Churchill goal ...

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2085176200737992704/vid/avc1/1280x720/h2LODBiWO6PmpZLT.mp4

Aggies take down Incarnate Word 3-0 in the first exhibition match of 2026 season! Nearly every player saw 30 or more minutes of action. Goals were scored by Leah Diaz, Ireland Churchill, and Holly Storer! Next up will be an exhibition in Austin against those people on Saturday

Aggie stats

Shots - 18 (11 + 7)
Shots on goal - 6
Saves - 2
Fouls - 4 (0 in first half)
Corners - 6
Offsides - 1

Stats show Paredes got time in goal, too - I missed that, darn it.

A bit hard to really judge the team in a game like today where the opponent wasn't great and we were clearly trying to get minutes for everyone. A few thoughts though...

The 3-5-2 formation is aggressive, which I guess I should expect from Bobby. The defense looked good, but will be much more difficult to keep better opponents off the scoreboard in this formation, especially when your 6 is the smallest player on the field. Defenders are also a very young group. Crooks seems to command the backline well in her 2nd year. Freshmen Sexton and Hughes both looked good to me too. Sophomore Landherr and freshman Haras also contributed back there. Patterson, the only upperclassman on defense,continued to be solid.

Churchill continues to impress. She is a goal scorer. The combination of her with some of the other girls can be poweful. Her goal today wasn't spectacular, but she just finds a way to be in the right place and buries it. Not sure why she didn't start, but I suspect she will soon.

Diaz was very active. She had a lot of injuries last year, so maybe she will have a strong year if she can stay healthy. She had the first goal on a nice run and it looked like the 3rd goal was hers too off a save of Storers shot, but maybe the referee ruled that Storers shot crossed the line.

Based on today and spring games, it's seems like August has won the starting job. Parades came in to start the 2nd half and then Fuller played the last 20 minutes. Hard to judge goalies in a game like this.

Was hoping the girl from Iceland and the Lipscomb transfer would be a bit more dangerous offensively for us, but it is just the first game.

A few quick takeaways from the game tonight, and forgive me in advance but I'm a numbers guy so I'll be referring to players by number that stood out to me.
-formation was a 352 with one holding mid. In possession the wingbacks stayed wide and the back 3 did a great job of opening and shifting with the ball. In the buildup phase, one of the 8/10's would drop in next to the 6 as a double pivot but it was usually a pretty pronounced 3-1-4-2.

-19 played as the 6 the start both halves and was the player that stood out to me the most personally. Even took out my phone to look her up because she jumped off the field to me and I was shocked to see she's just a freshman. Very calm on the ball, always found space, played the simple and correct pass every time and made no mistakes. Outside of her being on the shorter side, she is the exact player you want as your holding mid.

-although it was the same formation as last year, the style was much different. A more pronounced press with an emphasis of shifting and helping together as a team. Counter pressed very well and played a much higher line than last year.

-Coach is very vocal and was really emphasizing linking passes together in the buildup and playing simple. Got mad several times at players that would send it long and lose possession, or players in the midfield turning into pressure, instead of playing the ball back to where it came from and taking the safe pass.

-20 up top played very well and I also really enjoyed 55(freshman) very lively and made a lot of things happen.

-18 who went down with a knee injury last year was my favorite player to watch last season. Was good to see her back on the field playing. Last year as a freshman she played left wingback and tonight she played exclusively on the left side of a back 3 so will be interesting to see where she ends up because I really think she has the skill and size to be in the first 11.

Take everything with a grain of salt given the competition obviously, but it was a dominant performant. UIW had maybe 3 descent looks all night and I don't think they would have been the case last year. You can tell they're still ironing things out but I was very happy with the start and excited to see what the her has in store, especially what impact these freshman can make(emphasis on 19 in the pivot). Sorry for the long post but hopefully it is useful for the out of staters that were asking for it.

I thought Diaz got the third goal on the rebound but they reviewed the goal and must have awarded it to Storer. August had a diving save in the first half but otherwise the keepers didn't seem to be challenged. All the field players seemed to get at least 30 minutes playing time. Second half starters were Paredes, Hughes, Sexton, Knudsen, Carapazza, Crooks, Buchanan, Ruiz, Diaz, Storer and Churchill. Lacher took the corner kicks when she was on the field.

Really appreciate the detailed insight folks! Seems business was taken care of, everyone saw some action, no injuries, onto tu!

Appreciated the social media team tonight as well! I'm excited for the season, hopefully we can keep improving! Our defense will be tested big time on Saturday!

HUGE thank you to Aggies2026, AggieSoccerFan16 and mullokmotx for the OUTSTANDING post-match reporting (hope I did not leave anyone out) !! I will probably read each of them multiple times before the match vs tu and the start of the regular season.

Thanks to the Aggie staff for the 'social media' posts during the match AND for the live stats at StatBroadcast !! I do not recall seeing the latter in exhibition matches and very, very seldom or never in off season matches (Spring for soccer). Several days ago I reported the huge increase in support staff from previous years (as listed on the roster page), including an official 'social media manager', 'videographer' and 'photographer'. The jobs were done in the past but not officially recognized and it is great to see they are now because every role is important.

Thanks also to Mia Rodriguez of TexAgs for posting the post-match interviews and writeup !!

tu also has a new coaching staff (including Seth Taylor, previous Aggie assistant coach). I think they will do very, very well with the new staff and the match with them should be exciting!

Success breeds success. If the team does well, attendance will increase. Simple as that.

I think this team will do well.

BTHO tu !!!

Press release here (includes link to box score):

https://12thman.com/news/2026/08/6/soccer-claims-exhibition-win-over-uiw

Appreciate your links to the videos! I have season tickets but I work nights usually so I won't get to go to as many games as I'd like to, but I'll try and post after every game that I attend.

I thought it was Diaz last night scoring the 3rd goal too. Looks like our eyes didn't deceive us and the scorer missed it, not us. It doesn't really matter though as it was an exhibition game.

Also, there is a light effect of some kind that is new when we score a goal and come out after halftime. I don't remember it from previous years.

Moments like this hit different in person 😏
Your seat is waiting 👍

Single match tickets are available now!
➡️ https://t.co/VNTM3C9Hsj pic.twitter.com/KobDbZG6xl

— Texas A&M Soccer (@AggieSoccer) August 6, 2026

August 6 Press Release

https://12thman.com/news/2026/08/6/soccer-selected-for-three-national-broadcasts

Soccer Selected for Three National Broadcasts

COLLEGE STATION -- The Texas A&M soccer team will be highlighted three times in 2026 as part of the SEC Network/ESPNU package, the Southeastern Conference announced while revealing the league's soccer broadcast schedules for the upcoming season.

The lineup includes the Aggies' final three league matches with the trio televised on SEC Network. Ellis Field is featured in televised home matches Sunday, Oct. 18 against LSU and Sunday, Nov. 1 against Ole Miss.

The Aggies' road match against Missouri has been moved to Thursday, Oct. 22 and airs on SEC Network.

SEC Network and ESPNU will air a combined 34 women's soccer matches, including the entire SEC Soccer Tournament.

The Aggies kick off the 2026 campaign Wednesday with a road trip to Rice as part of their 17-match slate.

August 7 Press Release

Soccer Embarks on Final Tune-Up Saturday in Austin

-- Lone Star soccer fans outside of Aggieland may watch Texas A&M play in Austin, Houston, Waco and San Marcos over the next two weeks.

-- Admission is free at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

-- The Aggies partake in their final exhibition match after beating the UIW Cardinals 3-0 last Wednesday.

COLLEGE STATION -- The Texas A&M soccer team travels to Austin for Saturday's exhibition match against the Texas Longhorns. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Leah Diaz led a solid offensive effort Wednesday when she registered two goals in the Aggies' 3-0 victory over UIW. The Texas A&M backline held the Cardinals to just two shots-on-goal.

The Aggies are in their first season under head coach Bobby Shuttleworth. The two-time national championship winning assistant was hired as the second head coach in Texas A&M soccer program history in December and worked tirelessly to assemble a highly competitive squad.

The Maroon & White returned 11 letterwinners from last year, highlighted by SEC All-Freshman defender Riley Crooks. Trinity Buchanan, Kat Campbell and Hattie Patterson joined Crooks in starting all 17 matches a year ago. Buchanan is the leading scorer among returnees, following a 2025 with 12 points on five goals and two assists. Diaz added 10 points on three goals and four assists.

The new-look Aggies welcome four transfers this season, including Norah Bell (Arizona State), Bella Carapazza (Lipscomb), Ciara Jade Mitchell (San Diego State) and Adelaide Paredes (St. Bonaventure).

The Aggies also landed one of the nation's top recruiting classes. Six rookies from California joined the squad, including Makenna August (Temecula), Ireland Churchill (Eastvale), Juliet Haras (Glendora), Finley Lacher (Fullerton), Sami Ruiz (Corona) and Kieana Smith (Murrieta). The other freshmen include Blake Hughes (Denver, Colo.), Brynja Ran Knudsen (Reykjavik, Iceland), Morgan Landry (Frisco, Texas) and Ava Sexton (Southlake, Texas).

Texas is under first-year head coach Margueritte Bates. The Longhorns stumbled to a 4-12-1 record last year, including a 2-8-0 mark in SEC action.

The Maroon & White open the regular-season Wednesday, Aug. 12 with a trip to Houston to play the Rice Owls in a 6 p.m. contest. The Aggies also play at Baylor (Aug. 16) and Texas State (Aug. 19) before making their home debut Saturday, Aug. 22 against Sam Houston.

BTHO tu! Get this win and ride the momentum into season 1 of the Shuttleworth Era and let's get back into the ncaa tourney!

August 7 Press Release

Carapazza Named to Hermann Trophy Watch List

https://12thman.com/news/2026/08/7/carapazza-named-to-hermann-trophy-watch-list

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Texas A&M standout Bella Carapazza claimed a spot on the 2026 IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List, the organizations announced Friday.

Carapazza was named a midfielder to watch in recognition of her stellar performance the last three seasons at Lipscomb.

The Tarpon Springs, Florida, native arrived in Aggieland after three standout seasons at Lipscomb, where she established herself as one of the top attacking players in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The versatile forward appeared in 64 matches with 56 starts during her career with the Bisons, totaling 14 goals and 17 assists.

Last season as a junior, Carapazza started all 22 matches for Lipscomb and totaled seven goals and seven assists for 21 points. She registered 46 shots with 23 on goal while adding two game-winning goals. She claimed her second All-ASUN First Team honor.

"She has played a lot of college soccer games, won championships and been to the NCAA Tournament," Shuttleworth said. "She brings with her a mentality and experiences that will be invaluable to our team."

Carapazza earned All-ASUN First Team as a sophomore in 2024 after recording four goals and eight assists while helping lead Lipscomb to a conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. She finished the season second on the team in points with 16 while placing 18 of her 45 shots on frame.

During her freshman campaign in 2023, Carapazza was named the ASUN Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the ASUN All-Freshman Team. She appeared in all 20 matches with 12 starts, scoring three goals and adding two assists, including a brace against Austin Peay.

WHERE'S THE HATE

We look like the better of the 2 sides in the 10 minutes I've been here. tu just had a dangerous chance.