torres is ACC-bound. Her sister is at Virginia and a U17/U20 WNT regular. Another reason why Diana Ordonez chose Virginia.
Samar Guidry is definitely going out of state for college. A&M wants her bad though.
Texas coaches have hit '21 and '22 classes hard but the coaches may not last that long. Most of the commits chose Texas as 8th-graders and they'll change their minds, but 5 years is a long time to keep a coach around and a class together.
The Solar team that those 21-22 kids are from is big time though. National runners-up 2 years in a row or something like that.

I thought younger Bates was more of a defender.

HiddenAg2 said:

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... although we're signed solid classes that will keep A&M in the top half of the SEC, we're not signing the difference makers anymore that can help us compete with the elite schools in the NCAA tourney.

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Thanks for your detailed assessment. De-commitments of elite recruits inevitably leaves a bruise and raises questions.

I thought the program was approaching elite status after the College Cup appearance. Any projection that has the program only in the top half of the SEC and largely non-competitive with the elite schools is disappointing. Whether pleasing or concerning, I value and appreciate your opinion.

Please see below. Sorry.

Funny, Ali Russell could have gone to any school in the country she wanted to attend. Her stock fell a little bit in recruiting circles because she committed to Texas A&M at 15 years of age. You are going to be surprised.

Interesting. OK.

Howdy and welcome to the board.

Sounds like we identified Diana Ordonez early like we did Ally Watt but after she committed early other schools came in and made their pitch. G introduced the 5 freshmen who are here this spring at the soccer banquet on Saturday. Remember that Abby Grace Cooper, Olivia Ausmus and Sophie Salverino will also be freshmen this fall.

AggieZman said:

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https://www.facebook.com/VYPEHouston/?hc_ref=ARR0gqEETWZ04cklcQXLLwrQrsZoCK5Gv3P2vx2KH2wN2UH4MD2-rjlH2_1wfVjsod4&fref=nf http://soccerkeepertraining.com/alumni/ AggieZman said:

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AggieZman said:

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First let me say nice job. I am not taking anything away from what you have provided. I thought I might tell you a couple of things. First, you are missing one commit from the Class of 2019. Her name is Shantel Hutton. I have provided a link to her club, so you see where it shows her commitment to Texas A&M.

Second, the reason I know this is because I know Ali Russell probably as well as anyone. I am her Dad and have watched her play since she was 3 years old. If you need any articles or video, let me know, for I can provide those if you want them. I also have gotten to watch Barbie play a lot. She is in our district and she plays for the same club. Ali plays on the '00 ECNL team and Barbie plays on the '02 team. Next year, Ali is going to drop back to her age '01 and Barbie is going to play up one year, so they can play together for half a year. Ali, like the rest of her class will be graduating H.S. early so they can have a semester to work out and get to know the players and get used to college classes before 2019 soccer season.

Anyway, nice job and after reading what you wrote, it was almost like you had watched them play before. Maybe you have.

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Thanks for the info and welcome to the board. We're always looking for more recruiting info because it's hard to find outside of TDS and watching prospects in person.

What are your thoughts on A&M's current recruiting trendline? Is Ali excited about joining the team?

Just curious where our soccer signing class ranks nationally. Any thoughts on this?